Lago Yojoa Day 2

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Up with the sun today (actually, I woke up at 3 am & couldn't sleep anymore so I read for a couple hours until it seemed reasonable to wake Geoff up) to go on a hike through the Parque Eco-Arqueologico Los Naranjos which is just a few blocks from us. (I think I'm sleeping too much...). I woke up so early because there was an animal on the metal roof doing hot laps back & forth. So ridiculously loud. Back & forth & back & forth, stop to scratch at something in the roof, back & forth. Too much for me.

We've become, of all things, fans of bird watching! The birds here are just soooo bright & colorful & their calls are so entertaining. Although we don't know any of the species' names & we don't own a pair of bincoulaurs we are totally into it! Malcolm told us to get up with the sun & we'd see a lot of birds. He told us that one time he spotted 37 species of birds along the first 1/4 mile of the walk. However, he literally knows all the names & calls of the birds. We are just impressed by the pretty, colorful ones that stand out for us. There are some seriously entertaining & wacky bird calls here. It's fun talking with Malcolm about birds. All you have to do is describe a bird you saw by its markings & he'll tell you the species, or if you mimick a call you heard he knows what bird made the sound. We'd believe whatever he said though. My favorite thing he taught us is how to listen for hummingbirds: "they sound like clockworks." Love it & it's true. Their wings sound like a watch winding up.
We walked through the park for a few hours. They built a long elevated pathway over the marshlands where we definitely saw the most birds. We saw parrots flying & making the crazy amount of noise they make when they are in flight. We saw a ton of crane-like birds & it was just so beautiful & peaceful. Other than the park employee on his bicycle (who stopped to tell us random tidbits of info about the plantlife & bird life & ask us if we had a ticket) it was just us out there. Nobody does anything during the weekdays, except work, which is really great for us non-workers.

The plant life was impressive during our walk also. The jungle & the plants in it are just so incredible & green. It's amazing. Until the mosquitos wake up, then it's not so great anymore. But they love Geoff way more than me, so I guess it works out ok for one of us...

After our walk we headed back to the hostel to enjoy some breakfast. I had a veggie omelet with bacon & hash browns & it was more food on one plate than I needed, but sooo good. Geoff had French toast with bananas, his new fav (since Antigua). We hung out with Malcolm for a bit who was working on planting a garden on the property. He's serious entertainment that one. His beard is full & he has a long braid that's probably 5 inches long from his chin to the end of it. And, he's always drinking alcohol. We finished breakfast & he got a beer. He apparently came to visit the D&D about 3 years ago to do some bird watching & never left.

After the garden tour I needed a nap. I'd been up for hours already & was really full from breakfast. We read ourselves to sleep & easily slept for 2 hours. How will we ever return to a life that doesn't include at least 10 hours of sleep a day?

I was restless after nap time so we headed out to find a way to go for a swim in the lake, since the sun was finally shining. (Serious amounts of rain have fallen & the clouds are following us through Honduras so far.....but at least it's still mostly warm). We walked out to the main street to get some info on how to get in the water. I asked about renting a rowboast but when we were told it would take us at least 30 minutes to get from the dock (in the little river inlet) to the lake we were dismayed. I've never even been in a rowboat & they look like a lot of work. So, we continued on & ran into our taxi driver from yesterday who offered to take us to a swimming spot at a hotel for a ridiculous amount of money. We thanked him & said no & kept walking. When a tuk tuk passed we asked the same question & for 1/2 as much he would take us there & back. Ok. Done. We went to Hotel Las Glorias & walked around their property & swam in the lake. Only for a minute for me because I talked myself into believing there were crocodiles there due to the cement crocodile statue next to the lake & all the grass in the water. Scary! But it was warm & the water was refreshing & we had some good talks about life there.

Our tuk tuk driver returned right on time to take us home. Back at home we headed out to the deck & drank some more good beer & I had the best Pina Colada ever. She put chunks of pineapple in before blending it up. Yummy! I had another bowl of delicious brocolli soup & Geoff had chicken strips & fries. We met some of the Peace Corps volunteers who are all staying here for some sort of reunion deal. One of the guys loaned us his hard drive & we downloaded a few movies onto our computer to watch later. Fun!

Once the Peace Corps drinking games started & the rain started coming down in buckets I was ready to turn in. We watched "The Social Network," which was really good & off to sleep.

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Photos

Local Kids
On their way to school.

Basically it says:
Only authorized personnel should enter....

Bridge
across the river.

Bridge/Trail
above the marsh/bird lagoon.

They use their pinchers as
Sutures!

Our best bird photo!
Do you see him? He's pretty.