Pico Bonito National Park

After the UN celebration on Thursday, we had Friday off so Sara and I decided to take advantage of the 3 day weekend and go to La Ceiba, a town also on the northern coast, about 2 hours away. In La Ceiba, they have a huge National Park called Pico Bonito. The plan was to stay at Jungle River Lodge, a place right along the Cangrejal River that runs through the National Park, and do some hiking and swimming. The lodge was amazing! It's built right into the jungle, and has an open air dining area, bar, and swimming pool in front of the lodge that is placed within rock formations all overlooking the amazing view of the river. The lodge even had a dog, cat and 2 Macaws, which is the official Honduran bird. Here is a picture of me trying to smile next to one of the Macaws after it tried to nip at one of my fingers!

While looking at the different activities the lodge offered, Sara and I quickly looked past the whitewater rafting and canopy tours without a second thought. I had never really seen myself doing either of these things, nor had I thought I really wanted to(maybe my fear of heights and huge lack or upper body strength had something to do with it too..). So the plan was to hike, relax, swim in the river and not much else. That was until we got to the lodge, then our plans quickly changed.

After talking to the people that worked there, the tour guides, and other guests at the lodge who had already done the canopy and rafting tours, it didn't take long for us to be convinced that we had to try the two things we never saw ourselves doing! We arrived at the lodge late Thursday night, and by Friday morning we had made plans to go whitewater rafting. Can you believe it?! Never in a million years could I see myself doing this! It was so much fun!

The constant adrenaline rush, cold water flying everywhere, and not knowing what was ahead of us was incredible! We had 2 guides with us which helped to calm my nerves, and Darwin, the main guide, was extremely helpful, and did a good job training and preparing us before actually rafting through the river. We did a few drills and jumped in the river to practice how to float with the current and grab the "life rope" in case we fell out of the raft. We rafted Class I-Class IV rapids, and opted to hike around the Class V rapid because it was our first time and we didn't want to take the chance of flipping over.
On Saturday we made plans to do the canopy(zipline) tour. While getting all the gear strapped in and secured on my body and after hiking up to the first platform I quickly began to question whether or not I could do this as my legs and arms began to get a little wobbly. I had to literally repeat to myself over and over again in my head, that I HAD to to do this, and I would never forgive myself if I backed out. So, before I knew it I was flying through the first practice zipline, and was already looking over the second zipline which hung very high up across the river. Before I could have time to hesitate I said I was ready and Darwin, our guide, let go! The next 5 ziplines were less scary because although they were also high up, it was harder to see all the way down because of all the surrounding trees and plants. Click on the link to see a short video of me going across the 3rd zipline in the jungle: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkSGjZyyvGY

When we reached the 8th and final zipline which goes back across the river, I was told that we were going to go across "Superman style." This means that you lay your body completely stretched out, head forward, over the river. The cable is attached by your back, and a guide is connected behind you, between your legs the entire time, so they can control the breaks, this lets you basically glide across the river completely hands free and feet free! As soon as Darwin explained all of this I thought I heard him wrong, .."cable attached to my back?!....stretch your hands and legs out and enjoy the ride?!" How could I enjoy the ride? I was really freaking out! But sure enough, before I knew it, he was attaching the cable to my back, and I was dangling over trees high up in the middle of the jungle, trying my best not to throw up as I looked out and saw the 660 ft drop to the river that I was supposed to "fly" across.... Superman Style no less!! During the first part of the zipline, I was told to cover and protect my face with both hands because of all the branches and leaves we were going to pass through, a thought which I didn't know if I liked or didn't like. Then when I felt a tap in my leg, I was supposed to uncover and open my eyes and stretch my arms and legs out and "enjoy the ride" as Darwin kept saying. And to my extreme surprise.....that's exactly what I did! It was AMAZING!!!!:) And I did it!! Unfortunately I don't have a picture or video of that part, but I definitely plan on returning and doing it again! You can click on the link below to see a short video I took of Sara doing the last zipline over the river. Except, instead of doing the "Superman" she decided to go across the river on her own: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KiGgoqxNZvA

After the canopy and rafting tours, we decided to do something a little less "heartpounding." we ventured up the street from the lodge and stopped by the Pico Bonito visitors center, where we bought some souveniers and walked across the new bridge that goes across the Cangrejal River. Walking across this hanging bridge was actually a little more scary for me than doing the canopy tour! Then we walked further up the dirt road to a nearby small village called El Naranjo (you can see a little bit of the village in the picture with Sara on the left) I saw papayas growing on a tree (picture on the right). I know that doesn't sound very exciting, but I had never seen it before! A boy in the village looked at me like I was crazy when I asked him what fruit it was, and thought I was even more crazy when I took a picture of it! Haha:) Then we walked more into the village looking for a sovounier store we saw being advertised on a sign on the main road. We wandered around to find that this "store" which sold "souveniers and artifacts" was actually a house, without any sort of sign, and a lady with a plastic bag containing no more than 10 items, like random wood carvings and a few pieces of jewelry.
We were planning to head back to Tela Saturday night to save some money, but after we missed the last bus headed for home, the owner of the lodge was nice enough to let us stay an extra night completely free of charge! It was actually his fault that we missed the bus because he was supposed to give us a ride back into town, but as typical Honduran culture goes, there's never any need to rush anywhere, nor be on time! But he more than made up for it by covering an extra night, and giving us free food and drinks! The picture of the MONSTER truck on the left was our ride back into La Ceiba. It was the most massive thing I've ever seen on wheels before! While riding inside, I couldn't even see out the windows, it felt like we were all being transported to a maximum security Honduran prison! After that interesting ride to La Ceiba, it took about 2 more hours of being crammed in a typical Honduran bus (old American school bus) that somehow fits 3 adults to a seat (with my luck I was sitting next to an elderly, nice, but VERY smelly lady), all while people are wedged into the aisles and practically hanging out the windows, we were back in Tela.....home sweet home!