43 and Counting
Honduras Travel Blog
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I was in a jeep yesterday with a girl who has been living in
I understand perfectly what he meant.

When we awoke the next morning, we were mesmerized by our surroundings. Lush green mountains peaked in the distance while fruit trees, singing birds, and chirping frogs comprised the foreground. We enjoyed a breakfast of sliced banana, mango, papaya, cantaloupe, and pineapple and then got ready for our first adventure: whitewater rafting.
Although the rain from the night before had improved the rafting conditions marginally, an earlier drought had left the water level too low to raft the full length of typical trips. Instead, our guides elected to lead us on a whitewater swimming and bouldering excursion before tackling the best available rapids. As we hiked down to the river, we were advised to watch our steps since the rain had made the steep path quite slippery.

The whitewater swimming turned out to be just as fun as the rafting. We made our way from bank to bank, swimming through rapids, climbing on and jumping from enormous boulders, and sliding backwards down natural water slides. The easily 80° water felt amazing even when the rain clouds rolled in, dousing us in a quick, cool shower.
Though the rapids we rafted were only class III – maybe one class IV – they still made for plenty of exciting moments. Someone managed to fall out of the boat three times, but I can’t tell you who it was. (It’s possible though that the name she goes by has four letters in it.) Even our guide got thrown into the churning water at the base of one of the falls. The search party is still hoping to recover his body.
After rafting, Lizz and I took quick showers (a spider just fell on my keyboard) and spent the evening enjoying the company of fellow international travelers. We’ve met some truly incredible people, but I’ll dedicate an entirely new post to them a little later.
We paddled around the swamps for several hours, spying howler monkeys, huge orbweaver spiders, a tree snake, and countless bright blue crabs. We eventually made our way to the
The paddle back through the lagoon was relatively uneventful – stroke left, stroke right, stroke left, stroke right, begin to spin left, stroke left twice, continue to spin left, stroke left harder, spin left anyway, repeat. The trip did provide me with the unique opportunity to develop a marbled sunburn though. Lizz offered to make me a map of its precise distribution. I can’t wait for it to fade into a patchy tan. I’m really into camo skin.
On the way back to the lodge, we took a detour to a small zoo. Lizz made friends with the spider monkeys, and I fell in love with a clingy kinkajou. When our friend was finally able to pull us away, we hit the road again and arrived at the lodge just in time to catch a full-blown deluge. Rather than run for shelter, Lizz and I submitted to the rain and ran around splashing through puddles. Seeing what fun we were having, someone recommended to us a hidden outdoor shower. The tall rock walls of the shower spiral inward to a large, cylindrical opening lined with perfectly maintained plants. Palm leaves dangle overhead and mountains can be seen in the distance when the clouds clear. We took a much longer shower than necessary in our bathing suits and then changed into warm clothes for a tasty pasta dinner followed by hours of scintillating conversation.
