After a great stay in Copan de Ruinas, we traveled for 8 hours to Lake Yojoa. The roads were filled with red tuk tuks and pickup trucks who frequently honk as a “hello” to their friends. We drove by colorful houses of blue, green, yellow, red and orange. Outside these homes, clothes were drying on lines in the sun. Children were mostly clothed in school uniforms. Stray dogs ran across the streets and small parades were gathering to celebrate the upcoming Independence Day. Occasionally we passed military or police armed with guns patrolling. Many roadside stands were selling fruit and vegetables and walls were covered in vibrant murals. Free roaming horses and cows were eating the lush green grass along the roads.
A couple hours into the drive, we took a quick stop to see the ruins of El Puente.
Craft Beer
We stayed at D&D Brewery which is a hotel, brewery, and tour operator all in one. After all those hours on the road, we immediately ordered a tasting flight of their 6 beers brewed on site. We spent the night relaxing by the fire pit with Porter and Amber (the resident kitties) on our laps.
Kayaking on Lake Yojoa
At 6:30 the next morning, we paddled kayaks out onto Lake Yajoa. D&D rented out the kayaks and drove us to the launching point. About 30 minutes up the outlet we reached the lake. Forest surrounded us and birds flew across the water ahead to hide in the nearby trees. The early morning, before the sun peaks over the horizon, is better for bird activity as well as temperature.
Hiking in a Coffee Plantation
After locally grown coffee and breakfast back at D&D, we walked to a nearly coffee plantation that is also now an ecological reserve (Bioparque Paradise). They hand you a map upon entrance and you can hike the grounds. Definitely wear tennis shoes or hiking boots as it can be very muddy and there are some steep sections. Also (this goes for the whole region but especially here…) wear bug spray! Tons of hungry mosquitos reside here. Periodically you pass coffee plants and even cacoa plants between multiple bridge crossings over a rushing river.
Pulhapanzak Waterfall
The main event of the day was visiting Pulhapanzak Falls. We hired a guide to take us “behind the falls” and were taken by surprise how intense this tour was. After being fitted with helmets, we hiked down to a beautiful view of the falls then climbed up some rocks.
Next we had to jump from the rocks into a pool of flowing water and grab the hand of one of the guides to pull us to the other side where you climb up more rocks. Here the mist starts bombarding your face. We ducked into a cave that shielded us from the water above. We ventured back out along rocks where you need to keep your head down to avoid water in your eyes and see. Then you reach the safety of another cave.
Now the hard part. There’s a cable along the falls that you must hang onto as you transverse the rock wall while the falls cascade directly on top of you. You must keep your head down and breathe through your mouth. We were told to try to move quickly and keep close together which was difficult because the plummeting water all around you made seeing anything completely impossible. We finally make it to the final cave. My legs were shaking throughout the entire experience. Here we climbed out and looked up for a great view of the falls directly above us and then make our way back. After the cable we took a slight detour into the water and swam to a large rock to climb up where we once again jumped into that pool of water to swim to the safety of the other rock. We hiked back out, thankful we had survived. This was an exhilarating experience.
That’s all we had time for in this region unfortunately as we needed to head out to La Ceiba in the morning to catch the ferry to Utila.
Leave a Reply