So, for Beth’s last day in Honduras, she decided to brave the zip line. This is something I wanted to do while here, so I took the opportunity to go with her, and Humfrey joined us. After class on Friday, we walked one block over to the Jungle River Lodge office. We waited about 2 hours for transportation to the lodge (no surprise they were about an hour late). We were joined by a college aged couple vacationing from Oregon and Canada who were going to do some rafting. It was a very interesting 25 minute ride up the mountain to the lodge. Very bumpy on an unpaved, pothole ridden road. We saw dirty children playing in the street, run down shacks and even just tarps where people were living. We passed the Jungle School, where many of the people I have met spend their days volunteering with the underprivileged children. As we neared the lodge, we passed several large beautiful homes that were a far contrast from the typical shanty on the side of the road. The lodge itself was a small wooden hotel built into the side of the mountain. There was a restaurant/bar on the main level with a great porch over looking the river. Below the porch was a natural pool formed by rocks where people were swimming. It was beautiful and very relaxing. Again, we waited about an hour for the canopy tour to begin.
The tour was guided by two young Honduran boys, who spent the entire time flirting with all of the women in the group. There were 6 of us in the group. The three of us and then 2 women and one man who were visiting the lodge with their large family as a vacation. The two women were from Honduras and the man was from Mississippi. I am not sure, but they all seemed similar in age, however, I believe one of the women was the very young wife of the man’s father. It was confusing, but I think that makes her his stepmother. It is very common for an older American man to have a young beautiful Honduran wife. In this case however, the wife seemed very well educated and put together. The entire group spoke both Spanish and English.
The first zip line crossed the river and was an amazing view. After that, we had to hike about 30 minutes up the mountain in order to begin the descent on the cables through the trees. During the hike, the guide gave us a lot of information about the flowers, plants and bugs that we saw. He even convinced us (all but Beth) to eat termites. He said that if lost in the jungle, it can be a good source of nutrition. He also recommended that we squish them in our hands to make a paste that can be rubbed on the skin as a very powerful mosquito repellent. They actually didn’t taste bad and everyone agreed they really just tasted like carrots. Never did I think I would eat a termite. Survivor Honduras, here I come!! We were warned against tarantulas, snakes and scorpions as a possible threat during the hike, but no sign of them. Darn!
Many of the lines were so long it was impossible to see the end and the path was so narrow we were brushing up against trees. It was very thrilling. There were a total of 8 lines at various degrees of decline and various heights. The final line was a pleasant surprise as it was impossible to see the end at the start and about half way down, I zipped out of the jungle and over the river again for another amazing view. It was worth every penny.
After the tour, we went back to the lodge for fresh fruit and ron y coke (rum and coke is apparently the typical Honduran drink). Humfrey and I ventured down to the natural pool and stood on the rock high above the river. From behind us, the man from our canaopy tour took a running leap off the rocks and plunged into the flowing river below. I was shocked when he resurface near the visibly shallow rocks. He instructed us on where to jump to land in the deep part of the river and how to ride the current to the edge. Then Humfrey and I did it. We jumped about 40 feet into the river. It was awesome and we did it 3 times each! Finally, our ride back to La Ceiba was leaving and we had to dry off and jump in the jeep. I wish that we had been able to stay the night (a dorm room is free with the tour), but Beth had to be at the airport early in the morning and she was looking forward to going out for a farewell party that evening.
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