Day 18: Pico Bonito

So, today was one of those goal-accomplishing days that just makes me light up with joy. Cynthia (another sister of Sol's) came in to visit us this weekend. She is absolutely amazing, just like the rest of her sisters, except she's my age and loves to do all of the adventure kind of things (like going to ruins, hiking mountains, jumping off bridges) that I like to do.

She came in and immediately decided that we had to hike Pico Bonito this weekend. Pico Bonito is this little mountain near La Ceiba that is protected by the government and houses some of the best waterfalls, river rafting, flora and fauns that Honduras has to offer.

So, we got up about 7, drove out there with Fito and Sol, and began our journey. I saw parrots, the largest blue butterflies I have ever seen, and the longest falling waterfall I have ever seen in my life. It was about a two hour hike in and about an hour out. We had to cross a long cable bridge over the hugest rocks I have ever seen, that makes the Ocoee River look like chump change. Since, rainy season just ended, all of the waterfalls were at their streaming peak. We hiked down the base and were drenched from the spray and we were a good 40 feet away from it still. From the waterfall you can see through the trees to the shore, out to the key islands, which was a positively breathtaking view. Jungle, waterfall, beach AND island all in one... This is seriously my kind of paradise.











After hiking down the mountain. (Let's recap: This is officially the third mountain in the third country I have climbed in the past year alone. YAY!) We crossed back over the cable bridge (this time in a rickety little cable car that Cynthia and I found that Celeste and Paulette refused to join us in) and asked the guy standing there when the bus would be coming along. The buses run funny in the mountains and he said it could be anywhere form an hour to two hours. So, we started walking down the 10 mile long road to try and get to La Ceiba, thinking we would just eventually catch a bus that was passing by.... didn't happen. We walked about two miles before a couple of men in a car that I can only describe as the adventurer's dream car happened by and offered us four lovely ladies a lift.

We hopped up in the back next to a Irish scuba diving teacher and a German professional traveler and had lots of laughs and good conversation on the way back to La Ceiba, and will hopefully soon, be going to visit said scuba instructor for lessons and free dives. :)

The drove us all the way back to La Ceiba (kind gents!) where we hopped on a bus to go home. This was my first Latin American bus ride, so I was immensely excited! It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, not really crowded, no one tried to take my bag and it cost us just a little more than a dollar to ride. It was a perfect kind of day.