A Good Honduran Day

There are some other “gringos” (North Americans) who live in town, and I guess I had mentioned that I had gone to some caves up in the mountains, so they had asked me to take them there. Well, I was pretty sure I wouldn’t be able to find the caves again on my own, so I called up my friend M and asked him if he would take us.

In Honduras, everything takes longer than it ought to. Hondurans know that in the scheme of things, another 15-30 minutes more really doesn’t matter. M said, sure let’s go, but then when we went by to pick him up, he said, well, actually I don’t really remember where they are…let me call a friend… Long story short, 1 ½ hours of wild goose chase later, we head off with M’s dad (to give you an idea of the extent of this chase: at one point, the mayor was called). We decide, since we have a car, to go to some caves that are farther away, maybe ½ hr drive? (there are more than 20 caves in my municipality) Being lucky enough to have a car, we are asked to run a small errand on the way (½ hr drive turns into almost an hour). We were told it would then be a 1 km walk (translate: 3 km). And then afterwords, there would be a good, deep swimming hole nearby (translate: fairly shallow river). Right before we leave (by now, around 11 AM), the gringos inform me that they have to be back in town by 2:00. Ha! We got back at 6:30.

BUT, the walk was gorgeous!!! The caves were amazing!!! And the swimming was so fun!!!

This river had a medium current, I would say, and was just deep enough that if you were careful, you could float… so we went “rafting” down the river. Maybe not the safest activity – the current flipped me head over heels twice, I got a little banged up on the rocks, and I was somehow nominated guardian of M’s sister, who was not a very confident swimmer. But it was so much fun – like a natural water park ride. And then farther down the river we found some delightfully chilly waterfalls feeding into the river, and a swimming hole that might have been deep enough to jump into (I decided I had tested my luck enough already and didn’t try).

This is why I love Honduras, despite the tendency to bend the truth and not keep track of time. It's gorgeous and natural and untouched...and having fun doesn't have to involve paying to be entertained...