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Saturday, August 20, 2011

Lago Yojoa, Pulhapanzak Waterfall, and Taulabe Caves

Ah, Honduras.  What a pristine, beautiful landscape you have!  That's one thing about this country - there are incredible sites to see, and for the most part, for much cheaper prices than other Central American countries.  The only thing is Honduras doesn't know how to market what it has to attract tourism!  It's really a shame that there's so much natural beauty here and not a lot of foreigners know about it.  I've slowly been crossing sites off a mental list of places to see.  Each visit has been a great adventure with unique unforgettable memories and I hope that stays true for the remaining places.  

The last weekend in June I went on a long-awaited trip to Lago Yojoa (Lake Yojoa) with my best girl friends in PC.  We stayed at Agua Azul and had our own 3 bedroom cabin complete with balcony right on the lake.  Other than the ever-present mosquitoes, the place was beautiful.  It's one of the nicest budget hotels to stay at, and there weren't too many other people there either so we were free to blast our music and have a dance party if we wanted.  The hotel has a gorgeous restaurant with optional outside seating on a deck that overlooks the lake, and has a pool table as well.  There were several activity options too, like canoe, kayak, pedal-boat, swimming pool with slide, etc but we only ended up using the pool, which in itself was refreshing!

Photo Credit: Morgaine Belanger
One of the days we headed to Pulhapanzak Waterfall, a popular tourist destination here and the largest waterfall in Honduras at 140 feet.  Beforehand though, we ate breakfast at D&D Brewery, and I was extremely pleased to find that they served BLUEBERRY pancakes!!


It is nearly impossible to find blueberries in this country, but they were there, and they were absolutely delicious.  Two backpacker girls wanted to join us on our way to the waterfall, so we went together in a friend's car.  The place has zip-lining, swimming, and a guided tour behind the waterfall.  We opted for the tour, which I heard from others was an intense feel-like-you're-drowning experience not to be missed.  The tour guide lead us down to a swimming hole which we jumped into from the rocks and enjoyed that for a bit before starting the treacherous walk through and behind the waterfall into the small cave.  We all had to join hands, tilt our heads down chin-to-chest, and breathe through our mouths as the water pounded on us and we navigated through varying depths of water on slippery stone.  The cave fit about 15 people, so there was enough space for my group.  It was dark and damp, but was the perfect refuge for a brief respite before heading back out.  As we waded back through the water, the guide mentioned we could jump from a 30 foot ledge if we wanted.  I excitedly made my way to the jump off point, felt a brief pang of fear as I brought myself to the edge, and quickly jumped off, crashing into the water below.  It was a great adrenaline rush, and the whole tour made for an unforgettable experience.



After our lake trip, some of us headed to the Taulabe Caves and did the guided tour of 400 meters.  The caves have been explored up to 12 km, but still nobody knows exactly where they end at.


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