Pulhapanzak

May 2nd we headed off on an adventure to Pulhapanzak--a famous Honduran waterfall about two/three hours from where we live. Our first bus left late (no surprise), so I think we got out of town around 7:30am. After passing the lake that's about an hour and a half away, we caught a mini bus to La Guama, and then another mini bus from La Guama to Pena (just imagine the little symbol over the n there...) Blanca.

This is what greeted us when we got off our third and final bus on the journey there. We walked about 15 minutes down this dirt road until we reached the park. This was the only crowded moment we had. Mostly, the road was completely empty.

We were all glad to be done with the buses for a while!

So I didn't get a picture of it specifically...but right behind this sign, see the squirrel sign? Super funny. There is a small canopy area with lots of squirrels. Squirrels are apparently a BIG deal here :). These people need to visit Union College some time. Anyway, in case that isn't funny enough, they also mention that you can have group parties there too. Birthday party at the squirrel canopy anyone??

It didn't take long for us to change, find a guide, store our stuff, and head to the falls. Talk about picturesque!

We went down stairs for about 5 minutes until we reached this lookout point. Beyond this, you had to have a guide. We asked Rafael if it was dangerous. He said yes. Then we asked him if anyone had ever been seriously hurt. He said 20 people have died in the eleven years he has been giving tours. Then he told us he was joking, and that he was the best safest guide ever (well, that's my version of what he said, translated for your convenience). He also told us our lives were in his hands. Oh boy. Without any instructions, he unlocked the gate and let us start climbing up the "trail". There wasn't anything marked, but there was an obvious worn down path. The rocks were perfect for climbing. I would have more pictures, but for some reason Blogger doesn't like to load my pictures. That's why this blog is so late :P. I finally gave up. I wish I could have posted more pictures, but these will have to do. Oh, and I would like to take this time to clarify--yes, Rafael is 100% Honduran, and he only spoke a little English. Some Hondurans are as white as me!

About this time I started jumping around exclaiming, "THIS IS SO COOL!!! I CAN'T BELIEVE WE'RE HERE! ISN'T THIS AWESOME?! FEEL SMALL!" Ah. Times like these when you know I'm the young one in the group :) lol. You maybe can't see them now, but there were little rainbows everywhere we looked.

The "mist" was not as light as it looks. Before we went into this Rafael told us to only look down and only breath through our mouths. And off we were!

Holding hands for dear life! We couldn't see a thing.

Before reaching this little cave, or as he called it the "home of the anaconda", we stopped in a little alcove right behind the falls. It was SO awesome. Throughout the trip, Rafael would let out these random "WOOOHOOO!" screams. About this time I started to follow suit, because it really did help me feel brave.

We took a slightly different pathway out of the falls, and it was a lot less scary than the way in. Although I was never too terrified since we were are all holding hands.

On the way back we jumped from a higher point. on the way in we jumped from the other side of this little water fall, but it was much shorter.

Just when we thought it was pretty much over, Rafael asked if we wanted to jump from here. I kind of thought he was joking. He said we would only hit the rocks "a little". But alas, he wasn't joking. So I said yes wondering what damage hitting the rocks "a little" could do, and Ashley and Emily agreed to jump too. Then he jumped. I went next. I counted "UNO, DOS, TRES!" and then hurled myself dramatically off the ledge with a scream. I remember having a brief moment on the fast trip downward where I wondered if I had managed to jump far enough away from the edge. Good news, I had. When I hit the water I kind of cut into it and went horizontal. I thankfully did not hit the rocks at all. When I came to the surface, Rafael was right there telling me to grab his hand. I was sputtering, had water up my nose, and a little shocked. He was asking me if I liked it, I think all I could do was smile and nod like a bobble-head. I think this was about 25 feet from the water.

And once again, when we thought the tour was over, Rafael went above (literally) and beyond :). He took us to the very top of the falls to look down. Being the gentleman that he is, he held our hands one at a time while we took turns looking over the falls. This was pretty much my favorite thing I've done in Honduras! Such an awesome one-of-a-kind experience. Rafael was the perfect guide. He took good care of us and really went all out on the tour. He told us normally the tours are only about 20 minutes long, especially in the busy tourist seasons. What a blessing! I will never forget this trip.