dcglobejotters

We traveled to Honduras with our dear friends, Kelby and Gretchen, many moons ago. If you’re looking for an adventurous, beautiful, nearby (if you live in the States, that is), and affordable country, then Honduras just might be the perfect place for your next travel escapade. Much more about Honduras in future posts…promise.

One of the highlights of our trip to Honduras was without question our ecotour throughout the outskirts of Copan (stay tuned for a future post about these ancient Mayan ruins). This eight-hour tour was one of the greatest, albeit most grueling and physical tours we have ever done, all for a whopping $25/person (I told you–Honduras is super affordable). We met our tour guides (machetes and rifles in hand) bright and early in the center of town, boarded their jeep, and set forth on our adventure.

After about thirty minutes, we arrived at a (family member’s?) house where we parked and were instructed to wash up and use the restroom…the last real restroom we’d be seeing for a while. I will never forget walking into this generous family’s home: their humble living conditions of dirt floors, no electricity, and sparse furnishings. They had so little, yet so graciously welcomed us into their home, offering the very little that they had. Every time I think about our trip to Honduras, I think about this moment. Absolutely heartbreaking, but at the same time, their act of kindness did wonders in restoring my faith in humanity. Sometimes moments stay with you. This was definitely one of these moments.

We proceeded to put our lunch orders in. This was at a time when I still ate meat, but even as an unapologetic carnivore, something didn’t quite feel right as I ordered my arroz con pollo while being surrounded by squawking chickens. Ten years later and the very thought of this still makes we throw up a little bit in my mouth. Yuck.

Our quick pitstop at this wonderful and welcoming family’s home

Our trek through the jungle commenced and we began hiking the muddy and treacherous trails over the next two hours. This was definitely a challenging hike and the muddy terrain was not easy to navigate–T especially had some difficulty and I feel like every ten minutes, we were turning around because T was slippin’ and a-slidin’ down some hill and bringing half of the trees down with him! My face still hurts from laughing.

Our intrepid guides

And yes, T gave me full permission to use these photos. Come on, I’m not that mean.

And for the sake of true transparency…I may have done a bit of slippin’ and a-slidin’ myself. Much more gracefully, of course. 

When we finally reached our first destination–a hidden cave– we were given headlamps and began exploring. I happen to love spelunking* so I was thrilled to be in my element, even if that meant that we were constantly touching and falling into slimy, mucky, slippery, disgusting bat sh*t the entire time.  Crap. Somehow I find myself wanting to throw up in my mouth for the second time in fifteen minutes. Awesome.

Sporting skinny-arm while spelunking? You better believe it. T seems a bit unsure.

Once we exited the cave, we were rewarded with beautiful lagoons, winding streams and endless waterfalls where we happily took a much needed break and cooled off for a bit.

Yep, that bald bundle of beauty you see here is no other than my husband. He’s kind of adorable. 

After our much-deserved swimming break, we made the long and exhausting trek back. Unquestionably the most memorable and exhilarating ecotour we have ever been on–one for the books for sure!

*I’m not kidding when I say that I love spelunking. I’m actually kind of obsessed with caves. What? You’re surprised? I don’t strike you as someone who loves caves? Well you see, my love affair with caves began many many years ago during childhood trips to Crystal Cave, a fantastic cave system near Kutztown, Pennsylvania, not too far from my hometown. I have loved caves, stalagmites, stalactites, bat sh*t and all, ever since.

Disclaimer: I have no idea if Crystal Cave is actually amazing, or even good for that matter–I haven’t been since I was like nine–and isn’t everything kind of amazing when you’re nine? I mean, when my third graders are given green paper to solve their math problems, it’s practically the best day of their lives.  So, who knows if Crystal Cave is really all that great?!  But in my memories,  it is among the greatest places on Earth. So let’s just stick with that, shall we? 

Planning Your Ecotour:

I wish I had the name of our tour company (I use the word company generously) to share. The truth of the matter is we met these guys the night before and impulsively booked this tour for the next morning. Were we foolish and too trusting? Perhaps. But sometimes the best experiences in life happen this way…certainly no regrets on our parts, only incredible memories.

Below is a link that might help with your future Copan adventures. Sorry–this is seriously all I got.

Copan Tourism

And well, if you can’t make it to the caves in Honduras, surely Pennsylvania is the next best thing.

Crystal Cave

You’re welcome.

We traveled to Honduras in Summer 2006.