L is for Lago Yojoa

The first weekend after I moved to Honduras a few fellow teachers and I took a weekend trip to Lago Yojoa. We were in pursuit of the famous D and D Brewery we had read and heard so much about.  Beer was not exactly heralded as a craft in Honduras and finding a brewery in the country was a treat. It was apparently owned by a retired deadhead from Oregon and I was eager to meet him.

The trip there involved several bus rides and random stops and switches. I was the only one who spoke any kind of Spanish, and I remember being happy about not having lost the little Spanish I knew in my year back in the states between Chile and Honduras.  It was an interesting feeling having the other teachers depend on me to get us there. I still remember thinking it was a GD miracle we made it. But, we did.

Once there, we met Bob, the owner of the brewery and hotel.  He was everything I’d imagined and set us up with rooms and then beers, all while The Grateful Dead was playing through the speakers in the restaurant.  There are rare treats when you live abroad- finding a micro brew and some Dead were up there with the best of them. I was pretty sure I was in heaven and vowed to come here often in the year I’d be in Honduras. Though, I never did make it back.

Bob showed us the different tours, and hikes and fishing we could do in the area while we started on our second brew.  He told us about the Pulhapanzak Falls that were close to the lake.  And so, as all good travelers do, we changed plans, forgetting about the lake preferring the adventure Bob was selling in his description of the falls, which including a climb behind the waterfall and a cave off of it.

At the falls, we found a young boy, maybe 12 or 13 years old to lead us through the falls.  It was one of the scariest, most thrilling things I’ve ever done.  Walking through the falling water, so thick you are basically swimming, holding your breath, closing your eyes, climbing into the cave for a little refuge from the falls, exiting back out and standing completely under and behind the falls as they tumble into the pool at the bottom. It was a surreal feeling. Rarely do you get the chance to stand behind a fall and look out from that vantage point as the water crashes in the pool and carries on. I’ve never been more happy to veer off course than I was that day at Pulhapanzak Falls.