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Honduras: Health and well being:
Health is one thing we all take for granted if we have it. While on the road and away from good health insurance it’s a matter of survival. The only health insurance cavegirl and I can afford is a $5K deductible world health insurance that is only good in the USA if we spend at least 6 months out of the USA (what da heck), meaning we are on our own unless we get into an accident or something really bad and if that happens within the first 6 months we have to get taken care of in the country we are in (woo).
OK, we are in a really nice hotel in Honduras, a sign in every hall says “Purified ice is in the hallway” There is an ice machine right next to a rack of purified water jugs. Great, Heidi and I celebrate finally having ice the first night, pop and water with plenty of ice. Later that day we walked uptown and ate at a fancy fast food place, which we don’t normally do. Later in the evening I got sick. Heidi also didn’t feel well. We blew it off thinking it’s the greasy chicken we ate that made us sick. The next day Heidi had a bad headache and I had a little one, I also had what felt like an ear infection. We have some super strong antibiotics for traveler’s diarrhea and we were told that we can use them for general infections also, like penicillin. I started taking the antibiotics that day for my ear. It started feeling a little better. Heidi continued to drink plenty of water and pop with ice and got sicker and sicker. We tried to theorize what she got sick from, nothing made sense because we both ate the same food and I felt fine. While filling up another pitcher of ice for Heidi I inspected the ice machine. The fricken ice machine is not connected to purified water but is connected to the regular city water line with just a cheesy little water filter attached in-line that says (Ice-O-Matic) I know about water filters for camping and for salt water sailboats and I know that maybe this filter worked OK for the first few gallons of water but after that it needs to be replaced. I’m sure the filter has never been replaced for years and the sign that says “Purified ice” is from the company who sold the Hotel the ice machine and filter, All Bogus. Well we are both on traveler’s diarrhea antibiotics now. My ear infection is slowly getting better and Heidi is slowly getting better also. Lesson learned: Always question the source of drinking water AND ICE. Without our health we have nothing……..
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All in all our stay in El Progreso was pleasant and we enjoyed ourselves. At midnight between Christmas Eve and Christmas day the town started blowing off fireworks. We thought this was cool. A memory flashed in my head of when I was very young and my Mother and I went out onto our airing porch at midnight on New Years and listened to the fireworks. It’s unreal how sounds or smells can re-enact vivid memories that are over 40 years old. My head felt a tingle…..
Lago de Yojoa:
OK, the day after Christmas we decided to shoot for Lago de Yojoa and hunker down until after the holidays, this is the biggest and one of the most beautiful lakes in Honduras. We tried to get reservations at the D & D brewery / bed and breakfast on the north side of the lake. We never got any response from our on-line reservation request and the phone was always busy. This kind of concerned us because our guide book says all the hotels around the lake tend to fill up over the weekends and holidays.
The highway out of El Progreso is in fantastic shape with beautiful scenery, huge fields of tall sugarcane with tassels on top lined by big volcanic rolling hills. Even though the highways are in good shape you still need to keep a good lookout, there is always the possibility of a man-eater pot hole and Honduras is no exception. The ride was uneventful…..
At Lago de Yojoa we cruise the entire length of the lake looking for the recommended hotels we saw in the guide book. The eastern side of the lake is lined with dozens and dozens of restaurants. We stop for some lunch and a closer look at the guide book.
After inspecting the guide book we discovered we need to go back to the north end of the lake and turn off the main road. The only directions we had was that the D & D hotel is 2.5 Km from the town Pena Blanca. The only problem is that there are four possible roads it could be on. Of course we find it on our fourth attempt but we were happy we did find it. The D & D was cute, a tropical jungle feel with a swimming pool and a micro brewery. We were not happy with the bike security situation and the owner did not give us a ‘warm fuzzy’ feeling about it, plus it was not even close to the lake so we headed back to another hotel we saw along the way.
Hotel Agua Azul. What a score, this place is right on the water and we get the cabin that is closest to the lake.
Heidi and are from one of the biggest tourist areas in Northern Wisconsin filled with lakeside fishing resorts. If Hotel Agua Azul was in the Hayward lakes area it for sure would be one of the most popular resorts around. The fishing is great, the resort has a swimming pool, a huge deck overlooking the lake and surrounding hills with pool tables, a restaurant and bar.
View from the deck
A few shots of the lake
There are a lot of fun things to do around the area. On our second day we take off on foot looking for a waterfall.
The first pickup truck that comes along stops to give us a lift. How nice and the driver wouldn’t accept any money for the ride.
The only directions we had to the waterfall is that the trailhead is close to the town San Buenaventura. San Buenaventura is not any map we have so we just had to guess. The pickup truck drops us off at the town Pena Blanca. There we ask a taxi driver if he could take us to San Buenaventura, $5.50 and he drops us off right at the trailhead.
A few shots of Palhapanzak, a 443 m waterfall along the Rio Lindo.
On the way back we stop for lunch at Pena Blanca. We order chicken tacos. Funny looking tacos but they were big and tasted good. Two plates of food and soda for under $5.00.
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