This past weekend I went on my first overnight adventure. Seven of us decided that we wanted to get out of the city but didn't want to spend too much money. We had heard about some extensive caves around Catacamas which is in the department of Olancho, a few hours northeast of Tegucigalpa. However, none of the Global Brigades staff had ever been there before so were not sure what to expect. Regardless, we woke up bright and early on Saturday morning to catch one of the Discovery buses to Catacamas. Although I have only been living in Honduras for a little over two months, I have learned to thoroughly enjoy bus rides. Not only is it extremely cheap to travel by bus, but no matter where you go there is always a magnificent view. For only 120 lempiras (about $6 USD), I was able to look out my window and see the beautiful countryside of Francisco Morazan and Olancho. Although the bus had no air conditioning it didn't matter. The weather here in Honduras is absolutely perfect(in my warm weather loving opinion) and there is nothing better than having the wind blow in your face as you witness raw beauty unfold before your eyes. Since we took the direct bus it took around 3 hours to arrive at our final destination, Catacamas, with only one stop at Juticalpa.
As soon as we got off the bus we were greeted by one of the friendliest taxi drivers I met so far. Since it was almost noon we decided to get a ride to our hotel so we could drop off some of our things, grab a quick bite to eat and get started on our cave adventure. We decided to stay at Hotel Juan Carlos-about a 5 minute taxi ride away from the bus station. As financially conscious college grads, we were able to convince the manager to let us all squeeze into one room. Surprisingly, we fit 7 people quite comfortably into what was meant to be a maximum 4 person room. One of my favorite parts about my job is the people I work with. They are by far some of the most passionate, intelligent people I have ever been around and although I just met them a couple months ago I already consider them family. Needless to say, cramming 7 of us into a room was a huge part of our weekend adventure. It was quite actually quite enjoyable though and not to mention cheap. We each ended up paying 100 Lempiras which is about $5 USD for a night stay in a not too shabby hotel.
We planned on taking the bus that ran from our hotel to the caves right after we got done eating some PB&J sandwiches but we soon came to find out that the bus did not run on Saturdays (who knew?). Luckily for us we had gotten the taxi driver's number from earlier and he was more than happy to come pick us up and drive us to the park. We crammed all 7 of us into his cab (quite a site to see) and only ended up having to pay 20 lemps a person ($1 USD) for the 20 minute cab ride up to Las Cuevas de Talgua. The entrance fee into the park was 120 lemps ($6 USD) and then we hired a cave tour guide that cost 10 lemps a person (50 cents). By the time we reached the first cave it was already 2 o'clock and the caves close at 4pm so we did not have much time. The cave that we went into was absolutely breath-taking. Although I only caught bits and pieces of what the tour guide was saying (he was speaking pretty fast Spanish), we learned that although these caves have been explored by locals for decades, it wasn't until 1994 when two explorers discovered a ancient burial site within the cave. After further investigation, they estimated that the bones were from people that lived in the area between 600 and 900 AD. The cave is often called "The Cave of the Glowing Skulls" because of the way light reflects quite remarkably off the calcite deposits found on the bones. There are many theories to why these bones were buried here. One of the most common theories is that the native groups believed caves were the entrance into the spiritual world. However, many theories are still being argued and the true history behind these bones may have been lost with time.
One of the "glowing skulls" found in the cave
After we spent about an hour and a half exploring the cave we followed the Talgua River out from the cave to the riverbank where we spent a couple hours swimming in the cold but refreshing water. As we were swimming a group of Honduran campers also came to take a dip in the icy waters. We soon came to find out that one of the campers was Desiderio Reyes, one of the original explorers who first discover the "glowing skulls" in the cave. He is an archeology professor at a University here in Honduras and he was there with two other archeologists to continue their research of the caves. Too bad we couldn't convince them to take us through the restricted areas of the cave that were off limits to the public.
Once we had our fill we decided to head back to get some dinner. On our way out of the park we noticed a very enticing restaurant called Restaurante El Pedral. Since we did not much about other restaurants in Catacamas we decided to stop here for dinner. This meal was the perfect end to our day. Not only was the food the best food I have ate so far in Honduras, but the atmosphere was very inviting and people working here were again some of the nicest people I have met. Not to mention the son of our waitress, Diego, had one of the cutest puppies I have ever seen. This puppy looked like it was taken straight from a Cottonelle commercial. I ordered the medium sized fried Tilapia fish- and when they say fish, they mean the whole fish. After dinner, the waitress brought us each a piece of chocolate/strawberry/vanilla mixed birthday cake (so delicious!) from the party that was happening in the gazebo next to ours. By the time we got done eating it was dark outside and although our taxi driver offered to come pick us up, the people that owned the restaurant offered to drive us back into town. They lived in Catacamas and they assured us that it was not out of the way for them to drop us off. I am telling you that the people of Catacamas are extremely friendly, hospitable and helpful. So instead of cramming into a taxi can we were able to stretch out in the back of a pick up truck and feel the cool Honduran air blow through our hair as we traveled back to our hotel.
Restaurante El Pedral
Fried tilapia mmm mmm good
Cottonelle puppy
Once we got back to our hotel we all took showers and then went to explore the town. Much to our dismay pretty much everything in the town closes by 9:00pm so we went back to our "family- sized" hotel room and played cards until 11:00pm. By that time we were all exhausted and ended up going to bed. The next morning we woke up around 8 and ate a French toast breakfast at the hotel and then headed back up to Talgua Park to explore more of the trails and to hopefully find one of the other caves that was further up the mountain. We were told that the second cave was about a 30 minute hike up the mountain and as long as we stayed on the trial we would find it. Easy enough right? Since we had a tour guide the day before we wanted to be able to explore this cave on our own so we opted out of hiring one. After two hours of hiking up some pretty steep hills, there were no caves in site. Although we stayed on the path, there were a couple forks where had to chose which way to go. We apparently chose the wrong way and ended up turning back before we found the second cave. All was not lost though. The hike was very satisfying - everywhere you looked there was another breath-taking view to soak up. I tried my best to capture the views on film, but pictures never can capture the complete beauty.
On our way down from the hike we found an even better swimming hole than the day before and spent a few hours soaking up the sun. We were told by many that the last bus to Tegucigalpa left at 5 so around 2:30 we headed back to our favorite restaurant to grab a bite to eat. The food was so good that most of us ordered the exact same thing we had eaten the night before. I ventured out though and got the garlic shrimp instead of the friend tilapia. It was also very tasty.
After lunch, we called our favorite taxi driver and crammed into his cab one last time. We arrived at the bus station around 4:40with plenty of time to spare. To our dismay the last direct bus departed at 4:15 and our only option was to take the last indirect bus that left at 5. Although the ticket was 40 lemps cheaper, the bus ride was two hours longer. Instead of making only one stop it made about 20 and what was supposed to be a 3 hour bus ride turned into a 5 hour bus ride. It was ok though because I was extremely tired and was able to sleep almost the entire way back.
It was a really great two day vacation from the city. The entire trip cost around $35 including travel, lodging, park entrance fees and food- pretty good right? And now that I have written down almost every detail of trip, I know I will never forget it :).
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