By Liz L., guest blogger studying Spanish in Honduras
This past weekend I was planning to go scuba diving in Keys of Cochino, an island just off the coast of Honduras, but because of the storm, I had to change my plans. My friends and I chose to go birdwatching in a kayak instead in the nearby jungle. We all met in the morning at the school, covered ourselves with bug spray and then loaded up into an old Toyota truck. The drive was nice – the guide had a lot of knowledge of the local flora and fauna and told us all about the plants we saw as well passed them.
We drove into a small village and a young boy hopped onto the truck with us. He would serve as our helper as we got into our kayaks. I love rafting. I love going up and down the river, but I had never used a kayak before, so there was a bit of a learning curve for me. I was not very fast nor was I able to turn very quickly, but with a bit of time I managed to figure it out.
We paddled into a huge lagoon that connected to the sea on the far end. As paddled toward an opening that led back into the jungle, I imagined what sort of animals lived in these waters. I imagined sharks and the occasional dolphin swimming into the lagoon for a bite to eat and crocodiles. Then we pushed away from the main lagoon into a quiet passage. All senses of civilization drifted away as we passed the huge, ancient mangrove trees. Small yellow birds flew around us and even a large heron passed silently in front of us. A couple of times gigantic blue butterflies, morpheras, fluttered serenely past us.
We navigated around the huge root systems of the mangroves and hanging branches until Hector made a huge, deep-throated screech. Seconds later, he received a response and called out again. We looked up and saw a huge monkey staring down at us from the branches. The monkey howled at us again and a second monkey climbed up near him. Hector responded to the monkey´s call and a second monkey answered from somewhere deep within the jungle. Contentedly, we leaned back in our kayaks and listened to Hector and the monkeys.
After ten or twenty minutes, we decided to row a little further upstream to see what animals we could find. A few minutes later, Heather and Guy gasped in astonishment and the guide cried out, "Cocodrilo!" The crocodile dashed across the river quickly, more scared of us than we were of it and hid in the brushes. I smiled in its direction, but I had to admit that the presence of such a powerful creature nearby made me a little nervous. "Don´t worry," the guide said, "He only kills once a year and he did that yesterday." We all chuckled softly and continued downstream.
We didn´t see any other animals after the crocodile, but we heard them, movements in the bushes and splashes in the water. We returned in silence, the low light and quiet almost a religious experience. Upon reaching the open lagoon we paddled toward the sea where low clouds hung down and the waters crashed angrily against the shore. We docked and got out to explore, and enjoy a snack of fresh pineapple.
A few minutes into exploring, I discovered a huge spider. I watched it for a few moments, curious about its type and mesmerized by the spots and splashes of color on its body. Its body reminded me of a little mask and I tugged at its web carefully. The web shuddered slightly but didn´t break and then the light changed slightly – the web began to glow a soft golden color. The guide told me the web gave the spider its name – Golden Web Spider.
The wind began to blow and rain began to fall as the hurricane began to get closer and we had to leave. Almost as soon as we had gotten into our kayaks and had started paddling back across the lagoon, the rain started to pour down. After all the exertion of paddling, the large drops felt wonderful against my skin and I pulled my hat back so the rain would fall onto my head too. ¡Que fabuloso!
The guide stayed with me as I rowed back and watched the others disappear into the entrance to the lagoon near several small docks. I didn´t mind being the slowest – there was something primal about powering myself across the lagoon in the middle of a storm. As I approached the docks, my experience almost ended in calamity! Although I had more or less gotten the hang of controlling the kayak in open water, I wasn´t very good at doing it in an enclosed space and made a wrong turn. The kayak´s nose crashed into the dock and leapt upwards and sideways – flipping upside down suddenly became a very real concern and I couldn´t help but think of the crocodile from earlier.
Luckily, the guide was right behind me and managed to right me before I flipped over completely. That definitely got my heart pounding! We laughed as he helped guide me back. I think Hector read my mind as I got out of the kayak. "Let´s go have lunch!" he said.
Later, we went to a Garifunta restaurant. The Garifuntas are a community of people who are the descendants of slaves that now live in several villages in Honduras. They´re well-known for their delicious foods. Hector and I shared snail soup and fried fish with fried plantain chips. Heather and Guy had snail soup, salad, French fries and garlic shrimp. I think I could eat that soup everyday. As they say here in Honduras, "Que rica!"
Discover more about studying Spanish in Honduras
Read all of Liz's blogs from La Ceiba
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