Lago De Yojoa

The powerful waterfall.  How can you see this and not give glory to God?

Another weekend trip, another adventure. 

We left bright and early on Saturday morning and started on our way to Lago De Yojoa, a beautiful lake outside of the city.  This was the perfect weekend for a get-a-way because Friday was the end of the 1st Partial and we were all in need of a break.

The trip there wasn't too bad.  Leaving at 8:00AM means that everyone is much more awake than leaving after school when every teacher is exhausted! The only problem was that I had already had a whole cup of water to drink that morning and if you know me, you know I am a frequent bathroom stopper.  Of course about 15 minutes into the drive, I could tell that I was going to need a bathroom break.  I was actually able to make it about an hour and a half before I even mentioned that I needed to stop. I tried occupying my mind and was able to learn a new card game called Uker (Landon I'm gonna have to teach you because I think you'd really like it). It worked for a little while, but I was really starting to be in pain, so about 2 hours into the trip we made a pit stop at a Burger King!  I'm pretty sure we were planning on stopping anyways, but I'm not completely sure.  The second half of the trip was much more enjoyable:-)

It was a little to chilly to go swimming for me.

We arrived at the lake around 1:30pm and unpacked our things in our quaint little cabins.  The place was pretty nice, and each cabin had a porch with chairs and a hammock.  Our cabin had a great view that looked out over the lake.  It was so peaceful and quiet, which was a nice change from the constant motorcycles and dogs barking on my street in Tegus. (Jeremy can testify to the random, loud noises that often occur while we are skyping!)

Our porch and view of the lake.

We all met back for dinner at the hotel restaurant.  They had prepared fish (yes the whole fish, eyes and all) and rice and beans for us.  After lunch we wondered around the area for a little bit and then headed back to the cabin and played Phase 10 for a couple hours out on the deck.  It was a pretty cloudy afternoon, so Phase 10 just seemed to be the perfect game to play. We followed that up by dinner together and then a time of worship and sharing our "how we came to Honduras" stories.  It was a really nice day and was perfect for unwinding.

Saturday Jen V. and I went out on a paddle boat on the lake after breakfast.  It was pretty cloudy when we left, but the sun peeked out as we paddled our way out onto the lake and we enjoyed just sitting and talking for a while in the warm sunshine.  I had forgotten how great paddle boating is for chatting with a good friend!

Now begins the real adventure.  Around 11:00am we packed up and headed out to the waterfall, which was about 30 minutes away from where we stayed.  We were told that we could take a tour of the waterfall, which consisted of walking under the waterfall and going into a cave behind it.  When we got there, it had gotten cloudy again and I was a little unsure as to whether or not I really wanted to do the tour.  Of course, it only took a second, when I saw the beautiful waterfall to decided that I DID want to do the tour.  Some of the girls who had done the tour last year when they visited, decided not to go again and told us that it was pretty intense.  I usually like intense and thrilling, so I was getting pretty excited as we headed down the mountain towards the fall.

The excitement lasted until we got to the first big rock where we had to jump into a rushing pool of water from about 10 feet up.  Still, I was  enjoying it, but I began to think "What have I gotten myself into?"  The waterfall, at this point, is really close and we are getting sprayed by the water pouring over the edge of the mountain, but still we aren't directly underneath of the waterfall....yet. 

As we continued on single file behind the tour guide, the power of the water got stronger and it was like walking inside of a tornado.  I could barely open my eyes to see where I should step next.  As we hopped from rock to rock underneath of the pouring water, my heart began to beat overtime.  I wanted more than anything to turn back, but since that wasn't an option I plowed on.  When we hopped down off a rock and were waist deep in the water, I turned back and saw Jen V. standing up against the side of the rock looking petrified.  She said she couldn't go on, and I believed her for a second, and then just grabbed her hand and told her that we HAD to keep going.  As I encouraged Jen and kept talking to her, I completely forgot about how scared I was.  At this point, the guide told us to form a chain with each other  (so that we didn't get washed away).  I just kept moving as fast as possible because I wanted to get out from underneath of that pounding water as soon as possible.

We finally reached a crevice in the side of the mountain, where the water was not hitting us directly.  A Honduran lady who was also on the tour must have seen how scared I looked, because she pulled me in as close as possible and we just held each other.  We stayed there for a minute, but then we had to keep going.  I really didn't want to, but still I knew there was no other option.  After a couple of more minutes of climbing on rocks and wading through water we made it to the cave.  However, the cave was less than I'd expected, because the entrance was just big enough for one person to fit through (barely) and it was dark and pretty tight inside.  As I sat there, waiting for everyone else to come in, I could not stop my body from shaking.  This was the first time I had ever experienced such an adrenaline rush in my life.  I was terrified, but there was no way to safety except to head back out into the waterfall just the way we had come in.

I'm not sure I would have gone back out except that again Jen told me that she wasn't going back.  That's when my courage decided to come out again, and I told her that we could do it together.  (Seriously this may sound stupid, but we really were petrified)  We went back as quickly as we could and when we finally made it out from underneath of the waterfall my emotions finally let loose.  I wanted to cry more than anything, but I held it together because I was still super excited and the adrenaline was still pumping.  It took the whole walk back to the bus for me to finally calm my nerves.  I will say that I am glad I did it, but I will NEVER do it again. 

After that experience, I don't need to do anything thrilling for quite a while!

Before we took the tour. (I'm still smiling)