Where the Quetzal Roam

Today my aunt and I braved a 2 and a half hour each way hike to the Rio Zacate waterfall. For me... this was a huge triumph. The swim in the waterfall at the top was just as rewarding as the view of half of La Ceiba and the surrounding pinapple plantations. But I am not writing this post to tell you about just another view, that would ellicit innumerable blogs posts every day. For our hike we had an amazing native Hodureño named Hérman guide us. As it turns out, he technically built the trail we used back in 1995! This included him carrying the timbers to be used for the massive bridges )which exist even in the last leg of the uphill trail) on his shoulders! He was also living in one of the main cities of La Ceiba when hurricane Mitch hit about 4 years back. I hadn´t previously heard much about hurricane Mitch before this trip but it is becoming an integral story to my work here. Massive amounts of cattle, horses, forrests, and people were killed leaving a rather deep scare on all of Honduras that can be easily seen today.
Hérman and his family survived in an underground shed when the storm hit and lived there without food or good water for four days until it was safe for them to come out. Each sequential story I hear about the hurricanes impact on a family or city is just as únbelievable as the previous one.
Aside from this story I also learned about the cloud forests surrounding the Pico Bonito Lodge. They are taller then you can imagine. I was questioning Herman about them and discovered that roughly the top half of the mountain rises with a 94% incline! An ineffable concept. He also explained that the steepness of this upthrust moutnain range is probably the only reason the native Quetzal population has been yet decimated by poachers.


I´ll tell you more as I learn it!