Sometimes it’s about the journey not the destination. Bumping around in the back of an overloaded Toyota pick up truck on our way into “the heart of darkness” was not my idea of fun. Maybe that’s a bit dramatic, but I couldn’t get Conrad’s book out of my head. We were going into the heart of Central America’s largest wilderness and it was certainly a journey.
We had been pretty “vanilla” in our travels up until Honduras. We hadn’t really gone off the beaten path yet. As we got our travel legs we became more and more adventurous, staying at places not listed in the guidebook, taking guidebook suggestions with a grain of salt and relying on word of mouth recommendations from other travelers above everything else. In Honduras we finally hit our travel stride and took a sharp turn off the beaten path.
By sharp turn I mean we decided to go to “La Mosquitia”, which Wikipedia kindly refers to as: an underdeveloped region of tropical rainforest accessible primarily by water and air. By primarily they mean only by air and water. See, it’s about the journey.
I’ll admit that I was not thrilled when we decided to launched off into the Mosquito Coast, the coastline is heavily used by drug traffickers and it was starting to be rainy season. Torrential downpours, underdeveloped jungle, mud and mosquitos? I’d seen this in a movie before, and trust me it wasn’t a pleasant situation.
I quickly realized my opinion would hold very little sway when we met a solo traveler who had just returned from the region. He enthusiastically gave us all the information we needed and although Danny asked if I was interested in going, I saw that glinting “Indian Jones” spirit in his eyes and decided to quietly squelch my concerns. In the words of a famous fitness retailer I decided to “Just Do It.”
So there we were, bouncing along in the back of a pick up truck, wedged between bottles of Coca-Cola. To say it was an adventure getting into the heart of La Mosquitia is an understatement.
My memories are akin to someone experiencing trauma. Thinking of that journey is like reliving a painful experience and my mind has successfully blocked out all but part of it. I have distinct memories of choking on the dust in the back of the truck, of the intense heat and the physical discomfort. Of riding back to civilization atop the truck’s gear shifter in the cab, of a driver who had been deported a few times from the U.S. telling me how bad the State Police are in Georgia. Our time in La Mosquitia was an exotic adventure (definitely worth a read, click here for Part 1 and Part 2), but it was really more about the journey than the destination. Once there we hiked in torrential downpours and experienced the jungle in rainy season, not something I’d recommend.
Spanish has a phrase vale la pena which loosely translates to be worth it, to be worthwhile. It’s one of my favorite idioms in Spanish. La Mosquitia was our first turn off the beaten track and although the journey is what I’ll remember the most, I can’t help but look back on it and ask myself again was it vale la pena? Even two years later I can say yes. The journey was vale la pena.
IF YOU GO: The entire eastern coastline of Central America is tropical jungle and although we went rather remote, you don’t have to go deep into La Mosquitia to experience the jungle. Winter is the perfect time to go to the jungle so if you’re spending the holidays in Cancun, it may be worth it to take some extra time and overland the coastline. Traveling through Belize and into Honduras is relatively easy and there’s a lot to do. We learned how to SCUBA dive on Utila, which was an enjoyable way to spend a week and also went to a couchsurfing meet up. We arranged our transport into La Mosquitia along the way from La Ceiba and you should be able to get information in La Ceiba on the trip.
Sounds like an intense adventure, I really do hope valió la pena!
Great to know that it was vale la pena! We recently experienced a similar adventure in Ladakh so I totally know what you mean! Despite the ruggedness and physical discomfort of the trip, the journey was worthwhile 🙂
Exactly, the journey was worthwhile in spite of the trip itself!
Wow, that sounds like the journey from hell! Quite an adventure, though, and something you can look back on and (hopefully) laugh about! 🙂
Oh we already look back and laugh. In the moment there was nothing to do but continue- what else could we have done? I can tell you though, I wasn’t looking forward to the return journey. When we got to back to “town” we spent the night in a hotel with a swimming pool- it was heaven!
I hate mosquitoes. Unfortunately, they love me. I might need a blood transfusion if I did this! 🙂
You, traveling chica and Danny should form a mosquito blood transfusion club! 🙂
Very adventurous; sounds exciting!
Thanks! Sorry your comment was spammed by the way, but it has been rescued!
heard some pretty good things about la mosqutia, but unfortunately never got the chance to go during my year in honduras. still loving reading more vale la pena stories, so one day ill get back and do it!
also, riding in the back of a pick-up was seriously one of my favourite things to do. glad im not the only one.
I love the freedom of riding in the back of a pick up, but this ride was too long, too crowded and too bumpy. A year in Honduras must have been interesting. We spent nearly a month there all in, I feel like we hardly covered the place!
I was eaten alive by mosquitoes when I was in Honduras. There was no way I was going to a place known as “The Mosquito Coast.” 🙂
But this definitely looks like a journey you guys will never forget. I also like that Spanish phrase.
Danny too was eaten alive by mosquitos in Honduras. I’ve developed a theory that certain people just seem to attract them, you guys must be sweeter than the rest!
Vale la pena — love it!
The Mosquito Coast reminds me of a horrible highly-strung woman I used to work with. She was called “the mosquito” behind her back — because when she started buzzing around you just felt like slapping her. A place named after her — no thanks!
Haha, I hope I don’t have any nicknames like that!
Interesting. Glad it was you and not me. Not my kind of adventure. Like the TV show LOST is lost on me. Not my idea of travel. A tent in a campground works for me. Going off the beaten trail still had a trail. Sounds like you had a wonderful time.
Great point! Going off the beaten trail still had a trail! To be fair, there was a rustic set up of homestay’s at the other end. They were quite comfortable and clean for being in the middle of the jungle- even had mosquito nets!