This should be a post about whitewater kayaking on the mighty Rio Cangrejal. This should be a post about getting thrashed on a giant Class V river. This should be a post about how we’ve completely upped our kayaking skills in do or die situations. Instead this is a post about how we enjoyed the chance to play in nature for a few days, and save a few bucks at the same time, because the river was about 5 meters (reminder, that’s 15 feet) too low.

We arrived here at the lodge of Omega Tours early in the morning prepared to hit the river. We started asking questions about the river and realized that on account of the low water, the usual run was shortened to less than 3 kilometers…about an hour of boney, pain in the ass whitewater. Unable to justify spending that much money (it was a little expensive for our long term adventurer budget) we passed on the kayaking and spent a few days hanging out at the lodge and Pico Bonito National Park.

With temperatures probably in the 90s, we headed out on an uphill hike around the property through orange groves and jungle. Led by the lodge’s very fat Rotweiler who was more interested in chasing pigs and swimming in the streams than in actually showing us the right way, we huffed and puffed our way up and down the mountain. Hoping to cool off we headed down to the Rio Cangrejal for a quick dip. Met by a group of Hondurans at the river, we splashed around in the strong current and watched rafts squeeze through rocks no more than a yard apart.

Usually when we find USAID projects the money has paid for nothing more than some tourist brochures for a local travel company…however Pico Bonito park was paid for by USAID (which probably costs a fraction of what our national parks cost). Complete with a very fun suspension bridge, we hiked through the jungle for what seemed like hours until we came to a beautiful waterfall. Hiking in the jungle of Honduras is about as hot and humid as it gets and the weather coupled with limited food and water made us hustle back to the lodge.

Our Swiss friends, Eton and Myeka, who we met at the CA CS meetup joined us at the lodge that night and we spent the following day swimming, climbing, caving, falling, and sliding our way upstream. We swam rapids, climbed over some as well, and generally had a great time playing against the current.

At the lodge we slept in the ‘Grand Tent’ which cost us a mere $7 a night and has space for all our stuff and a double bed…sweet! Falling asleep to the sounds of the jungle and having flushing toilets and working showers just meters away…. life is good.