where to next?

I haven't been much for bucket lists, but I do make lists! My longest list is "where to next?" or places I want to travel. This list includes many global destinations, but since coming to Honduras, there have been many in-country spots added to the list. It can be a challenge to try new things and stick within the budget, but since the beginning of the year, I have been priveleged to go several places that have been on my Honduras list:

January: Cayos Cochinos (tropical keys off the coast), Sambo Creek
March: PANACAM mountain lodge, near the lake
April: Celaque National Park, Gracias, Lempira (tallest mountain in Honduras)

This past weekend, Henry and I went with our friends Daniela and Humberto to hike part of Celaque and camp for one night (Celaque means "box of waters" in Lenca indigenous language, for all its rivers) . We made some lists to prepare (of course, the Hondurans thought our lists were crazy but were happy when we had LOTS of food!) and left Saturday morning from Santa Rosa. The trip was about 2 hours in car to get to the park, and then a few hours of hiking up to the campsite.

making good time, so we stop for a sweaty picture

The guide told us the hike is usually 2 hours to the campsite, most foreigners take at least 3, and some even more. We are proud to say we made it in 2.5 hours...the guide was even impressed with the gringas and how serious we were (ha!).

It was a strenuous hike, and carrying pound of supplies (tents, mangoes, cucumbers, hot dogs, liters of water, just to name a few...) only made it tougher.

Looking back at the climb, I think the altitude change affected us a lot more than we planned! To give you an idea:

• Santa Rosa is approximately 1,150 meters (3,773 ft) above sea level. One of the highest cities in Honduras (yes, even higher than Teguc)!
• The elevation of Gracias (town nearest Celaque) is at 800m (2600 ft) elevation. 
• I can't be sure what point we started at, but the trail was 2.8 km, ever upward, and we camped at 1,940 meters (6,364 ft).

So, even if we didn't start at zero...we started lower than where Santa Rosa is and ended 800m higher than where we live. I just read on Wikipedia that "Celaque’s terrain is very rugged, two-thirds of the area has a slope greater than 60 degrees." It was an incredible climb, but we didn't even go all the way to the top! Even so, we had a good time and were happy to make it to our campsite on Saturday afternoon. We enjoyed a rain shower, building and rebuilding fire, eating lots of hot dogs, making smores with peeps and enjoying the fresh air together. 

happy to be at the campsite!

hot dogs!

So this is part one of "where to next?" Stay tuned for a Part II coming soon.