The Travelling Teacher: Honduras - Hard to Pronounce, Easy to Like

March 31-April 2

Hello everyone!

Honduras is the second-largest country in Central America (México doesn't get included). It means some long drives to get to its special places, even if we struggled to pronounce them once there.

Pulhapanzak Falls

Lake Yojoa

This time we were heading northeast, towards Lake Yojoa. To do that, we had to drive…southeast. Big mountain range in the way.

Part of our drive was on La Ruta Lenca

Copan and Gracias are the red dots. Where
we stayed at Lake Yojoa is the green blob.

This lake and its nearby nature has been hyped by many people, so I was particularly excited about visiting its sparkling waters.

At 79km2, this is Honduras' largest natural lake

It is a crater lake, formed from previous volcanic activity

Our first view of Yojoa (pronounced yuh-HOE-uh) came from stopping for a bite to eat at one of its numerous restaurants strung along its eastern edge. Very pretty indeed, particularly with large mountains forming the backdrop.

That is not the lake in the distance, this is just another
example of a stunning view from the drive

View from the food stop, where we ate amazing fish

There were certainly more people here than in sleepy Gracias, but the lake never felt overrun with people. Mostly it seemed to be Hondurans making the most of the start of Semana Santa - Holy Week - which is often a holiday season in Latin America.

Turns out I don't have pictures of lots of people kayaking and boating!

The average depth of the lake is 15 metres

The main thing to do? Well you'd think it would be to get out on the lake. In reality, this isn't that easy. There's no town on the edge, and the place where many people stay, near Peña Blanca, is a bit back from the lake itself. You can't actually see it, which was surprising and a tiny bit disappointing.

This was from my morning run - that sliver in the far distance is the lake

This canal, built in the 1960s, provides access

The lake is accessible through a human-made canal. Some took motorboats and jet skis to traverse the kilometre or so before reaching the lake proper. But you can also rent kayaks, so I knew exactly what I wanted to do.

Some would say it's a sign...

This is now the fourth Central American country in which I've kayaked

Not being easy to reach means that being on Lake Yojoa is a peaceful and rewarding experience. Paddling was easy, as there wasn't a lot of wind, so I spent a while drifting through marshy water to see some birds as well as powering around its northwestern area.

The water was remarkably still when it wasn't raining -
that did happen for a hot minute when I was kayaking

Ducks in the marshes

This was actually my second time on the lake. Earlier that morning - very early - we had gone birding.

Barn owl - unexpected

Possibly a limpkin

Not my usual activity of choice, but I'm happy to try new things and play along if someone else wants to do something. Which is why I was walking towards the canal shortly after 5:30am

Birds up there, apparently

The Baltimore oriole was one of my personal favourites

Our guide Matthias was very knowledgeable, pointing out many birds based on their calls and colours. This started on the puddle-speckled roads, before we got into two wooden boats that had certainly seen better days.

Turning in the boat to see the birds gave us all slightly sore necks

An egret patrolling the shore

I've read that over 400 bird species have been identified in this area. Some of them sounded made-up, and others had underwhelming names. Yellow-tail, for example. But they were beautiful. Makes me wonder what I miss when walking around or running through places.

Possibly a green heron

This was a kingfisher, it was moving a lot!

A couple of special moments were seeing a close cousin of the quetzal and finding a motmot. These are the national birds of Guatemala and El Salvador respectively. No macaws - this isn't their territory.

Motmots are called torogoz in El Salvador

I couldn't get a good picture of the
trogon - this instead is a warbler

The part that shocked even Matthias was when we cautiously approached a rock on which we could see bats. What we initially didn't spot, lurking in a hidden pocket above, was this!

Let's zoom in on those branches...

An American barn owl!

Being on the lake was a nice contrast to our accommodation, which again had been hyped to us: a hotel that doubled up as a craft brewery. The surroundings were better than the beer and the service, particularly for the price of things here in relation to the rest of town.

Hannah had an early morning meeting that needed to happen in
the bar for Wi-Fi purposes. She found loads of plates -
with food on them - left out from the night before.

Some of their beers were fine but nothing special

To their credit, one thing they did very well is something that is fast becoming one of my favourite foods: baleadas. Essentially, a quesadilla filled - stuffed - with egg, beans and avocado. Phenomenal.

Super baleada: super-tasty and super-filling

This was the fish I ate at the first food stop

Good food was a theme of Lake Yojoa. That baleadas, that fish, and a funky hidden gem called Donde Nahum, in which you can stuff your face with tons of really good meat for less than $10. It was an adventure to find in the rain, but so worth it! They also threw in complimentary Honduran starters and sweets as well, really wanting to show off their country.

Nothing like a rickety bridge in the rain!

Beef, pork, chorizo, plantains, casamiento, avocado, salad...mmm...

The other place in this area that's worth it is often advertised by the Honduras tourism boards and influencers. Hard to pronounce, and hard not to appreciate.

43 metres tall. Try saying 'Pulhapanzak' 43 times...

AKA Pulha

Pulhapanzak Falls. The locals call them Pulha, so we'll do the same. Powerful and tall, with the largest just 10 metres shorter than Niagara Falls. One of the books I read said that ‘few tourists visit’: that's changed. Again, not overrun, and lovely that many people were enjoying the pools in the sunshine.

The area was made into a national park in 1976

You can swim here. There's a sign that says the big waterfall is 15 metres away.
There is no barrier or anything else stopping you from getting closer in the water.

There are some cool things you can do here, including zip lining across the big fall and taking a slightly treacherous trip under and behind the surge. We were content with taking in the spray and the rainbows. Lovely spot.