Lake Yojoa trip for Cindys 41st BDAY

What a great time we had visiting the largest lake in Honduras. Cindy, myself, Marcia and Leandro from Tegus and Aggie and Daz from Roatan made up our little team of adventurers and we had a very relaxing time sucking in all the nature and good times around the area.

We started out on Friday making our way from San Pedro to D&D Brewery on Lake Yojoa . This little micro brew run by expat Bob Dale is a must stop if your in the area. Great beer and food and reasonable accommodations made this a nice option and we stayed two nights. Bob has a nice selection of hand crafted brews and I really liked them all but loved the porter. The food was great as well with highlights being the fresh blueberry pancakes. Bob has his own farm and they have there own coffee, blueberries and it was all made with love and you can tell it in the taste. The blueberry soda was out of this world too and we were worried Aggie might overdose on blueberries at one time.

On Saturday morning we got together for a quick breakfast and then out to the lake for a row boat bird tour. The main ornithologist Malcom was not available so we got his understudy Rafael a local young man who really has keen eyes and a great ear. We surely saw over 40 species in this 3 hour tour with my favorite being a new bird to me called the Tiger Heron. We saw a family of 4 (2 male and 2 females) great tall bird with striking markings. Additional birds included Toucans, Purple Gallineu, Green Herons, Egrets galore, Orioles and many others. The lilly ponds on the lake and the reeds and rock formations really made for an interesting time and the weather was perfect almost spring like.

That afternoon we took a drive to the impressive Puhlanpanzak Falls. A national park of sorts it was a great location and we took the adventure one step further and hiked to the bottom of the falls and had a local guide help us make our way through and behind the falls to a small cave and some other areas. That was an exhilarating experience with the 10 story plus waterfall pouinding away on you as you made your way through. You had to push your chin into your chest to create an air pocket to breathe in some parts. In one part you were in a small area where the water seemed to fall mostly around you and you could sneek a peak skyward to see the wall of white thundering around you.

From this part we headed back to D&D and explored a few small villages up the mountain. Then more good food and a few extra beers to be polite.

Sunday included a nice hike in the AM through a local archeological and nature park for a few hours. Mayan era ruins that are mostly still covered and many birds made for a great time. We then headed back to San Pedro and on home to Roatan a great weekend had by all.