Pico Bonito & Carnival in La Ceiba, Honduras

La Ceiba is hosting its annual Carnival this week, and Michael, Rob and I were lucky to have a couchsurfing host to show us around this pretty city. We arrived at the port, got a taxi to an internet café and waited to meet our host.  While we waited in there, a man knocked on the window and pointed to a lady across the road looking for directions. We thought it was Andrea, our host, but as we turned around, Michaels small bag was gone! They tricked us, and were bloody quick. Damn! Luckily there was nothing  too important in there, as Mike had just taken his camera, passport, diary etc out 5 min beforehand. Lucky...

Met  Andrea! An amazing girl!! She took us to her lovely house and we chatted the night away. Late in the night 2 more couchsurfers arrived from the US, who have made an amazing journey from Patagonia to Honduras. The next moring we walked to the closest road leading towards Parque National Pico Bonito. The city was crazy with traffic and large floats being prepared for the carnival. Being paranoid, I didn't bring my camera, so I have no pics. We hitchiked up the road to the entrance of the National Park. where we hiked all morning.

Robbie in the National Park getting fresh water from the waterfall.

 This place is really picturesque. There is a mountain range here in La Ceiba, which has a beautiful river that flows along it that is great for rafting. We walked across a suspension bridge, while the boys slid over in a rickety cage. Very funny watching them expecting the cage to slide fast across the cables, when it just stop mid way!

Over the bridge we go! Rob, Mike and Michael slowly paddling across the river at Pico Bonito.

 The hike was great - very humid. The jungle is so awesome, it's just like every David Attenborough documentary. We saw very distinct tracks running through the forest flood, looked like someone had scrapped all the vegetation away, but it's very clear that it was all due to Leaf Cutter Ants! Beautiful, and highly efficient. Some trees were completely stripped by these ants, and there didn't seem to be any sign of them stopping.  We also saw a little lizard, completely camouflaged with it's head shaped like a leaf.

Honduran lead-cutter ants on their mission to clean up the jungle!

Beautifully camouflaged lizard, note the shape of its head.

 We walked to our goal: the waterfall. As we arrived a bright green snake was slowly slimbing the leaves up the waterfall! Yay, I love snakes. As I was about to let the cold water splash all over me I looked up to see where the snake was, and right then it's went, BAAM, splat right next to me! The silly snake slipped. Got a great view of it though, so smooth and pretty.  We had a lovely day walking around. The area is beautiful and the scenery is really calming. We natuarlly had our after-hike beer at a beautiful lodge, where a red Macaw had been tamed and screeched !Hola!.

Pretending it meant to fall out of the bushes and onto the rocks!

All of us, with Andrea in the middle next to me, enjoying the cold, refreshing water!

!Hola! Buenos dias...

After that hike it was time for an epic meal, and we did not skimp on the meal at all. We went to a  local vendor on the street, and ordered the grande..the biggest roti with everything on it! It was so large I had to video tape the awesomeness. Delicious and cheap!!

The most amazing tortilla...mmmmmm!

That night we went out to see the Carnival. Too bad we missed the parades, it took us all a while to get ready with over  8 people needing to shower and get ready. But it was nothing short of amazing! Andrea is a fantastic host, she took us to the main road where everyone was covered in beads, sombreros, with beers and glow sticks. The men liked the beads more than the ladies :) We saw some amazing bands, and all danced the night away. It's hilarious, the men where on stage dancing and inviting all the ladies to come shake their asses. And Boy, can those ladies move! The decendants from West Africa have a unique culture here and are called the Garifuna. Their traditional dance is called the Punta, which basically entails gyrating your butt to quickly I couldn't even try to try it! Brilliant!

Yo no quiero agua, Yo quiero bebidas!! (I don't want water, I want to drink) came blearing out of the speakers and we all joined in singing & dancing. Was a fantastic night, and Andrea and I stayed up chatting long after everyone had gone to sleep back at home. A truely amazing day was followed by a delicious meal - veggie green curry with amazing vietnamese rolls. Our feast was a great way to say thanks to the lovely people we met here in Honduras.

Andrea and I cooking the delicious curry!

Home-made Vietnamese rolls...