Lago Yojoa

Lago Yojoa

5-6-2011

Lago Yojoa (Yojoa Lake) is a beautiful lake in north eastern Honduras nestled within a beautiful mountain setting featuring cascadas (waterfalls) and a forest preserve,the Parque Nacional Cerro Azul/Meambar. The area is said to host more than 300 species of birds. We had a three day weekend and took advantage of the travel opportunity with three other couples, David & Sarah, Kyle & Christina and Dave & Regan.

We departed Copan early Saturday morning April 30^th boarding one of the so called chicken busses, so named for the fact that they can get packed with standing room only. Although in the past it was common for people to board with chickens and such. Maybe they should be called sardine busses. This bus was the older school bus type and we were fortunate that there was sitting room only. There are more “plush” busses with a movie and snacks but they cost more and don’t go as fast. Even though the chicken busses stop fairly frequently to pick up and drop off passengers, they will arrive about a half hour sooner. It takes three hours from Copan to San Pedro Sula along windy two lane mountain roads honking the air horn as we zoom through frequent small villages. Arriving in S.P.S we got a quick bite to eat at the bus terminal. After a doughnut and pizza for me and chicken mole, rice and corn tortillas for Amy we headed to the departure area to find our next bus to Pena Blanca.

Walking out to the bank of departing busses we were bombarded with "front men" trying to coax us on to their busses by promising a better deal and fast arrival time. We inquired at one chicken bus where the front man was very persistent before we checked out a different smaller more comfy bus with air conditioning. The guys at the comfy bus were not as aggressive and it was going to cost seven more Lempiras with a bit later departure time. After some debate between us we opted for thee old chicken bus. There is no ticket counter to purchase tickets, so the procedure is to board the bus and the front man will take your money some time after the bus is on the road. We boarded, sat down and waited a bit longer than the departure time given us when the comfy bus started to back out of its slot. Seeing this, the front man, who was a young guy of small frame with a lot of energy, started hitting our bus with the palm of his hand and yelling at the other bus, “arriba”! “arriba”! (we’re up, we’re up). At this the other bus stopped backing out and our front man jumped into our bus, closed the door and sat down in between the driver and the steps. Little did we know, the race was about to begin.

For simple sake I will call our driver, Driver, and our front man, Crazy. Driver backs the bus out of the slot and immediately begins with a heavy foot and fast shifting as we pull out of the depot. Close behind is the smaller more comfy bus. At the next intersection there was a man standing on the side of the street with some boxes. Crazy jumps up, opens the door and begins hanging out waving one arm and yelling at the guy on the side in rapid Spanish. Before the bus stops, Crazy jumps off at a run and the two men throw the boxes on the bus and Crazy jumps back on. We then enter the intersection cutting off traffic as we make the left turn. Off and runnin’ we went. As we approached each bus stop, Crazy would start yelling and waving his hands as he would open the door and hang out holding on with one hand trying to persuade people to take our bus. Sometimes Driver would speed up to get in front of the bus ahead of us and Crazy would hang out waving his arms at the other bus driver letting him know we were going to cut in front of them. Another time, we literally pulled up behind another bus stopped at a bus stop and Crazy swiped some passengers from them. Sometimes when Crazy would jump off of the bus, hitting the ground, he would do a little dance or shuffle to slow his speed before hustling customers. One time Crazy jumped out, squatted, did a little spin, and ran away calling to the travelers. We think he was on something, but he did have a knack for getting people on the bus. Soon we found ourselves racing one of the other busses after it passed us by. It was a dead heat to the next stop as the two busses were swerving from lane to lane to get around the other traffic. Peddles to the metal, grinding gears, and black diesel exhaust spewing from the bus ahead of us, I observed even locals flinching and tensing as we would zoom by within inches of a bicyclist on the side of the road. We all looked at each other in amazement and start laughing. “Holy cow we’re in a race!” And to think we were debating on taking a different bus. Think of the adventure we would have missed! I told Amy that if we die we will be found with smiles on our faces.

Once we turned off of the main highway we had a calmer but fairly fast ride to Pena Blanca. Pena Blanca is a small town at the northwest corner of the lake and is a point of connection for busses traveling in different directions. It is a bustling little town with small shops selling everyday things from fruits and veggies to hats. Crazy had told us he would tell us where to get off, so we stayed on the bus while passengers departed and boarded until we started again down the road. We got about a half mile out of town when Crazy looked at Kyle and asked why we were still on the bus. Kyle asked if we were heading toward Hotel Agua Azul, and Crazy said no and that we had to catch a different bus back at town which continued going straight through and out of town. Crazy told Driver to stop, so we exited the bus and walked back to town. We boarded another bus half the size and had a very leisurely ride for the next few miles to the hotel.

To be continued….