Bittersweet Departure

I reluctantly left Utila this morning. Had my last dive, a night dive yesterday and then just made the decision that I was going to move on and see Copan before I leave. I didn't leave empty handed though. My friend Lucas decided to join me. We made it to the mainland, La Ceiba, early this morning. Right off the ferry, we caught a taxi to Jungle River Lodge and went on an incredible rafting trip.We went down the Rio Cangrejal, which is located in Pico Bonito National Park. The river was huge and stunning.


I know I keep saying that this or that is amazing, but this time, I must mean it even more than the last. This river was truly an amazing sight. I hope that some of you may have a chance to see it and experience like I did today. . . someday.
The rocks that surrounded the river were the biggest I've ever seen. We had no idea what exactly we were in for. The trip started out leaving our raft and heading up stream. The guides wanted to play a little this morning, so they took us on a bit of an obstacle course that isn't exactly included in the usual trip. We hiked through the river and found out we were boulder jumping into the rapids before we were actually rafting them. At one place we were on the top of a really smooth faced rock and we actually layed down on the rock and slid into the river, picking up plenty of speed on the way down the slide. There were a couple more stops along the trip where we did some more boulder jumping, the biggest was about 30 ft. You needed a bit of a running start atop the massive boulder and then would land into perfect, clear blue/green water. As soon as you reached the surface for air you were getting sucked down a little chute of a rapid between two more big boulders. Incredible! The rafting was hard work and so much fun. I've been on big rapids before, but the difference with this trip was the size of the river. It was so big. The rapids were comparable to others I've been on, with one important differnce. . . the rapids turned into waterfalls. We went down at least 3 mini waterfalls that helped me experience more adrenaline than I have had in a very long time or maybe ever. There were a few exits from the boat today, two from me, three from Lucas. This was Lucas's first time whitewater rafting so it was really fun to see his reaction to it. He loved it almost as much as I did I think. We will spend the night here in La Ceiba and then get on a bus early in the morning to head to Copan. Just four days left. I don't know how I'm really going to leave.