24 Mayo 2015

Expedition de Rio Alph

The light of a new day has crested… the mountain tops glistened… the birds sing praises for the illumination of the Qumistand valley… the team was snuggly tucked into their beds, with the dreams of finding the sacred river flowing through their heads…  Not a creature was stirring not even a scorpion, for he knew his days was numbered, te mato by the shoe…  I arose from the clamor when I heard the splatter, the screams the chatter, I exclaimed! Amigos, what is the matter? Safe at last we gather into the hero’s blue chariot… today we are in search of the sacred river Alph…

Today we took another day trip adventure to the Pulhapanzak waterfalls in Buena Ventura, Honduras. 12 gringos and 8 locals stuffed into a van built to haul 15… It’s not a job, it’s an adventure. Super Mario was at the helm along with his first mate Pablo Francisco navigating the winding roads. Passing thru the port of entry San Pedro then we headed south on a new super highway into the unknown. Many Kilometers pass and before you knew it, the bliss of smooth pavement abruptly ended and Mario began to weave violently as though he was playing a game of ‘wack a mole’ for the last ten miles… there on the horizon I saw the end of the rainbow, the pearly gates of our destination, the sacred river of bliss, Rio Alph.

The first adventure consisted of an ancient tradition of lassoing ones self to a cable and gliding across the river 11 times while releasing a primal scream to awaken the ancient spirits of the river so she would flow at maximum velocity. While most of the group participated in the custom, there was a remnant of sanity that remained on the ground to record the events and preserve some history just in case the river found their offerings unacceptable and swallowed them up…

We gathered at the last crossing below the falls and ventured off to the falls, or maybe a better way to describe it; to walk, climb and crawl thru the middle of the waterfall… We journeyed beyond the gates and trekked perilously along the rocky face of the gorge trying to avoid slipping on the rocks and plummeting in to the river 75 feet below us. We arrived at a basin pool just to the left of the waterfalls… the point of no return, jump into the pool or be left behind. The group’s bravery and enthusiasm over whelmed the guide… our willingness to continue journey and sacrifice ourselves with cannonballs splashes to acrobatic flips into the pool. From that point we joined hands and formed a human chain, closely watching out for our comrades so that all would reach a small shelter in the mountain side. The guide took half the group around the rocky face of the waterfalls; our only safety measures a piece of frayed cable to grip and pull youself along until you reached another small cave directly behind the falls… there we gathered and caught our breath and took in all the splendor as our heart pumped vigorously and our veins swollen with adrenaline… We transverse down to the shelter and the remaining people summited the waterfall cave while we watched the water flow uphill… That is not a typo. The updraft from the falls created such an event that defies the laws of nature, the water was flowing up the side of the cliff. Once everyone was safely back, we formed the human chain and returned to the pool with shouts of acclimation and joy. There many ventured up the mountain side donning war paint of mud stripes to the highest point (about 30 feet) and jumped into the pool!

Afterwards we traveled back to the compound and dined on some Americana food at Wendys in San Pedro Sula. The evening was spent laughing and watching GoPro videos recounting the day’s adventure and crowning Que Pasa MPV of the day. She is the oldest member of our team, yet she completed all of the adventures with a smile on her face the entire time. Tonight we rest for tomorrow we come down to reality and go out to serve the one true Lord and help the people of Honduras.

Marco Francisco