Paradise

 I want to share with you the views of my adventure from this past weekend. But, I need to backup to the weekend before this (On 10/26/13) to explain to you how I met a new friend.... 

While hiking on a mountainside outside of Puerto Cortés, I met a very kind local man who offered to shield me under his plastic cover to keep from the down-pour of afternoon rain. For ten minutes we discussed this man's life journey - from Honduras to the United States and now back in Honduras where he is helping his father maintain the family business and their 600 acres of pristine property overlooking paradise. 

Alex and I under the plastic cover hiding from the rain.

The men are in the process of developing a road from the top of their village to the bottom of the mountain so they can have easier access to the main road.

Stumbling upon this place and meeting my new friend took a bit of self-encouragement at first, as it is relatively unsafe to go hiking alone, especially as a female. I was feeling inspired to venture off the beaten path, away from everyone and everything, with no particular goal in mind except to live life and experience something unfamiliar to my existence thus far. My last blog post, "Enjoy Your World Without Fear" got me on this drive to explore deeper, more unknown parts of Honduras. 

Once being offered by my new friend, Alex, to hike and horseback ride up the broken mountain path with his small village in mind as the destination...with my friends...for free....por supresta!, I jumped on the opportunity. I just had to wait for the following weekend and pray for better weather. 

So, I plan to do more of this self-encouragement and reap the benefits of award now that I see how beautiful life is beyond what I know or unconsciously limit myself to. 

*****

Back to the story. 

On 11/2/13 my friend Riley and I headed toward paradise by bus. We brought along more beer than we did water. We had no food and no flashlight...but we did have our knives and machete.

Along the way going up this mountain with Alex and his compañero, Juan, we stopped and took photos of the killer views. The views overlook la frontera de Guatemala, my home base area of Honduras and the Caribbean coast-line. It was a spectacular scenery..one of the most gorgeous I've witnessed. 

 4 hours later and approximately 4 uphill and muddy miles behind us we reached Alex's village about 3:00 in the afternoon. Our horses were exhausted and I was sore. Riley decided to hike the whole way up as his horse was pretty tired with age and hard-work - so Riley, along with his horse, were pretty beat. Pero, lo fue valor la pena.

Alex's village was charming, quaint, and peaceful. His extended family were so sweet to us, yet we easily identified their hard-working attitudes. We watched as the women made hand-made flour tortillas with scrambled eggs and re-fried beans for us. Digressing, I took the liberty to make a couple of tortillas myself, apt to show off my new skills learned in Guatemala. But, flour tortillas are a little softer and harder to manage. It was still fun and the women were amused. We also were fortunate and appreciative to taste some amazing coffee made from their homegrown coffee beans. 

Alex walked us around his property to show us the views...they were breathtaking. The houses were very adorable and the kitchen appliances to die for by my standards. The landscape and gardens were perfectly well-kept. It's the kind of environment you would desire to hide-out in for weeks or months at a time to reflect and recuperate from the outside world. 

We then had to make it back down the mountain as it was approaching 4:30pm and nighttime comes quickly after. As expected, we got stuck in the dark hiking down. Our speed slowed but Alex had his motorbike headlight which kept the path lit some. More than 2 hours later, we reached the bottom and were in fine condition. 

It was too late for buses to do pick ups so Alex arranged for a friend to drive us all the way back to Puerto Cortés for free. He would not even accept gas money. This whole day had been a selfless act of kindness from someone whom I had only known for a week...not to mention his family's and two compañeros kindness. 

. 

Jimi!

Riley being a badass.

Almost to the village.

Juan

Alex's home

The lovely and hard-working mujeres.

I plan to make one of these stoves when I have a place to put it. :) 

A molino is used to grind up corn and flour to make tortillas.

The view from the top

What a marvelous experience! I plan to have many more while here. :) A huge thanks to Alex for his hospitality and friendship!! It won't be forgotten. 

Quote

"Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us or we find it not." Ralph Waldo Emerson