Jeanette Kawas National park..and Punta Sal
Trip Start
Oct 10, 2006
1
26
110
Trip End
Ongoing
Punta Sal,
Honduras
Monday, January 22, 2007
Jeannette Kawas National Park, a park of pristine, untouched beaches, jungle like vegetation, howler and white faced monkeys, secluded little coves (that pirate Henry Morgan was sposed to have used) and one or two Garifuni villages...the Garifunis are a mix of Carribean and African descent who speak their own language and live in thatched huts made from the jungle like vegetation!
Best part of the trip so far I think. We had read in Lonely Planets that the only way to get to Punta Sal which is the tip of the Jeannette Kawas National Park was by taking an organized tour from Tela. Now anyone reading this blog regularly may be aware of the fact that I think that the people of the LP bible don`t know Jack from Jill so we decided to investigate further.
Like there were three families that lived in Punta Sal,,they hardly took an organized tour every time they wanted to go to Tela now did they?
So we got a bus to Tornabe, a Garifuni village further west of Tela, picked it up to Miami, the most traditional of the Garifuni villages, got Luis, our new Garifuni best bud, to take us across the unpassable waterways in his little canoe. Walked for a day and a half and hey presto, we find ourselves in Punta Sal...We got a bit lost on the way but with Collins`observation skills and my excellent problem solving skills, we survived and found an unknown path through the jungle...We defied the LP bible and didn`t have to pay 60 dollars each for a tour and park entrance..and we got to see a load of the park..Sounds like I`m boasting...you better believe it!!!..
Final destination
Honduras 0, Lonely Planet 0, the Irish 3!!!!!Punta Sal was beautiful. Clear, turquoise waters, white sandy beaches situated in front of three lone Garifuni huts. The only problem was the sand flies who incidentally have become my new arche enemies. They`re smaller than mosquitoes, hence harder to slay and when they bite you, your body shakes with the force of it. They have super sharp teeth let me tell ya.
The night before, Collins and I had set up camp on the beach at 5pm cos all that was before us was a mountaineous area covered by trees and there was no point trying to navigate our way through there in the dark. We fell asleep at 7pm without electricity to keep us occupied, I woke at 11pm, him at 1am. The tent was swarming with mosquitoes and sandflies and just when we thought things couldn`t get worse, the tent collapsed on top of us..we fixed it..it collapsed again..and again..and again. The not so waterproof tent couldn`t even take the moisture in the air coming from the sea. All we could do was laugh. We were so pathetically helpless...we stayed twiddling our thumbs until the first bit of light at 5.30 am and got on our way towards Punta Sal...don`t think Collins ever wants to hear another story from Ros after that night! Was scratching for four days after the trip but it was worth it.,,
Needless to say, the Lidl tent has now died a death.
