Warning- To both our Moms, you will probably not like this post. We love you both and always try to be safe. XOXO
One of the things you start noticing as soon as you cross the border into Mexico and begin heading south is that safety standards are fairly relaxed around tourists sites and natural attractions such as waterfalls and rivers. Actually, lets face it, there really aren’t safety precautions at most places besides a random peligroso (danger) sign. Taking the ability to sue facilities away sure changes the attitude towards safety. It becomes Darwin’s Law. You make a bad decision, you alone pay the price.
We have jumped off high rocks into streams where the guides tell us to keep our legs up because it is so shallow (seriously?) and have been almost swept away by currents and pushed into underwater waterfalls. We have swam through pitch black caves filled with hot water, climbed up rock faces that were not meant to be scaled…. Every week we end up doing something where we say “I am not sure that was super safe…”
Pulhapanzak waterfall in Honduras wins the prize for the most dangerous and one of the funnest thing we have done. We payed the hefty $15 fee per person to have a guid take us behind the powerful waterfall. To get behind it we had to swim, scramble up and slide down slimy rocks while getting pummeled by water so hard we could not see. I was getting pulled and pushed by the guide through water that hit me so intensely it was disorienting. I could not see and the shock of the water hitting me so hard made it difficult to function.
As we were doing the tour I was really hoping the river (full of cows on top) did not have giardia, because I swallowed about three liters of water while I was trying to breath. It was nuts, and at points I had so much adrenaline pumping (because I was sure I was going to be swept away into the watery abyss) that I was not sure if I loved or hated the experience. But after we finished we were both totally pumped. I asked the guide if anyone had died doing this. He said not yet.
It is hard to explain the adventure, so we put together a video of our waterfall tour, it gives you a sense of how crazy and amazing it was. If you are in Honduras and need a little excitement in your life, do the waterfall tour. But remember safety is not guaranteed. =)
Yep, we went behind that. Not a small trickle.
View over the falls from the top.
A selfie in the small cave you climb into behind the falls. You actually have to squeeze through a small hole to get into the cave, not for the claustrophobic for sure.
Behind the first part of the falls. We then went over the rock behind me.
Climbing up slippery rocks to jump into a shallow pool. Why not =).
We took this from the trail that goes behind the falls, it was stunning.