Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Punto Izopo

We decided to have a quiet weekend in Tela.   We wanted to go on a boat ride to the beautiful beach of Punta Sal but as there was the possibility of a hurricane and rough seas we decided to go kayaking in a mangrove swamp at Punto Izopo.    Our guide Mark proved to be great fun and full of jokes as soon as he picked us up in his mini bus for our tour.   We were the only people in the group.   Fortunately the mini bus was a four wheel drive because the road was really rough.     The guide kept apologizing because the had to walk part of the way because the bridge was down.  It didn't worry us and added to the adventure. We walked passed a huge mansion and a half finished high wall.   The owner of this 'beach house' is now being challenged in the Supreme Court by the Garifunas, the indigenous people in the area for stealing their land. 




Tracey's the fit walker in front.



                                                                     
 These two Garifuna girls  rowed us across the river in a very leaky rowing boat for a small fee.  



Next we stopped at a hut belonging to the National Park where we saw a photo of Jeannette Kawas, ( the name of our school).   She is famous for saving the large national park, Puntal Sal to the east of Tela from developers, who wanted to clear the forest and  build holiday apartments   Sadly, she was murdered before she got a chance to see the results.  Kawas was a friend of the owner of our school, Graciela Bueso.



This was beautiful calm river, the starting point of Glenn and my first kayak trip in 42 years of marriage!



Tracey shared her kayak with Mark, a very experienced kayaker.


We got a really close look at this baby alligator and then another one further into the swamp.   As Mark said, 'Where there are babies, the mother will be waiting close by.'   He also gave Glenn and I careful instructions on how to paddle under branches and not sway to the side.  He warned us how the kayaks can flip over so easily.

                                                            
We followed Mark into narrow streams where the water was so black you couldn't see the bottom.   Mark told us how he'd watched a jaguar come right out onto the edge of a branch of one of the mangrove trees and the English tourist he was with didn't even have a camera with her.   I was so glad I had my small camera with me tied to my bouyancy vest so I wouldn't lose it and could get so many good photos.  It was amazingly beautiful and peaceful and so quiet with only the sounds of the paddles and birds.


Here we are getting really good with the paddling.  Mike then told us we had to go under a branch that was less than a metre above the water.  He went first with Tracey showing us how to do it without leaning to the side. I leaned back as far as I could and then....


...disaster struck!   The kayak flipped, I went in first and Glenn next.   All I could see was blackness.    Tracey didn't care.   All she did was take photos!


Here's the offending log we had to slide under.



The mangrove roots made a good resting point.  Here I am soaking wet, but warm.    The water was so black you couldn't see a thing.   I lost my hat which I didn't like, my prescription sunglasses stayed on my head, my cheap watch survived the drowning but my camera, inside my vest was saturated and hasn't worked since.   I got some lovely photos which were still on the memory card.   Luckily the aligators were too well fed by the bass which we frequently saw jumping out of the water.    Mark told us only  3 of his customers had ever flipped into the water.   



We finished off the day at a little Garfina village, Triumfo del Sol by the beach where we had a fish lunch  and  were entertained by these delightful children.  There were no hurricanes all day and it didn't even rain, but it was great adventure.  And Glenn and I are still talking to each other.


































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