I had been feeling lonely on this trip, which was weird because I usually loved traveling alone. But after 5 days without much contact with other travelers, I found myself on the quiet road back from Celaque longing for someone to hike with.

I also wanted to commiserate with someone over the pain; the 9-kilometer downhill walk to town was incredibly hard on my knees. I'd seen the guestbook earlier so I knew I was the solitary visitor in the park that day, meaning I had no chance of catching a ride.

I was in full-on vacation mode on this trip: sleeping late, watching lots of TV, and dawdling over breakfast. Even though this was a rare unpaid trip between jobs, I felt I deserved some relaxation. I rolled out of bed around 9AM and lingered on Guancascos' balcony restaurant over café con leche and a tasty breakfast of eggs, salty cheese, tortillas, beans and thick cream. Getting to Parque Nacional Celaque was the goal, but not high priority.

Eventually I flagged down a mototaxi and surprisingly scored the bargain price of 100 lemps to ride up to Celaque, a huge improvement over the $14 listed in Moon Honduras. Perhaps the higher price is for a regular vehicle however, because the ride I got was one of the roughest I've ever taken. The rocky dirt road winding up to the cloud forest was really not meant for the vibrating mototaxi. In a bit of luck, with no one manning the entrance, the mototaxi charged on through to the actual visitor's center so I wouldn't have to walk the additional 30 minutes uphill.

Due to the slow start, I didn't get to Celaque until 11:00, far too late to do the recommended 7-hour roundtrip hike up to Cerro El Gallo. I hiked around the visitors center along the river, and the switchbacked route up the mountain. There were a few miniature waterfalls and the park was a very peaceful place to stroll.

After about 4 hours I realized I needed to head back to town, as I'd likely have to walk the whole way. Little did I realize what that walk would entail. The $3 entrance fee was collected when I left the park.

Hikers know that downhill is always more difficult than uphill, but this road was harder than most due to being made almost entirely of rocks. There was absolutely no place to put my foot down flat, and I ended up fighting not to roll off the loose stones for the whole walk back. If I could have enjoyed the physical aspect more, it would have been a very lovely walk back through a quiet, residential part of the mountains. I stopped to rest in the shade a few times, each time my knees stiffening up during the break and protesting loudly when I started again.

The long walk back to Gracias

Guard puppies warily eyeing me

More than two hours later at the outskirts of Gracias, perhaps no more than 500 meters from my hotel, I finally came across a mototaxi. I was about to collapse, so I willing forked over 10 lemps for the brief ride. The long flight of stairs was a terror after that hike; I already knew I'd keep it simple and stay in for dinner again.

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