We all enjoyed our time in Copan, attending spanish classes and getting to know our host families. Although it took me a while to figure out my family dynamics, I soon recognized a golden opportunity for our group. Every night Fernando parked his zebra print pickup in our driveway. The side of his truck read "Copan Canopy Tours".
What better way to learn a little forest ecology than to have class in the trees? Everyone immediately loved the idea, but for me there was just one thing standing in the way; I am terrified of heights. My mind flashed back to our first day of class where we talked about how we wanted to live together as a community. We all agreed we would seek out opportunities to stretch our individual comfort zones and that the rest of the group would provide the support system needed. "Ok", I thought, "I'm up". Before I knew it we were in the back of the zebra truck on the way to the base camp. While being strapped into our proper safety equipment we learned that there were 14 cables we would be crossing, three of which were 1KM long, and that the final stretch crossed The River Copan. We also learned that there were places in the tour where we would be as much as 400 feet above the forest floor. After crossing the first cable, I realized that this wasn't so bad. By the time I crossed the third (the first of the 1KM cables) it was officially the most amazing thing I had ever done!
Flying through the air with nothing but a harness, a helmet, and my brake glove on the cable we as a group moved from one platform to the next, stretching 60KM around the mountain. We studied the canopy structure, wildlife, a variety of trees, and at one point were eye level with the hawks soaring around the mountains. I was far too impressed to be afraid.
~Meg (Program Instructor)
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