Copán Ruinas – Day 3: Thermal Springs and Rural Serenity
COPÁN RUINAS
Day 3: Thermal Springs & Rural Serentiy
November 06, 2022
On our last day in Copán, Natalie and her hostel friends decided to join me for one last adventure near the city – the Luna Jaguar Spa.
This jungle-cloaked eco-resort, fed by several natural hot springs that fill dozens of stone-carved thermal pools with steamy water, is said to soothe both body and soul. Wooden bridges and flickering lanterns added to the charm, making it feel like something out of a dreamscape. Why do I feel like I’m running an advert? Just as an FYI, I get no commission whatsoever. Anyways.
After rotating through some twenty pools – with temperatures ranging from freezing cold to hellishly hot – plus a steam room and a sauna, we all felt brand new. Especially after having been on the road for quite a while. Speaking for myself, going from couch potato who barely moved to walking an average of ten kilometres a day… yeah, my bruised and worn-out body was definitely feeling it.
At one point, I found myself floating in a quiet corner of a hot pool under a canopy of trees, steam rising all around me. For a brief second, everything paused – the soreness, the noise, the movement – and I thought, “this… this is the good stuff.”
A Much-Needed Break
It’s funny how when I was planning my gap year, I thought of it as nothing more than a long holiday. Now, a few months down the road – having turned those plans into reality – I could finally see that it was not a holiday at all. Or at least, not by the standard definition.
I mean, sure, I did have a few rest days here and there, but they were very, very rare. The rest of my schedule had been chock-full of activities, tours, excursions, and all kinds of crazy adventures. All those early starts, the long bus rides, the lugging around of bags, the battles with the weather, the physical strain of hiking and trekking, the uncertainty of not knowing where you are or where you wanna go… it all added up. It wasn’t just a holiday – travelling had proved to be hard work! At the same time, I felt like I could do it for the rest of my life. There was just one thing holding me back… my job.
I missed medicine immensely. In fact, I’d try not to think about it at all. I have to admit it was a sore subject by then. I’d see my colleagues progressing and meanwhile I was there, in the middle of nowhere just having fun. Plus, after just a few months, I noticed I was already forgetting stuff here and there – imagine after an entire year! But, as I figured, it’d be no use to dwell about it while I was still travelling. My job would still be there waiting for me once I’d get back. And so, I’d compartmentalise that part of my life and move on whenever I’d find myself ruminating on my life prospects.
But times like these… When everything would feel so, so good and life couldn’t possibly be any better… It makes you wonder why we even have a job in the first place. And then you remember you can’t quite be there without money. Also that it’d probably get too old, too soon if you did it for a long enough time.
And so, fully replenished and rejuvenated, I was ready to move on once again. This is where I parted ways with Natalie. She’d be heading to Lago Yojoa – a lake not far from Copán that, to be honest, I had no idea even existed and didn’t have time to visit. I, on the other hand, would proceed along the northern coast of Honduras.