Hotel El Recreo Lanquin Champey

... t quite make the list. Our travel day headed north provided enough material for the whole entry on its very own, haha. <br><br>So let me prefice this entry with this: If I ever make traveling sound only like this comfortable, predictable, cheery experience, I am misleading you.........<br><br>ANTIGUA -&gt; LANQUIN<br><br>7AM - Nervous travel Andy wouldn´t even let me finish my tea at breakfast in fear of missing our shuttle. We should´ve ...

... city, with a really lovely feel to it. We spent most of the time wandering about the place soaking it up and appreciating the suprisingly vibrant nightlife. One time we did karaoke and that night ended with me at a houseparty dancing to Madonna´s ´The Immacuate Collection´, which was luckily changed before i had the chance to completely go for it to Vogue! On our last night we stayed out ...

... her kids.<br><br>That night we tested out a little bit of the local night life. We went to this ´club´ which actually had children and dogs in there Mmm. We saw the campest Guatemalan who could move his hips faster that a hooler girl and a bloke who was totally off his face - very eventful, an average night in Bexleyheath really!!!!<br><br>Cass and I made it to the beach one day, if you could call it that. After a 10 minute tuk-tuk ...

... is my first encounter with Israeli travellers, there are loads in Guatemala. Quite direct but nice people.<br><br> Day 15, Monday 19th, Sumec Champey<br>(national park)<br><br>So the weather is pretty **** again, drizzly rain but this is our last chance to do everything that the national park has to offer. We leave at 9am and get carted off in the pick up truck, holding onto the top bars for 30 mins (bit like cattle) is fun though. First thing we do is ...

... Basically he pulled out a plank of wood, put the plank across the gap between two seats on the back row (next to where I was sitting) then popped a cusion on top...a makeshift seat! BUT who get the short straw, yes Me! So the driver''s mate hopped on board and sqeezed himself in between me and one of the American dudes......so for the next 4 hours I had one bum cheek in a plank of wood and one on a nice seat, one pert bum cheek ...

... just stood in the doorway. Neither was it a shock when we came to a backed up rocky dirt path etched out of the side of a mountain where a landslide had washed out the road. <br><br>Semuc Champey&#8212;beautiful! I stayed at El Portero, after much convincing from the guy who handed us a flyer, even while still inside the shuttle from Coban! His name was Leo. Portero was nice. Semuc Champey lived up to all its hype!. Terrific playground and I would ...

... our views on the world. A top bloke I must say! Anyway the journey was uneventful apart from riding through beautiful tropical forest and crossing a major river on a ferry which was powered by 4 outboard motors positioned on each corner. Innovative engineering at its finest! When we arrived at Lanquin we had ourselves dropped off at the most popular hostel in the area called El Retiro and I ...

... was my own little piece of Guatemala. <br><br>Monday, 7 September, Day 225<br><br>Lanquin, Guatemala<br><br> In the same way I fell asleep, I woke to the gentle rush of the ice cold river, and, when I opened my eyes I had the view to match. As I said, the river was ice cold, the perfect way to wake up, and the perfect place to swim after a month of consistently hotter beaches and swimming lakes. <br><br> I went on a tour with most of ...