Hotel Virgen del Rosario Coban

... soak up the sight, we splashed right into the middle of one of the lower pools, to where a small waterfall connected it to the next one down river. Here, the guide tied a rope to a rock, and offered another chance to repel down a waterfall (both John and I went). This waterfall was relatively small, perhaps 4-5 meters tall. From what you could see at the top, the water followed a slanted rock, and the guide assured us there were even small ...

... a great sport, the fellas I was with had a good laugh and got a beer, the partrons flocked around me, delighted to talk to me about where to find what clothes in Xela and making empty promises to take me shopping for a new scarf. Thus my first, and probably last night out as a backpacker for a while.

I decided to take a Spanish class while I am here in Xela becuse they have many great schools, and I was giong to have to stay here a week before I ...

... river.  It was flowing pretty fast so you had to be a pretty confident swimmer or else you could get stuck in the current.  Then we did the cave tour, which was great.  We spent about two hours in the caves that were lit by candles alone.  We each had to carry our own candle, and keep it lit, while we swam through the water in the cave.  We climbed up ladders, walked through waterfalls, and even did a small cliff jump.  Unfortunately, our waterproof camera got some water in it and has ...

... wasn’t so lucky.  The minibus got so packed (23 people in a van made for 13) that the poor daughter had to sit on her father’s lap.  About half way through the trip the young son got car sick, all over the floor and on his poor sister!  As many of you know, Devin gets a little motion sickness sometimes so this didn’t help.  There was also an Indigenous woman ahead of us that got quite sick.  Luckily it didn’t smell too bad.  It also ...

... chilled out place I´ve come across on my travels, maybe by a longshot. Oh, and I met a guy from Georgia who was planning to meet Jim Handy down here over the last few months, but I guess Handy never came down. Great guy, though.

After unexpectedly staying a night at El Retiro I returned back to Coban, staying the night to leave for Nebaj the following morning. Met a lot of great people over the last couple weeks, many of whom were met at El Retiro.

... hope with increasing foreign investment and development in the country, these situations will be changed in the near future.



El Retiro Lodge is the kind of bucolic place you´d lose yourself in for weeks. Some people that have stayed here actually have. White cows munched grass on the hillside yonder over the Lanquin River, monkeys howlered in the distance, palm leaf thatched huts dotted the green lawns amid red tropical flowers and ...

... were in and out of the capital in a flash, only stopping for a quick egg sandwich. Thankfully they sell you all sorts of snacks and drinks on the bus. So realistically, you wouldn't have to get off the bus at all. You could just go round and round. We took the next bus up to the smaller city of Coban. The bus journey snakes through the mountains and you realise that Guatemala is a beautiful country. You pass through ...

... with people on board. So at this point me and Henry are looking at each other thinking this is going to be one interesting trip! The Pullman begins to drive and were on our way, so far so good. About an hour into the trip we start to visibly see signs of where at least some part of the mud slide had hit. Suddenly we're on a dirt road made for one car that you could tell was probably paved ...

... We then descended to the river below and followed our guide as he lead us to the edge of the first waterfall. We were able to jump happily into the pool below and swim a bit before heading to the 2nd waterfall and sliding down the rocks to the 3rd pool. We continued down the river through 6 pools. At the 6th pool, we headed to the waterfall and realized that this one was a LOT bigger than the others. At this point only 5 of our group wanted to continue ...

... like doggie paddling through a dark cave holding a candle above your head and trying not to hit your knees on the rocks you can't see.

The other big part of the tour was hanging out in the actual Semuc Champey natural area. It's basically a river that goes underground through a cave and emerges a bit downstream. The little space where the river would be, if it weren't underground, consists of a series of clear pools that are sort of in steps that spill ...