Happy New Years!!
Trip Start
Dec 28, 2007
1
4
13
Trip End
Jan 22, 2008
Lanquin,
Guatemala
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
Things have been great!
I was staying at El Rotiro which is an amazing hostel. It sent on a river bank with everything right there. At night they have dinner available served buffet style and dorms only have 4 people in it. My first night I met two guys named Charles and James from England, really cool guys. I might even met up with Charles later on when I'm near Antigua with Juanita. His friend James is teaching English in Roaton, Honduras on the Bay Islands. I am so jealous. That is suppose to be beautiful and have some of the best diving in the world.
El Rotiro
Back at El Rotiro I have encountered something that Ive never seen before. Toilets that don't flush. Its called an eco friendly toilet where theres two compartments. the front compartment is where you do #1 and the back portion is for #2. Once you are done with your business then you cover it with lime ash. It was all a very interesting experience. Don't worry I have pictures of that too. December 30th
After waking up at 8:40am, I woke up James and Charles because they were going to miss their ride to Antigua. We exchanged email addresses and said our goodbyes. They gave me a friendship bracelet which I still have on.
I went on a tour through my Hostel of the Semuc Champey and the local caves. It was here that I met 3 girls, 2 from England and 1 from Sweden. Since our meet here we've become travel buddies. Since it was on the weekend we did the caves first hoping that later on the crowds would be less at Semuc Champey. These caves are nothing I have experienced before. First off, if you plan on going here make sure you have a pair of keens or tevas because you'll need them while your stepping on rocks, going swimming and doing things that require your shoes to stay on
bats
. Id also recommend a head lamp. This saved my life and I didn't need to carry around a candle which was hard to do when you were swimming in water over your head. The cave is a wet cave 30 kilometers deep. The caves were relaxing even though dark and mysterious at the same time. Most of time we were playing in water while other times we were climbing ladders to bring us into the next room. We had an option to jump into a big swimming hole from inside the cave and to drop down a small hole while water was poring out from above. It was very exciting especially since you had no idea what to expect. When you finally drop down into the small hole, I had no idea which way to turn. My guide handed me my head lamp back and found my way to the left. My favorite part of the caves had to be floating back to the entrance and seeing the cave from different angles. Unfortunately, I was unable to bring my camera so I don't have any pictures.
Next we hike to Semuc Champey which I think I can finally pronounce correctly. We entered the park and hiked up to the look out. Our guide told us it was steep but not straight up. It was crazy. It was all worth it at the end when we got to the top and saw the bluest water Ive ever seen.
Semuc Champey is the fast flowing Rio Cabahon plunges deep into the caverns and continue through the cave system for 300 meters
Dinner
. Some of the water flows above the caves forming limestone bridges and a series of pools and waterfalls. The pools are amazing crystal clear pools that were cold when you first enter but it feels refreshing after hiking to see the lookout. That night my new friends and I went into town to grab a bit to eat. I don't think ill ever complain of slow service again. We waited over an hour to get our meals. We were only 5 people and the only ones seated in the restaurant. We swore that they cook had to go out and hunt our food for our dinners. December 31
The next day was a relaxing day for me. I laid out in the morning near the river, ate lunch at the hostel, then decided to go tubing down the river. We walked up to the house next to the hostel and asked to go tubing. So beautiful. The water is the same water from the caves so you can see straight down to the bottom. Since this isn't the rainy season the river was very low and at some points we had lift our bums to get over the massive rocks. All in all we had a great time. That night we went to the Laquin caves where we were able to see the alters used for sacrifice. They are still used today around 10 days a year. I looked but didn't see any blood or remains from recent sacrifices. The kicker at the end of the tour was that we waited near the entrance for dark. Once that happened they shut off all the lights in the caves so we can see thousands of bats flying around and leaving the caves. So cool. Bats are partially blind and figure out their way by their sounds. I still think that some were completely deaf because they can extremely close to flying into me. I have some really great shots of that too. One of the bad things about the caves was the bat poop everywhere.
eww, I can't believe I just had that in my hands
Luckily I had a really nice shower waiting for me back at El Riotiro. That night was New Years night. The hostel had a BBQ for 80Q which is around $10 US. My friends and I decided against it and grabbed dinner in town for $4. Our tour guide from the previous day promised us that there would be a massive a fire pit so he went out and bought crackers, marshmallows, and chocolate to make smores. Let me tell you, they were oh so good. There were a lot of people partying inside the main portion of the hostel but the four of us stayed out toasting marshmallows and making my favorite smores.
Once midnight hit our hostel had some fireworks and set them off. Fireworks are HUGE in Guatemala. People will set them off for any reason, Holiday, birthday, etc... its great. However, the staff wasn't that continuous that while they were setting off the fireworks that there was a dog next to it barking at each fire cracker that went off. It was so sad to watch that dog because I could just image the dog being way to close to the firecrackers and something happening to it. Luckily nothing did. However right I went to bed so I could catch my bus at 8 am to Flores.
Which is where I am now
Getting ready to see some bats
. The four of us traveled by mini van. We practically had it all to ourselves. There were two other people that joined us in Coban. We had a a direct bus trip to Flores. For some reason though my stomach isn't doing so well. Luckily the girls I am with are awesome and are taking such great care of me. Tomorrow, I hope I'm feeling better because I signed up for a 3 am tour of Tikal. As for tonight I'm keeping low and not really exerting to much energy.
I hope you all had a great New Years! Hope everything is going well. Until next time....
Allie
Comments
Happy New Year!
Sounds like you are having an AMAZING time! Can't wait to see the pictures. Have fun on your next adventure.