Semuc Champey and Lanquin!

So we are continuing on to see the beautiful country of Guatemala. We have just arrived in the city of Coban for some catch up on laundry, internet, various supplies (shampoo, etc) for a few days before we move on. We just came from a place about 2.5 hours north of Coban, a town called Lanquin -we had to get up at 5am to catch the only bus out of this town in the middle of nowhere!

The attractions of this area was a place called Semuc Champey, a park nearby Lanquin. This park has a beautiful river that flows through a valley, but also kind of on top of the river the natural limestone there formed beautiful natural pools all connected by little (and big!) waterfalls. It´s a little strange, but yes, there is a river flowing under a limestone bed, with the natural pools on top of it...I´m no geologist, so I cannot explain it further, but trust me-it was a beautiful place and we had a great day there! First we took a hike up the side of the valley, to the lookout called El Mirador to see the view of the natural pools. It was only about 35 minute hike up, but it was hard!! Very steep, and the heat and humidity add an extra level of difficulty. The view was well worth it, as we looked down on the series of pools that were this beautiful vibrant green color. After enjoying the view we hiked back down to go swimming in the pools. The water was so clear, and the setting was so pretty, so we all went for a dip. The pools were mostly connected by little waterfalls, or ledges, so you could just slide from one to the other or dive from the upper pool. It was even deep enough in some areas for Adrian to do a crazy 35 ft high jump off a tree hanging out over the river! Our guide told us he had a secret trip for us, so we scooted down a bunch of the pools and got to a bigger waterfall where the surprise was...He brought a rope ladder with him and threw it over the 15 ft. waterfall and had us all climb down into a cave where the underlying river meets the water flowing from the final pool, if that makes sense. Some surprise!! It turned out to be a little scary, dangling on this rope ladder in the middle of a waterfall, especially when we got to the bottom and the guide tells us to ¨step on him¨ to get down!! He was literally standing in the cascading water holding the end of the rope, and he was a human rung on the ladder! That dude must be insanely strong to have 15 people climbing down a rope and standing on him, in the middle of a waterfall!!! Craziness!!! From there it only got crazier as we walked into the cave that was under the pools and we then shimmied through a hole about the size of a smallish TV with stalactites and stalagmites protruding out...We sat in the cave, getting drenched and chilly totally unsure of what the hell we were doing there or how we were going to get out! He then told us a story about the Mayan caves we´d heard before (and at this point I am thinking he just made up) and turned us around to get back out the same way...Needless to say, it sure was a surprise part of the tour...Scary at many points but kinda cool to have done it...

From the park we went to see some caves in town of Lanquin. They were OK, but since we already saw an amazing cave on the ATM tour, so this one wasn´t as nice (but I should say, I think caves are always pretty cool)...I guess it was just different. But there was one strange twist here...At dusk, thousands of bats fly out of this cave into the night sky, and you can sit outside the cave and watch. Or so we thought...There was only 5 of us now, and our guide decided to take us back into the cave in the dark to get a closer up look at the bats!!! Since both of us forgot our prized headlamps we were making due sharing the light of one flashlight, the guides´ headlamp, and my not-so-bright-maglite, in the pitch black trying to hike through a cave. We manage to get a bit inside and scramble to find somewhere to sit. At this time, a few bats are flying around here and there making their way toward the exit...We sit and wait some more and suddenly there are bats everywhere!! I really do mean thousands!! We managed to sit still and quiet for a few minutes (me with my hands covering as much of my face and ears as possible), and you could feel the wind of their wings flap as they flew by your head...Bat squeaks everywhere, and then we would just cower on the side and someone would shine the light and watch tons fly by and all around us. Adrian and Nick were brave enough to stand up and move even closer into their flight paths, but not me!! I think you will all be proud, I didn´t even shreek...that much...Just a few squeals here and there :) I startle easily :)

There´s even more to mention about my first sighting of a tarantula....The beautiful ride up the mountains of Guatemala, incredibly winding and inducing car-sickness bus rides (KC, SS, JH-you would definetly have vomited!). And the back of the pickup rides up and over dirt mountain roads to even get to Semuc Champey...But I know I am babbling on to much for a quick blog update!