¡Viva Guatemala! Second go Round!: Semuc Champay Weekend Getaway

I want to first comment on the title. "Getaway", isn't this the term we use when we need to have a short vacation to relieve stress etc.. It's funny I'm getting away from my getaway. On my bus ride back home today I was thinking ok Court, back to reality time to get back into school mode. What am I thinking... Reality? I am in a dream world right now. Every day is a new experience, a new adventure!

Ok now to start our weekend. I will start by saying we got "played" by a couple of tour agencies. Trying to make a trip for eight women (who choose not to say what they actually want to do) is very difficult. After a minor freak out with my roommate Colleen we were set to be picked up at 5:30 am. Yes even Courtney was ok with that. The night before all the girls were asking what do we bring, what food should I pack, etc etc etc. I am not your mama, figure it out, your an adult!! Holy cow, future note to self, big groups are hard to plan for. But despite that, the girls that came on the trip were all amazing people. About 5:32 the roommates and I showed up to the van and we were missing 3 of the girls... We waited... and waited. Thirty minutes later three figures in the distance were SLOWLY walking towards the van. If that were me I would be sprinting and out of breath. Mind you the reason we were leaving at 5:30am was to avoid Guatemala City traffic. So much for that plan. Apparently the reason for their tardiness was one girls forgot her wallet. Trying to control myself right now and not blow up on her. In the realm of things, what ever, we were late and I am no candidate for being early but the idea was too get to Semuc early in order to see the national park before it closes. So much for that plan and the extra 70 quetzales (currency) we paid to leave earlier. It ended up being about a seven and half hour drive through jungles, valleys, alot of Guatemala City traffic, ghettos, and bumpy, pot holey dirt roads. We had about a 1600km difference in altitude change. I usually never get car sick... I can read in the car, I can sit upside down, turns in the road dont bother me but the altitude change got me feeling green. For the first half of the ride the girls and I were chatter boxes, we played middle school car games and as soon as the altitude started to change we all slowly got quieter and quieter. After about 7 hours we came into a town called Lankin and had to switch vehicles... Hmm our guide said you needed four wheel drive to get to our hostel and the "new" vehicle only runs at certain hours of the day. Comforting. But anyway all 10 us unloaded and transferred into a truck smaller than my f 150. Four of us piled into the backseat and the other 6 in the bed of the truck... (Don't worry parents I sat in the cab). But then our driver took off, hauling ass through the tiny cobble stone roads of Lankin. I gasped about 3 times thinking we almost hit dogs or pedestrians! Then we stopped at a little hostel and picked up two Brits who both sat in the front seat. Fortunately it was a couple, and they were able to sit on each others laps. So finally we were off to our 4 wheel drive adventure to Semuc. The road was... there was no road. It was a dirt path that had severe erosion from the rains. I quietly sat with my eyes closed suffocating from how many people were in the cab and not being able to roll the windows down since it started pouring again. I have to say our driver was terrific. His truck was older than me, his clutch seemed to be going out and he had to feather the gas every time he shifted. Reminded me of when I started driving stick "A LITTLE GAS... A LITTLE CLUTCH!" (famous last words from dad before I got the car stuck on a hill). But eventually after many bumps, jolts, hills, and mud puddles we pulled up to our rustic, quaint hostel situated about 200 feet away from the river.

It was gorgeous completely made out of bamboo and wood. We only had electricity from 6pm til 10pm, I am pretty sure the entire hostel was run off of one generator! But we were placed in dorm style rooms so 5 of us were in one room and 3 in the other. The beds were... well a little questionable. The first bed I chose had a GIANT stain on it. I am going to assume for my own sanity that it was a water stain from the storms but who really knows. So I switched beds closer to all the spider webs.. Lovely... Our first night we just walked around the area. Our hostel like I said was right next to the river. At the waters edge there was a huge swing that you could launch yourself into the river, so fun! Then we walked up the road which I might add is all jungle forest with wild turkeys and chickens just grazing the side of the path. Along the path we came upon a huge suspension bridge that led to the national park. I might add the floor of the bridge was wooden and shooooot I was nervous if it was going to hold my weight ( in reality cars drove on it everyday I was just being dramatic). But then we had a lovely dinner of fried chicken, rice and the most soggy, squishy, gooooeeeey salad I had ever seen, I said seen because I did not touch it. But after dinner we were all enjoying our two hours of electricity and in the meantime got salsa lessons. One of the guys that worked the hostel was also a salsa instructor. Man were we the entertainment for the night. Eight white girls with 16 left feet. It was hysterical but, he was patient and at least some of us have the basic steps down. The night was over lights out just before ten. We all proceeded to bed. I wore long sleeves, long johns and socks with my long johns tucked in. Mind you it is about 80 degrees out and 100% humidity. I was not about to get anything crawling all up on me. It took me awhile to fall asleep but eventually I fell into a coma.

The next morning was gorgeous. I woke up around 6 30 and no one was up. It was quiet and peaceful. It was slightly chilly out and the river was calm. Our tour of the cave was scheduled for 9 30. Enough time for me to lose my cell phone and 100 quetzales. Not the end of the world, but I have no recollection of where I put both of those things... Early Alzheimer's. Yikes. But all the girls slowly woke up and we got our bathing suits on, head lamps and water shoes to go spelunking! The cave we went to has a river that runs through it and feeds into the river. At the mouth of the cave there is a semi large waterfall. Hmm how our we starting this little adventure. The guide gave us all two candles and we started the trek. We hiked up the side of a small hill and entered the mouth of the cave, also known in the Mayan world as the mouth of the alligator which leads into another world. We lit our candles and slowly walked into the dark, cold, mysterious water. I must say our Guatemalan guide was smeagol (the creature from Lord of the Rings that can climb crazy stuff and dive in dark water). I kid you not we are walking through the cave by candle light, very eerie feeling. Our guide was incredible he would tell us where rocks were in the water, steer us from room to room. Some of the rooms, we had to ascend ladders (again looked older than I did) and then descend some. As we were getting further back in the cave I could hear rushing water. Ummmm.. Thoughts in my head, great the cave is filling up with water. But to my surprise we crawled through this small opening and we were in this room with an actual waterfall. You could barely see the water was gushing everywhere. The candles went out and the guide grabbed my hand ( I was in front) and said hang on to this rope and without a word he swung me THROUGH the waterfall. I have never felt water so forceful before. He placed me on a little ledge bench thing and swung back through and started bringing everyone over one y one. Once everyone was over he told us to climb up yet another later to get to the next room. The last person came through and no guide... Heart drops for about 2 minutes and all of a sudden a man emerges from the waterfall, like I said SMEAGOL! He climbed up the center of the waterfall using the rope we swung from side to side with. He did it effortlessly. About another 5 minutes of swimming slash walking we came into the last room of the cave. Once again the guide disappeared and all of sudden a man flies in the air and lands in a cannon ball in front of us all. So of course I had to do it to. It was only about 3 km high but still cliff jumping in a cave! I was so nervous. Everyone kept chanting for me. I told them no I don't want to! But they were persistent and I couldn't be a chicken so I did it. What a rush. After our cliff jumping excursion, by the way I was not the only one to go, we headed out. The pure excitement from seeing natural light is overwhelming. Even though I knew Smeagol would get us out it was relieving. After the caves we got to tube down part of the river. It was freeeezing! So not enjoyable. But I was floating along keeping to myself and all of sudden someone says what is that... Of course I jump and there was an otter right next to me! Are those dangerous? It freaked me out. The guide said to me "Don't worry mi amor, it's only a perro de agua." Translation, "Don't worry my love its only a water dog!" Oh great I feel much better now. But after our tubing we grabbed a quick lunch and headed over to the national park to see the natural pools, also known to some as Eden. It was about a 15 minute walk along the riverside to get to these series of natural pools that are crystal clear. The pools are on top of a massive natural bridge that the river I have been talking about runs under! How crazy is that. These pools that we swim in are all above the river. Nature at its finest! The water was refreshing and cool. If you keep your feet still enough the little tiny fish in the pools will eat the dead skin off your heels! I am way too ticklish, but the fish sure liked mine for some reason. We spent the rest of our day just enjoying the pools and returned back to our hostel for the night. Ate another appetizing dinner... (sarcasm). We had a long day and an even longer drive home the next day. The girls turned in pretty early so we could get up early and catch our lovely four wheel drive truck home. That is about all I have for this weekend. I could go into so much detail about the pools and the history and the location but I would never be able to justify the beauty of the river, the cave and the pools! All in all a great weekend. Drive back was slow, boring, and well boring.