anita

So we ended back up at Semuc Champay, the beautiful pristine turquoise blue-green natural pools that sit above rapids that crash into the cave below (you know, THAT semuc champay:D) and had adventures completely different than the ones I had last year. We were in a group with three hilarious Italians (that I kept mistaking for English as they´ve been studying in London the past three years and have an incredible grip on British English) and two Canadians. With the three Italians and a tour guide, we hopped from pool to pool, climbed down a waterfall (on a temporary hanging ladder that our guide tied to a rock--it was pretty intense), slowly climbed down a cave wall with nothing more than our hands and butts scoot down with, were in complete awe with being in a tunnel/cave with white rapids crashing below us, before taking a quick shower in another waterfall as we scooted to the edge of a rock face and jumped about 10 meters into the turquoise river below. It was amazing.
We then had to climb up a another rocky area and I was not so good at that as my arms and legs only extend so far, but I did it! We ate dinner with the Italians that night at our super cute hostel and talked late into the night...and then we slept very very well.

But by the next morning (Friday at this point) we were up and ready by 8:30 to start our 7 hour drive to Tikal. The temperature continued to rise and rise and we went further and further north, the elevation decreasing causing the heat to subsequently increase. Between Flores and Tikal our shuttle got a flat tire, so the 5 Swiss girls we were traveling with and Erin and I saught shelter in the shade of some rocks and waited in the unending heat for the shuttle bus to get fixed. By the time we arrived temperatures had reached 40 degrees celsius (104 degrees for all we fahrenheit people) and a good hostel was in order. We stayed in a cute bungalow (I have lots of pictures of course :D) and booked our tour with the ¨bird man¨ who was actually my guide last year! Though he didn´t remember me out of the thousands of people he gives tours to, he was pleased to know that I remembered him and we got ourselves ready for the 4:30am tour on Saturday. An excellent time once again, and it was in Tikal that I realized that if one likes taking pictures (i.e. me) you have to travel to someplace twice: once to get all the picture-taking out of the way, and a second time to fully appreciate what is going on without the distraction of feeling as though you must document everything. Don´t get me wrong though, I´ve been taking plenty of pictures, they are just much more selective and I am able sit back while the rest of our tour is snapping pictures.

Not wasting ANY time, we bussed back to Flores that afternoon, walked around this tiny island for about a half hour, got ice cream, and headed across the bridge to Santa Elena where we got our bus ticket to Rio Dulce. We left at 4:30pm in a rickety old coach bus, and Erin and I were in uninhibited and unstopable fits of laughter the entire time. Maybe it was something to do with the woman in front of Erin closing both the windows in front of us so her hair wouldn´t get messed up (resulting in my whipping out a leaf I had picked up in Tikal and using it as a fan), maybe it was due to the same woman reclining her seat all the way so that Erin was left with absolute minimal room, perhaps attempting to eat chicken while riding on our swerving bus with our only utensils, namely our hands, while simultaneously balancing tortillas and water bottles...but my personal theory of our uncontrolable laughter was the heat and exhaustion putting us on some sort of crazy autopilot...but w
e had a wonderful time all the same and arrived in Rio Dulce in darkness at 9pm. We made friends with a girl from Holland named Maaike and the three of us boated to our hostel on the water, Casa Perico. After making plans to go to the Caribbean part of Guatemala, Livingston, we relaxed with cold beverages before retiring for the night.

Sunday then we were off to Livingston, a two hour boat ride with increadible views of white limestone walls and untouched vegetation, houses on the water, children swimming about, women doing the wash...a sublime ride really. We got into Livingston which was super hot and walked down the main drag, stopping to look at touristy things to buy. I remembered a café I had stopped at last year that was the main place for a band, so Erin and I headed down a random street and I found this same café/bar area, decorated from top to bottom in Bob Marley stuff, greens reds and yellows, and murals of people singing and dancing. We talked for about a half hour with a 20 year old that was in the band, and his big theme was being chill..and he was super chill :). He convinced me that for a real Livingston experience, you have to stay for the night which is when all the music and dancing begins--I promised him next time :D. The rest of the day we went and stopped by the Carribean, ate some delicious shrimp, got our hair braided by some insistent ladies, and headed back to Casa Perico. It was an exhausting day with all the heat and sun, so it was nice to be back on the boat with warm air whipping at our faces.

This morning then, we barely caught the 6am bus from Rio Dulce to where we are right now, Antigua. Super touristy but with a cute glow, Antigua has provided us with warm showers, a place to get on the internet, and finally computers to recharge our poor iPods! Tomorrow we will be climbing Pacaya, a presently active volcano that allows tourists the opportunity to get the closest to lava they probably ever will be in their life. We took the latest tour so that on our descent it will be dark, giving the lava an even more impressive glow. I´ve been dreaming of making this climb for a year now, so I´m very excited to tomorrow!

Hasta luego!

annemary