Things are getting really tight for us travelling. The dollar has dropped to it's lowest point and it is making our already tight budget into a bit of a nightmare. on the 2 Feb NZ$1 = US$0.50 !! Luckily we are in a less developed country, we are hoping that by the time we reach more expensive countries our dollar will have rallied a bit.
We caught a 'chicken bus' from Antigua to Guatemala city. We had expectations of a city like Mexico city but it was very quiet there and hardly any traffic on any of the roads. We walked a couple of kms from where we were dropped off to the next bus station and got on the next bus heading for Coban which is on the way to Lanquin. The bus went on the one and only busy street in the whole of Guatemala city, it took us an hour to get out of town! The road wound up through the mountains and right into the clouds, the scenery became very green and not unlike NZ. The driver was cool, he dropped us right at the place to get our next bus in Coban on to Lanquin and told us how much to expect to pay. In Coban it was miserable and raining. The minivan to Lanquin was supposed to leave at 4pm but left at 5pm and took 2 1/2 hours to go 60km.
At Lanquin we were dropped at 'El Retiro' a backpacker hostel resort... It was lovely with big open spaces and palapa huts but we could only afford bunk beds and absolutely could not afford their 50q all you can eat dinners. The place was full of tourists and we just didn´t fit so next day went into town and got a room at a hotel there for 60q and ate at the restaurant along the road for 20q.
The weather was pretty cloudy and drizzly but not really cold. We walked to the local caves and stayed there until the evening when the bats all came out much to Kents joy. Next day we went to Semuc Champey which is an amazing place as you will see when we get the pics organised. It has aquamarine pools that sit above a raging river. The river goes into a cave and runs underneath the pools and comes out at the bottom of them.
The only negative thing about this area is the local habit of charging tourist three times the cost the locals pay for transport. With the dollar low and the arguing high Guatemala has become a little stressful.
