Semuc Champey (Guatemala)

Today was a pretty awesome day at Semuc Champey. We woke up early and took a 3 hour shuttle out to Lanquin, where we then hopped into the back of a pickup truck, and finished the last leg. The guide we had was great. He started out by walking us up to a cave that fed into a waterfall. We each got candles and he guided us through the different rooms. It was very neat to see all the stalactites and stalagmites. He walked us individually through a pretty heavy waterfall, which the boys actually scaled with the help of a rope. He guided us down a teenie hole, I have no idea how anyone would ever discover it, let alone attempt to go down.


 We got stuck for a minute in the pitch black, when he accidentally blew out the last candle, but scaled the walls assuring us he'd be back with new light. The whole setup was pretty risky; some of the ledges were really skinny, the ladders were very slippery, and the rocks sharp, but completely awesome!!
 After some scrapes and bruises, we emerged from the cave. We got to swing off a rope into the river, which we discovered really pulled you downstream quickly.

Probably, the scariest part was when we jumped off a bridge into the water 15 feet below and had to swim like madmen (and women) to the shore. I've definitely never jumped off anything that high, and to then swim for my life was a bit much...but completely awesome again!

After out swim, we put on our tennis shoes and hiked a very aggressive hill to the lookout. I honestly don't even think a lot of people would have the stamina for this; even our two marines were having a tough time! Nicole and I, of course, barely broke a sweat...yea right. But we finally made it to the top, and had lunch with a fantastic view!

A bit into our much-needed rest, we set to descending to the pools of Semuc Champey, which translates to "River that Disappears into the Earth". The main river, Rio Cahabon, is actually not part of the limestone pools at all, but disappears underground, through a cave system, before reemerging right after the limestone pools end. The pools are fed by mountain water. Each pool has clear blue water that is said to have healing qualities. The guide brought us through each pool and showed us the natural water slides down small waterfalls, on one of which Clint took me out in a full-on body-check. The whole thing was fun and, the guide knew ever hidden secret around.

 Lastly, he brought us to the main waterfall where the limestone pools end, and it drops back into the main river. Normally, people can jump off the waterfall, but, due to rain, the river below looked very unforgiving. But, we were able to scale down a life threatening rope ladder into the cave under the waterfall, which was super neat. The climb back up, however, was completely terrifying. You might think the climb down would he worse...it was not. By the miracle of foot-placement we made it back up to the pools to enjoy another quick swim and high jump into the water before heading back. We all passed out for a bit on the ride home and are still a bit tuckered out, post-shower. Dinner and bed on the agenda.

"It's Like Driving in Afghanistan. Just Stay Inside the Tread." (Guatemala)

Today we drove from San Pedro Lago Atitlan back to Coban to then visit Semuc Champey. Jared has apparently gotten his fill of driving for a bit, so Clint took over...for possibly the worst drive ever! Everything started out just fine. The roads are rough, but Clint actually seemed a bit more gentle on the car, so my teeth didn't feel like they were rattling around in my head as much; I was his navigator. We ended up hitting quite a bit of traffic, for completely unknown reasons, and had to sit with the car in Park for about 30 minutes, twice. We were bit worried about arriving back to Coban after the sun went down, but we had already done the drive, and knew the roads were very manageable...well, paved at least, but that's the best for which we can ever hope.
 It rained basically the entire time, but again not so bad as we've ever had. Then the sun slowly started setting and we realized...the headlights are OUT!!!! Apparently, there must be some damaged fuse or something, because the only functioning light was the right hazard. Then the fog set in, to the point that visibility was maybe 5 feet. Clint was freaking out, but we kept chugging along praying we would make it with a bit of light left. We did not. The sun went down completely, and we had to rely on the cars in front of us with headlights to guide our way. We voted at one point, and both Nicole and I wanted to stop on the side of the road and camp...in the pouring rain versus continue, but the boys were confident we could make it. Clint described the drive as similar to driving in Afghanistan, and if he could just follow the tracks of the car in front of him...as they avoided topes, landslide debris, and people, we would be fine *insert huge eye roll*. Needless to say, we have made it to Coban in one piece, and will get the headlights checked out asap. We are all completely pooped, as the drive ended up taking much longer than expected and also probably took a full year's worth of stress off our lifespan. Tomorrow we wake up early to head to Semuc Champey. We will not be driving, so hopefully it will be a stress-free day!

San Pedro Lago Atitlan (Guatemala)

Yesterday we spent all day touring around Lago Atitlan. It was in fact, the first day spent entirely separate from the boys. Nicole and Jared and I woke up and grabbed some yummy breakfast on the lake side. Then us girls went out and rented a kayak to paddle around, which ended up being a much more arduous endeavor than expected; the center of the lake was actually quite rough, and gave us a good run for our money. In fact, the girls we happened to depart the same time as, ended up leaving their kayak on the opposite side of the lake and took a cab back...but we are tough chicks, and stuck it out! Apparently the lake has been a bit of a problem lately, and a tourist actually passed away on a kayak recently ...which we didn't find out until after we returned.
After, we tried to book a hike up the volcano, but were told we wouldn't have enough time before dark, as it's a 5 hour hike. We opted instead to walk around town a bit,and then hop on a water taxi to Panajachel, a town on the opposite side of the lake, about a 40 minute boat ride. The town is a bit more "metropolitan" than San Pedro. We found a German coffee shop with baklava, and an all vegan restaurant. The market was wonderful, so we bought a few things we had either forgotten to bring or lost (me) along the way. After about an hour, during which the weather had turned a bit ominous, we headed back to the water taxi area, and to San Pedro.
 Upon our return, we still couldn't connect with the boys, so we made some hostel friends and drank some good Guatemalan beer, and settled in for the night. I think our favorite thing about our evening was the super hot showers! Lord, we haven't had hot water showers in ages! It was glorious! The boys rejoined us, after having had a nice day of kayaking as well; however, apparently, they were rained on while Nicole and I were in Panajachel, and were limited by that. Into bed pretty early, as we knew we'd have a long day of driving ahead.

"Es Un Milagro" (Guatemala)

After our night in Guatemala City, we decided to continue west to Antigua and Lago Atitlan, instead of going back to Semuc. We packed up the car, and headed out for an easy quick drive. We arrived in Antigua, at the hostel we had researched, and found that the hostel was unattended, and we couldn't get in. Locals around assured us that the owner would be back soon, so we waited...for an hour and nothing. As it was early afternoon, we decided that we could probably make it to Lago Atitlan, about a 2-3 hour trip away, with enough sunlight. So we got back in the car and started out the drive.
 No issues during the trip, and we were about 40 minutes from our destination when Jared noticed that the breaks felt "funny".   Luckily, right about that time, we got to the first straight, flat road we had seen in a couple hours. We pulled over to switch drivers, so Clint could feel the breaks as well. As the navigator, I watched as Clint slowly pulled out and started pumping the breaks, from which...absolutely nothing happened. We did not stop or slow down when he pushed the break pedal all the way to the floor! We used the emergency break to pull off the road, popped the hood, and waited. We must have been the most blessed people ever that day, because low-and-behold a group of mechanics stumbled upon us, and offered their assistance. ...well I guess we were more blessed to discover that the breaks were shot NOT while on a mountain side. The mechanics came right over and called in reinforcements.

The man that came out diagnosed the problem as worn breakpads, and offered to drive around to find some for the car. After about 30 minutes, he came back with pads, stated they were the ONLY pads for our car in the next 3 towns. We pulled the car into his shop about 6 blocks away, and he got to work on the pads. We required new pads on all four wheels. He showed us the worn pad, and there was literally nothing left of it. He actually said it was a "milagro" that we made it to the point down the mountain with the pads we had. LORD!!!!! The breakpad situation ended up taking several hours, part of which we were actually sitting in the family's home. We ended up finding a hotel to hunker down at for the night. The people, specifically this mechanic and his family, were absolutely amazing!! So welcoming and generous. We were in a real bind, and lucked out on a massive level. I think we all said a nice long prayer thanking God that night.
 At the hotel, the boys got their own rooms, while Nicole and I bunked up together. I think they enjoy their space more than Nicole and I find necessary. After a pretty rocky night of sleep, we got up to check the status of the car, as when we went to bed, they were still working on it. There she was, good as new. The mechanic assured us that we could drive the South America and back on these new pads, two of which he actually had to cook onto the existing metal frames in an oven, as there was no way to get new ones anywhere around. We packed up, and finished the last leg of the trip to Lago Atitlan with a new sense of gratitude. Upon arrival, we found the hostel pretty easily. Often, we have to just park the car, have one or two of us wait with the car while the other two go in search of our hostel. We found, Mr. Mullet, which had been recommended to us from a fellow traveler. Found a place to park the car for a couple days, and schlepped our stuff to the hostel. After a bit, we ran into an old friend from Puerto Escondido in Mexico, and headed out to the local gringo spot for a Sunday BBQ. The food and atmosphere was pretty cool. The amount of food they gave was super generous, and they even gave us a full plate of sides just to take home, above the amount they had already given, which we couldn't even finish. After, we came back to the hostel to bundle up a bit, as the climate here is a actually a bit chilly at night. We all went out again with some new and old travel friends and had a pretty great night of drinking and socializing. Came back, and all had pretty good drunken sleep!

Messi! (Guatemala)

Yesterday was pretty relaxed in the morning. Nicole went on a jog, which I am still barred from doing due to my legs. We all ate breakfast, and headed to Guatemala City in hopes of finding tickets to the sold out game. The drive wasn't too bad, but when we got to the city we had a bit of a challenge navigating all the one way streets. Nicole and I grabbed tickets as we were driving by the stadium, so we were happy campers, but the boys waited to see if they could get better prices. By the time we actually found the hotel, Jared was rebelling against driving anymore.
We settled into the hotel, and quickly left to get the boys tickets. The hotel is within walking distance of the stadium, so it was easy. The area around the stadium was pretty chaotic, vendors everywhere, horns going off constantly, and food and beer every couple feet.

 We pregamed a bit, grabbed some street food, and then some pretty neat half Guatemala, half Argentina soccer jerseys. The game was great; it was just a friendship game, so the crowd was very tame, which I think was good as no one else had ever been to a Latin American soccer match, as many people know, those things can get out of hand! Messi played three quarters of the game, and scored three goals, which was awesome to witness. I hope to get in more soccer games throughout our Latin American leg of the trip. After the game, we walked back to the hotel, and called it a night.

More Dirt than Semen (Guatemala)

After my crappy sleep last night, I got up early and was determined to find a doctor for my rash, so Nicole and I packed all our stuff up before the boys woke, and headed out in search of some help. We found a doctor pretty easily; he was a general surgeon not a dermatologist, but I was sure I could convince him to write me a prescription for what I wanted...which was a pretty hefty dose of intramuscular steroids. A miracle worker he was, because after I explained my problem and my background, he pumped me with steroids without even asking my medical history or allergies, and gave me supplies for more steriod shots over the next 4 days, hallelujah!!!
 After I was happily 'roided up, we went back to the hotel to pack for our next stop, Lanquin, an easy three hour drive...not so. The roads were complete shit (I try to swear as little as possible on the blog, and really only reserve it for necessary situations, which this was), by far the worst we've had. We were not able to drive over 20 mph the entire time, and bottomed out constantly, once even forcing Jared to pull over to check for damage.  Occasionally, we hit a patch of "semen" (as we've all endearingly started referring to it as the boys' southern accents make "cement" sound more like "semen" [don't judge us, we have to entertain ourselves somehow during anxiety-riddled car rides]), but those areas wouldn't last more than 100 meters and were very few and far between. We turned onto the "highway" towards our destination, and wouldn't you know it, the roads could actually get worse. We averaged maybe 5 mph during that time, and had to pull over for 30 minutes, because the car was overheating!

 Jared made the executive decision to turn around and go back to the less-crappy, crappy road, as he had concerns about the car making it up higher into the mountains under those road conditions. The 3 hour trip turned into a 7 hour trip, but we made it to Coban instead, right as the sun was going down; a three hour drive from our original destination.
 Along the way, we found out some pretty epic (for me), travel altering information. After reading the front page of a local paper at a gas station, we found out that the Argentine National Men's Soccer Team arrived today, with Messi in tote, for a game in the capital tomorrow. After much deliberation, we decided that we would leave Lanquin and Semuc Champey (the attraction we wanted to see outside of the town of Lanquin) until after we attempted to make this soccer game. Nicole and I were adamant about going, the boys less so (they actually responded with "who's Messi?", when I shouted out that there was a game tomorrow), but we have wanted to watch a live game, and Semuc will be here after the game is done.
 As of now we are unsure we can even get tickets, but I'm holding out for a kind-hearted scalper (???), or I can just wait outside the locker room and then completely rationally discuss with Messi why it is essential that he marry me, effectively changing both of our lives :D Keep your fingers crossed for us!

Rio Dulce (Guatemala)

Yesterday morning we headed out pretty early for our next stop, Rio Dulce and El Castillo de San Felipe. The drive was an easy three hours and we found the hotel pretty easily. We settled in, grabbed lunch, which for the guys consisted of three, yes three, hamburgers each, and made arrangements to hop on a boat across the lake to the Castillo, which was an old fort and jail for the Spaniards to defend against pirates! The sight was probably the most well-kept site we have been to thus far. It was in a really nice park with grass and palm trees and a swimming area.

We were pretty blown away when we entered the fort and a man offered to give us a guided tour for free! Every attraction we've been to thus far has independent people offering tours for pretty outrageous prices, so we were happy. The jail area looked pretty miserable, as it was originally pitch black, and the tiny cells fit two men who couldn't stand up straight due to the cell's size, and half the time it flooded during the winter. After we took a quick dip in the swimming area and headed back to our hotel. After a bit of lounging, it started pouring and the lights kept turning on and off. We were able to grab dinner during a moment of power and then settled in to sleep. I would not recommend this hotel to anyone, as Nicole and I found bugs, not ants, in our beds, so she found one that was clean, which left no available beds. I ended up having a pretty crappy sleep in the car, and woke up early for today, but no bigs, we've all had bad nights of sleep during the trip.

Isla de Flores & Tikal (Guatemala)

The morning we left Caye Caulker was again a perfect day. I woke up a touch after sunrise, so I walked over to the shore to relax. When everyone was up, we packed and grabbed another yummy breakfast, and walked over to the water taxi area. The ferry was seamless and dropped us back off in Belize City where we waited for Edgar to pick us up. The man is nuts! Wouldn't stop talking about this whore house (I'm not kidding) and his "girlfriend" who was a good 40+ years younger than him...gross. Nicole and I could barely keep it together in the back seat.
 When we picked up and packed up the car, we said our goodbyes to Edgar and headed for Guatemala. This was the most annoying border crossing we've had thus far, not terrible mind you, but all our other experiences have been great. We got to the border and there are always people trying to get money off of you, "oh this is where you park, now pay me", "oh I showed you where the entrance was, now pay me" and on and on ad nauseum! So we are always very tentative with anyone not behind a desk. We discovered there were about 4 different places we were had to continue to pay fees for the car. They needed a copy of the stamp they had JUST GIVEN US, along with other documents. So we had to walk across the border to an ATM and then get a copy of our new passport stamp...??? Finally, we made it through! No real issues with the drive, though there is a somewhat significant amount of dirt road, which our car is not made for, but took like a champ non-the-less. We arrived at a super small island called Isla de Flores and found a pretty cheap hostel with a very hippy vibe.
The next morning, I woke up to discover that I had become a leper. I developed some type of rash that sort of looks and feels like poison ivy. It had somewhat progressed slowly, but I thought nothing of it until then. I grabbed some questionable pills at the pharmacy and we headed out to Tikal, the natural reserve and sight of a large Mayan city.
 This was probably the most or second most exciting ruins. A lot like Palenque, the monuments and temples sprung up out of the jungle, some fully some partially, leaving the question of whether the random hills throughout were in fact unexcavated ruins. It was much more sprawling that any ruins we have been to yet. We trekked through the jungle for 2 1/2 hours, climbing the tallest temple to see nothing but jungle till the horizon with a few ancient temple peaks poking thorough. Very cool trek.

We also saw spider monkeys, heard what we think was a jaguar, and saw two animals we had never seen before! A great and exhausting day. After our adventure, we headed back to the island for some grub, showers and rum drinks! Headed to bed a bit later than usual, but slept great.