Hola amigos,
Greetings from Rio Dulce, Guatemala! We have just spent an INCREDIBLE 4 nights at the Zephyr Lodge in Lanquin. We took the bus from Panajachel to Antigua, where we stayed for one night at "The Yellow House" again. It was so great to be greeted by familiar faces, and Lorenzo even remembered our names, which you dont except while travelling. We stayed only one night and booked a shuttle at 7:30 the next morning direct to Lanquin. Our first thought was to go to Coban, but after finding out that the shuttle was the same price, we decided to take it the extra 3 hours for free. We were 13 on a bus for 12 for about 8 hours when we pulled up at The Zephyr Lodge. It was a beautiful welcoming and really rustic place that we immediately liked. Our bed consist of a mattress on the floor in a hot sweaty attic, but it was 3 bucks a night so I really didnt mind. I was quite sick when we got here and drowsy from gravol so I went right to bed, and slept through until the next day. It is such a beautiful picturesque place. Everything around is so green. Rolling hills as far as you could see with the beautiful milky blue river running below. The first full day there Greg and I went tubing, which was only about an hour and a half ride down the river but it was so much fun. We took three dogs which I loved cause one got to sit on my lap in the tube for a while. Everyone drank beers and got obnoxiously drunk which made for a great time. I had to have a little siesta when we arrived back at the lodge, as I was still feeling under the weather. The next day was probably my favorite day thus far in our adventure. We woke up early and shared a massive pancake filled with chocolate and fruit, before catching the shuttle to Semuc Champey. What we didnt expect was, aside from the tour of the park, there was also a cave tour. The caves were AMAZING. Upon entering our Mayan guide opened some sort of flower and rubbed the seeds onto our faces like war paint. You then got a candle and lit it and walked into the caves. It was very survivoresque. Within the caves were a series of chambers and ladders which you climbed through and sometimes had to swim it was so deep. It felt very eerie to be swimming around in a cave by candlelight and there was something just insanely thrilling about the whole thing. We got to the end and got the chance to jump off these cliffs inside. I of course passed by Greg would never. Once we got out (And Ill admit I was quite dissappointed we had to leave at all), we had pollo frito for almuerzo before heading into Semuc Champey. Our first trek was up to the Mirador, a 1.5km hike uphill. It was treacherous but absolutely worth every step. The view was amazing!!! The river is probably the most beautiful thing Ive ever seen. We then descended down for a swim in the pools. Our guides swam us through every pool, even into some cool underhangs and we got a chance to jump off some of the ledges, and even slide down some natural waterslides. We all left after a few hours of exploring feeling famished, exhausted and happy as could be. We definetley had a great group with us, with the exception of some Israeli girls who refused to do anything. The whole day was just amazing. We celebrated a little but I was still not feeling well and went to bed around midnight. Greg however, decided to pull an all night and I found myself wide awake at 5am to the laughter of 4 delirious boys.
We decided to go tubing again since it was just so fun and relaxing. Later that night we checked out the Bat caves of Lanquin which were incredibly impressive. It was so cool to sit at the mouth of the cave and watch literally thousands of bats fly out. The only thing I hated was that every f**king tourist there was snapping there cameras so fast and crazy with so many flashed that you couldnt see much. Not to mention it messes up the bats night vision for about 2 hours. There were signs saying not to do it, but no one seemed to care. It was pretty upsetting. I dont understand why people feel the need to capture everything, and they cant just sit and enjoy it. Even the park turned off the lights inside the caves. Another example of ignorant tourists ruining everyone reputation. Again I went to bed early and was quite sad to say goodbye to our fabulous friends we had made over the last 4 days. We decided to go along with the Irishmen, Barry and Emmet, and a Swedish girl, B, to....THE BAY ISLANDS!! We didnt thing we would make it, but as I write this right now, we are in Rio Dulce and leaving tomorrow at 10am for San Pedro Sula, where we will hopefully make it to La Ceiba. Then the 9:30am ferry on Monday. We will start diving on Tuesday. I am really excited as we thought we would have to skip this part of our journey due to time restrictions. We have 2 weeks today until we have to be in Belize to meet our friends, and all we really have left to see is Flores and Tikal, which is easily done in the 4 days we´ve alotted ourselves. Add 2 days for overland journeys, a week in the bay islands, and we should be there RIGHT on time. Given everything goes as planned. We´ve decided to splurge on Utila because if we didn´t go, we would just be spending more time in Belize, which is equally as expensive. Anyways, im getting dirty looks for hogging the computer from THE GUY THAT WAS ON IT FOR AN HOUR RIGHT BEFORE ME, so I should get off. Hope everyone at home is well! Enjoy the photos!
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