Samuc Champay

Hello there! I feel like it has been a long time since I was able to post, so it probably has! I guess I will be more recapping for a while as the last week has been so incredible I cant recall everything nor do I have the time too....

When I left off I was in Antigua, one of the bigger cities in guatemala, and without much arm twisting I left...it would have been great to stay and see some more hockey but the bed bugs made the decision quite easy!!! To all you parents who tell your kids ''goodnight, sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite'' to hell with you!!!! It is impossible to not let them bite!! there is nothing you can do...they are vicious insane creatures and run a close second to tics on the list of any plant animal or insect that I may actually hate....there are only 2 things on the list so it is a big deal! They bite far worse than mosquitoes and last much longer.... luckily I the rest of my roommates were super folks or I don't know what i would have done...in the dorm we were 4 norwegians and one canuck....all people who understand what cold is! so we got along just swell..... I left Antigua with a friend from Australia and we headed to a place called lanquin which is near samuc champay, a popular area of waterfall type stuff...I was told that id i went to El chiflon (which i had in mexico) I could skip this pplcae but boy am i happy i did not!

As we pulled into Lanquin in the microbus locals would hop on the ladder on the side and give us flyers for tours to samuc champay.... the funniest part was that one of them spoke hebrew! and not just hello and goodbye! Israelis are everywhere... this last week has actually been the longest I have gone without meeting one of the 'chosen' people!

The first night we stayed in a hotel and then needed to Samuc Champay the next day, not taking the tour as we wanted to camp there. But sure enough the ride we got was with plenty of folks going on the tour so we joined them...(50% Israeli)... and it was a great idea! On our own we would have seen the waterfall part but not everything and boy was there more! We started by being told to et into just sandals and bathing suits and then we were each handed a candle that we were told would last for 2 hours, but we will only be one and a half....very reassuring. You may guess that we were heading into a cave but why the bathing suits you ask?? well because the cave is mostly a swimming experience! We were swimming in the dark holding a candle over our heads with one hand!! then you would climb up a ladder and walk for a bit before swimming again! After 45 minutes we got to the end and you could climb up the wall and jump 2m down into the water, but you can barely make pout the wall and we jumped into something the size of a well....very freaky!!! So lucky this was not in another country where you would be lucky to see a movie of the inside of the cave!!!

After that we had a 5 minute float down a river in a tube which seemed to be added just to make the trip longer and then it was off hiking.....

We climbed up to the main view point of the area and got the view you see on all the tourist pamphlets but it was much better in person!

Just breathtaking...and for once the guide did not rush us down! Then we climbed down and jumped in the pools....you can dive form one to the next...really great and water is nice and warm!!! The guide had us all go down to the last pool and then he tied a rope ladder to a rock....we were wondering why he had brought it and threw it over the falls....we climbed down and went into another cave where an underground river came out...all the pools are on top of the main river which is underground! Samuc Campay mean hidden river inthe local dialect! This is where the river begins to go underground.... It would be at the top left of the above pic....

The river is not the same pristine color as the pools but awesome none the less.....the next day we got to go swimming at the bottom of that last fall...the pic of the two heads is just over to the side of the part we climbed down.... That part was full on waterfall and slippery...

The night we arrived we put Augustus (my tent) by the river and some kids came by to talk...or so we thought, they wanted to sell us stuff or get some money.... I figured the best thing to do would be to hire them as security--- which we did and also ordered some tortillas for breakfast.... The next morning we found out that one of the boys was addicted to photography...he finished the battery on Emily's camera and then took a hundred more pohotos on mine...the funny part is that they were all perfect pictures!! it was incredible! He would make us pose or zoom in on a plant.... Here is a shot he set up of breakfast...

And herwe is the photographer....Joe cool!...and his siblings!

At night Emily and I engaged in a game of scrabble and it turns out we were both a little competitive.... good times....and it made it worth carrying it around for 2.5 months without using it!!!

Here are some cocoa beans drying on the side of the road and they are followed by a little burniung of the forest where corn will be planted....the problem though is that after a crop or two all the soil will erode and more land will need t be cleared....so adios forest.

Of course the other side of the coin is that there is no other room to grow anythign and these poeple are way out inthe middle of nowhere and need food to sustainthemsleves....(this is all guess work on my behalf, along with what i was able to hopefuylly translate correctly)

This part of the trip comes with a funny story..... We needed to catcha bus back to Lanquin and while we were waiting Emily went to go buy some water...I was going ot put on some music and a wild Trance song came on and I just could helo myself I had to do the Trance Dance! Sure enough I tirn around to face the road and there is a bus stopped with 50 Guatemmalan faces pressed to the window all staring at me googly eyed!! (I am upset that using this word now makes me think of a search engine) So anyways I smiled and walked up to the bus which was going the wrong way anyways and asked if we could go to Lanquin and they said yes.... I got on the bus to big smile and a cute old man who wasnted to shake my hand....

I thought they would go 100 meters up the road and turn around at the falls, but they ended up going for half an hour before turning around and that is where the last 2 pics were taken....where the ride did make its turn was a tiny village which could really be considered the middle of nowhere in a country where lots of roads seem to lead off into such places....And it was the first time I got a look like wow, a person with different skin!!! we could have been the first in the village or more likel the first in a very long time!

The bus took us back to Lanquin where we went ot a place called El Retiro....and that will be in the next post....