The van picked us up and then we had to go pick up the guys for breakfast. They didn’t have electricity or water for the night. They also had to ride on top of the van to the restaurant. I don’t see why they couldn’t have just shared a seat or sat on the floor but they had fun. We ate breakfast at a restaurant. The food was ready within 10 minutes of ordering, but it all didn’t come out at once. I just had a strawberry smoothie with my granola bar. The smothie cost Q12. To get from Lanqin to Semuc Champey it was 20 km. We rode in the back of a truck to get there. It was funny to hear the driver offer the ride for Q5 when we paid $60 for the entire trip. But I was happy to have it all planned out.
First we climbed the mountain to the top to look out. The walk was a combination on rocks as steps, wooden steps (which were slippery and wet), ground/roots. It was all uphill and we all sweat profusely because it was so humid out. But the view was worth it. We could distincly see where the natural springs were and where they joined with the river which popped up randomly. The springs were clear and blue and the river was muddy.
Next we decended the mountain and got a view of the 20 foot waterfall. The water was crazy strong and there was a man that was patroling the area to make sure we didn’t get too close to the edge. We then swam in the springs in the 6 different pools. It was hilarious how slippery the rocks were. It was so hard to walk sometimes. Unfortunately some people fell and cut themselves up. To get to the different pools, we slid down some of the rocks like slides. But some were bumpier than others and hurt more. We also jumped from one pool to the other. It was only a 12 foot jump but it was slippery so it was a little worrisome. The other tour guides were running and doing punch fronts (front flips). I am very surprised they always found a grip and that they never slipped.
We then walked where there was a 35 foot waterfall. Some people were jumping off of this cliff but our guide said it was prohibited because someone got hurt a week ago and had to go to the hospital. In fact there were 3 injuries in the past week. One from the waterfall, one from jumping off the bridge, and another from jumping off the swing into the river. So our guide wouldn’t let us do the waterfall and bridge jumping which made me glad.
Next we got to go in the swing from land to the river. It launched us at least 20 feet high. But as soon as you hit the water you had to start swimming cause the current was strong. I did it 4 times and the guy never got a good picture of me. It was way to funny how bad he was at taking pictures. I could have done that for days but we had to go on our cave tour.
Our cave tour consisted of a water filled cave that was lit only by our little candles. There were also bats in this cave. We also had to swim with them at times. There was also a 10 foot waterfall in the cave that had super strong current. We had to climb ladders that were made out of small metal pipes that were wrapped in tape. If you had a misshap you could end up falling 15 feet with rocks on everyside of you. Lets just say that it would not have been legal in the US. At the end of our tour we were able to climb a rock and jump 10 feet into the water. We only had about a 4x4 spot that was garaunteed a good spot to jump. Once again the rocks were wet. I just jumped and my feet touched the bottom which was a soft sand. This dumb Argentinian decided last second to dive and he was super close to the wall and we didn’t know if there were rocks under the surface. He even terrified the guide. We all were surprised that he came up unharmed. I accidently kicked way to many rocks because they would randomly pop up as I was swimming, but it was one of the funnest experiences of my life. Chi-Chan struggled a little bit. His candle was always out and he was always wandering by himself. He came out of the trip with a rip in his little speedo short things. Way to funny.
Final activity was a nice float down the river in intertubes for 3 km. I almost made it back with out a scratch until the last 50 feet I hit a rock with my butt. By this time it was 5:20 so we headed back to Lanqin. We all met up for dinner at 7 at the same place. We were going to try to find something new but there were no lights around the bend where we were supposed to go. The soccer game was on. It was Guatemala vs Mexico. They ended up losing which would have been their ticket into the finals of the Gold Cup. It was funny because one kid asked if there was a place to go dancing, which I have no clue why he’d ask that. They said no but they could turn on music after the game. The music they chose was clearly geared toward us and was Black Eyed Peas. We politley asked them to change it and to turn down the music. We just wanted to chill. I had nachos and pina coladas.
Our walk back was the SCARIEST thing of my life it was pitch black and I couldn’t see the road in front of my over half of the time. We just kept trying to follow the road until we saw the light of our hostel. For someone who HATES the dark and is paranoid, that 6 minute walk seemed like an eternity. Luckily there was another bug in our room I found as the other girls were brushing their teeth. It was hidden behind a shelf so I gave them warning and asked for their help. One used a paper to scare the bug out of its spot as I used their shoe to smash it. I wasn’t about to be sleeping with a 2 inch beatle in my room.
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