01/12/09-04/12/09Following our excursion to the south of Guatemala to volunteer with the lovely sea turtles, we decided to head north to visit the last few places on our list, with our first stop being Semuc Champey. It was such a long journey that we had to stop over in Antigua for the night, and from Antigua it was still a 9 hour ride to Semuc, so you can imagine how relieved we were to arrive. Semuc Champey is located in the department of Peten, the biggest in Guatemala, and home to several species of wildlife, due to its jungle-like characteristics (although these are more apparent further north in Tikal, which I will get to later). Semuc Champey and the nearby town of Lanquin are located in a valley, so you are surrounded by lush green mountains and colourful plants and trees....it is so beautiful, and very peaceful too. We spent two nights in Semuc Champey in a cozy, little, wooden hut, and each morning and evening, all of the guests would sit down around the two big tables and eat breakfast and dinner together.....it was a great way to get to know everyone! We met Leanne from Australia, who has been travelling the world and working in different places for the past 4 years...she is now headed to the Bay Islands where she is hoping to work as a dive master and maybe do her instructor course. At the same time we got to know Anna from Germany, who has just finished school and is now spending a year in Guatemala before probably heading back to Germany to go to university. She has worked as a model and actress before and starred in a German film in 2007, but she refused to tell us the name of it, which is a shame! We also met a lovely English couple, from Southampton, Nathan and Jo, who are also travelling and making their way to Argentina, where they are hoping to maybe find jobs for a while. If they don't manage to find anything, they at least have something to fall back on, as they make a lovely double act with Nathan on guitar and Jo singing. They treated us to a few songs one evening, and they are really good!
The one full day we spent in Semuc Champey was absolutely brilliant...definitely another highlight never to be forgotten! The reason everyone visits this place is that there is a series of natural pools running through the mountains where you can go swimming. The two different types of stone that form the pools make the water look turquoise, and against the surrounding greenery, they are truly a magnificent sight. Our morning started with a half-hour hike up to a look-out point 300m above the pools from where we could admire the beautiful view and take some photos. Then we made our way back down to visit the pools themselves. The pools form a natural bridge over the top of a 300m long cave, so our guide started us off right at the beginning by taking us to see the opening of the cave, where the river rushes through at high speed. We were going to reach the other end of the cave via the pools :) We didn't start swimming right at the beginning though....our guide took us a little further along before allowing us to get in! 
The water was cold, but in a really refreshing way, and after the hike it was a welcome relief from the heat. From here, we made our way along the series of pools, with each one being at a slightly lower level than the previous one, meaning that we had to jump or dive from one pool to the next! None of the pools presented any problems until we reached the final one....the drop down into this pool was 13m, and the view to the bottom wasn't very clear, so you couldn't really see what lay below. Our guide jumped off without even thinking about it to show us that it could be done, and so Nathan, Leanne and I decided to give it a go. It took a lot of courage and I stood at the top hesitating for about a minute before I finally had the nerve to jump....and apart from a bit of a sore bottom, I survived unscathed, and I was so proud to have done it. The rest of our group climbed down the rocks using a rope, which is how we all got back up when it was time to go back. Before heading back, however, there was just one more thing to do. We climbed up some rocks (quite painful with bare feet) into a small cave to stand behind a waterfall, and then we had another opportunity to jump, this time from a height of just 8m. I hesitated again but eventually managed to jump, as did Nathan and Leanne. There was no convincing the others to join us :)
Afterwards we walked back to the hotel to order lunch and then went tubing...this involves floating down the river in the inner-tube of a tyre. The river was very calm and so it was a very relaxing ride, although at times we had to be careful to avoid the rocks :) Next was lunch, which we were really ready for by now, as it was about 3pm, but we didn't have much time to relax, as a few of us also wanted to go and visit the nearby cave, and at 4pm we were back on our feet again. The cave was just a short walk away from the hotel, and after our guide had secured our flip-flops to our feet with bits of coloured string (very classy!), we headed into the cave. At the entrance, we were each given a candle, and one by one we edged our way into the darkness. The cave wasn't your typical cave where you have one path to walk along....it had water in it! At first it only reached as far as our ankles, but then it gradually crept up to our knees, then our waists, and Leanne and I being quite short, it came up to our necks a few points along the way. And we even had to swim one-handed at times when the water was too deep to stand up in, keeping the candle above the water with the other hand. 
There were also a couple of ladders that we had to climb up and down (not an easy feat with a candle in your hand and wet flip-flops, I can assure you), and a 3m high waterfall that we ascended using a rope! We turned around to make our way back after about half an hour....I think the cave goes on further, but according to our guide, the path becomes quite dangerous, so it probably wasn't a good idea for us amateurs to continue! We were pretty exhausted by this point as it had been a very full and active day, but at the same time we all felt exhilirated as it had all been so much fun!The next day we took a minibus to Lanquin, and checked into a hotel where Anna had been working in November. We had arranged to meet Anna and Leanne later on in the day to visit the bat cave together, which was a half an hour walk away. Before they arrived in the afternoon, we had a walk around town and got some lunch, but most importantly, we were able to watch the world cup draw, which made Vic's day! We were both pleased with the outcome: England ended up in a group with the USA, Algeria and Slovenia and Spain will be up against Switzerland, Honduras and Chile.
All going well, we should both definitely make it through to the second round :) After meeting up with Anna and Leanne and before heading to the bat cave, we had to make a small detour to the local police station....while Anna had been working at the hotel, her purse had been stolen and her bank in Germany had asked her file a police report....but having only been in Guatemala for about her month, she asked Vic to help her out with the Spanish and so we all went along! Having heard so many awful stories about the country's police force, we were amazed to find ourselves chatting to two really helpful and friendly guys, who we even had a laugh with when they put Anna's name down as Anna Deutsch, having understood her nationality 'Deutsch' to be her surname :) That kept Anna giggling for a while!
When we finally made it to the bat cave, it was already starting to get dark, so we didn't have too long to wait before the bats started to come out. Positioned just inside the entrance of the cave, we were in a perfect spot for watching the thousands of bats make their way out into the night! It's obviously impossible to tell exactly how many bats live in the cave, but one local was quoted as saying "thousands upon thousands". It certainly took a while for them all to get out.....even as we were leaving after half an hour, they still hadn't all left! On our way back to town, we spotted a sign for a café and decided to have some dinner. The café turned out to be a woman's house, and she seemed please to have some customers! Michael Jackson hits were blaring out of the speakers and the woman's three-year-old son kept us entertained with some Jackson-style moves...he was adorable :) And the food was great too.....our host prepared pork with a fried egg, rice and fried plantains with sour cream....yummy! It was another great evening spent in great company. Anna and Leanne, it was a pleasure getting to know you and I hope we will meet again some day!
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