Now things are starting to get good

Elisa and I left from Flores a few days ago and headed to Semuc Champey. Initially, I was going to skip this location and go straight from Flores to look for some schools. I'm glad I didn't skip it. It's in the middle of the country, mas o menos, but in a more mountainous region. Foothills, I guess you could say. I've never seen foothills like these though. Not massive. Just look like moguls covering a mountain. And maize/corn everywhere. Everywhere. 50-55 degree hills (I don't know how to put that symbol into my blog)? No problem. Let's plant maize. No cornfields here. Corn hillsides. No combines ever. All planted/harvested by hand.

Semuc Champey is close to a small town called Lanquin, at the bottom of a ravine (for lack of a better word). Elisa and I, Mercedes, Rogan, and Lotti (I think that was her name) stayed at a hostel walking distance from the SC entrance. Again, I/we didn't get there until about 6-7pm. Getting there also involved a pick-up ride for ~9km, mostly downhill on a winding, mostly dirt road. The pick-ups are set up with a cage of sorts, built on top of the truck bed. Looks like it's there to hold livestock, pigs or goats or something, but it's really there to hold people. Imagine 30-40 people in the back of a light-duty Toyota pick-up all standing and you've got an image of these trucks. I would've taken a picture of this, but a lot of the native population don't like having their pictures taken, and I only try to take out my camera discreetly so as to not draw more attention to myself. It was just the 5 of us and our bags in our truck and the driver hauling ass. I've never surfed or snowboarded but the needed movement of the hips and knees would probably be the same.

Next morning, the 5 of us went on a tour of the Gruta de Las Marias (cave close by). This would never happen in the states. I'm convinced. We got to the entrance and our Mayan guide (only way I know he's Mayan is how short he is-his chin is at about my navel-and the fact that he's speaking one of the Mayan languages, not by the way he's dressed or looks or anything) hands us all candles. He showed us the bats at the entrance and then starts directing us in Spanish. I recognized some of the verbs like walk and swim, but it was really nice to having the other 3 girls fluent in Spanish. We got in the water at the entrance and never got out until we came out. This was so much fun! Climbing ropes up waterfalls (small ones). Jumping into deep holes of water. Swimming with one hand to keep the candle out of the water and lit. Took about 1.5h to get in and then 20mins to go back out the way we came. Good thing b/c we were all shivering by then. Back in the sun, we dried off very quickly then tubed (you know, intertubes) down the river back to our hostel. All for ~$4.

That afternoon we all went down to Semuc Champey. Seven naturally formed, limestone pools that descend like stair steps. This place is one of the most beautiful places I've ever been. The pools are really deep, even for me, and if I would've had better footwear, I might've swam from each one, diving from one pool to the next. If the water got too cold (temp was ~70-78F), just stand up and dry off. Round it off with a tough hike to el mirador (lookout) for some pictures.

Elisa and I left the other 3 and went back to our hostel, Las Marias, to collect our things and go up to the other hostel closer to Lanquin. Another 20min pick-up ride (not as fast since it was uphill) and we were at El Retiro. Like the LP book says, a backpacker's dream. Great accommodations (far superior to the night before's) on a river, we found out there's an all you can eat BBQ that night and really good happy hours too. We couldn't stop smiling. They had a sign up saying they need staff (paid, free accommodations and food) for 2 months minimum. Hmmm.....I could come back and make drinks for a bunch of gringos. How much different would it be from mixing chemicals?

So I should say, that by now my outlook on things has completely changed. My Spanish is still awful but I'm not lonely anymore. I would think often though, how much better these experiences would've been having my peeps with me. I was truly missing you, which, like I said before, is not a feeling I've had as much or as intense of an experience with.

We're in Antigua right now. Just got here and I'm tired so I'll write about it later. Happy VD day.