November 28- December 1- Antigua

The bus ride from Lanquin was interesting. We had to stop in Coban for about a half an hour because there was a protest that was blocking the road up ahead. When we started driving again we were stopped by the protest and forced to sit for about another half an hour. They let us through only to get stopped by the next protest maybe two kilometers up the road. Luckily we had a van full of fun and interesting people so it wasn´t that boring. Once they let us through the road block though it was a smooth ride to Antigua.
I arrived in Antigua at night from Lanquin. I had no idea where I was staying so I looked in my Lonely Planet book and picked the cheapest hostel in it and headed there. It was nothing special but it was cheap. I was tired from the long trip so I stayed in the first night and went to bed early.
The next morning I wandered around the city. It was a really old city with old colonial style buildings and a lot of churches. Many of the churches were in ruins from previous earthquakes. When I returned to the hostel there was a girl there that had just arrived in Guatemala that day at the start of her 9 month trip. I invited her out since I was meeting some people that night and we have been hanging out ever since. Her name in Ally and she is a ton of fun.
The next few days in Antigua involved being lazy, going to cafes, and going to the local pub at night. The last day there a took an hour of private salsa lessons which were really needed. I would still like to take more if I can too. I didn´t do any of the typical touristy things in Antigua and really didn´t do a whole lot, but I still enjoyed the city and had a good time. I don´t think I could stay for any longer than a few days though without getting bored, but it was a great place for relaxing, enjoying the sites and drinking at nights.

November 25-28 - Lanquin

Semuc Champey

The morning of the 25th I woke up, asked the desk if anyone had signed up for El Mirador and decided to leave Flores that morning since I was told that no one had. I had about a half an hour to pack, eat and pay before the shuttle arrived. There had been so many people that told me that I HAD to go to a place called Semuc Champey by the town of Lanquin. So that is where I decided to go.
The bus ride took about 10 hours. We had to travel along some really rough roads to get there. I had already made reservations at a hostel called Zephyr Lodge from the previous hostel so I already had a place to stay. It turned out to be an awesome hostel. I was not able to see the view when we first arrived because it was dark. But in the morning when I woke up it was amazing. The lower level of the hostel was the bar and restaurant that was open. From there you could see the valley that the hostel was overlooking. In the mornings it was foggy and it was completely forested. It was really pretty.
The first morning I decided to do a tour that several of the people had suggested. It involved a morning tour in the caves in the area, then a jump of the bridge into the river below and then swimming in the pools of Semuc Champey. The caves were really neat because they gave you candles for light and there were times where you had to swim through while still holding the candle. There were some waterfalls inside that you could climb up and place that you could jump into the water from above. The bridge afterwards was really high and I had no desire to jump off of it but a lot of the people did. Next we climbed the mountain overlooking the pools so that we could get a good view of the pools. It was about 20 minutes each way. Then we headed to the pools, where several people decided to jump of the waterfall that was there. It was a little too crazy for me but the pools were beautiful enough that I was not at all bored.

View from the hostel

The next day we went tubing down the river close to the hostel. You could buy beers and they would keep them for you on one of the tubes until you wanted it. It was a perfect morning, floating down the river in the sunshine with a beer. Or two. After when we returned to the hostel, I found out that there was a second group going in the afternoon so I decided to go a second time!
The next morning was raining and cold. I was going to stay for one more day, but since the weather sucked I decided to head out. So once again I had to pack, eat and pay in 30 minutes to be able to catch the next shuttle. The hostel was definitely one of the most fun that I have been at though. It was small, beautiful, everyone was really friendly and the bar was really convenient and fun!