After a LONG day on several buses, ending up exhausted and still 2 hours away from our destination we were in Coban. A nice town, everything a traveller needs to get ready for Semuc Champey. The next day, up bright and early, we were barreling down the windy and bumpy road to Semuc Champey- an area that is being considered as 1 of the natural wonders of the world. In order to get to Semuc Champey we climbed in the back of a pickup truck and held on tight! 7 bumpy kms later and we arrived at Las Marias caves. With [View Full Entry]

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Hola from Guatemala, where “one way” street signs are simply a nod toward social cohesion! And apparently, it is unlawful to bring arms, guns, weapons into banks here…which is rather odd. I know this because many of the banks have signs clearly posted on the doors at the entrance. There is so much to catch up on! I arrived today in the small town of Coban, where tourists are far and few between. This makes me something of an attraction as I walk around and I’m not exactly comfortable with it. I am still loving traveling and still thinking more about [View Full Entry]

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Well Lizzie and I got our first taste of real travelling together. We left Flores and decided not to get the overpriced tourist bus, but use the regular transport to get to Coban. It was an experience in itself, and took us much longer than if we got the tourist bus, but we saved about 50% and feel more hardcore! We left at about 8 in the morning and got to laquin at 6pm, we did this via one tuk tuk, and 4 minibuses - collectivos -. The little mini buses were fun, but tiring as we often didn{t have a [View Full Entry]

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Back to internet so time for an update on whats been happening. Leaving Flores our 5 hour directo bus turned out to be anything but. After 5 hours we pulled into a larger than expected town but were pleased to finally be there. You can imagine our surprise when we suddenly realized we had sailed 1.5hrs past our turn off in order to drop half the collectivo (minibus) off. Just to add to our smiles and head shaking the driver dropped us in a car park outside a shopping mall while we waited for him to pop home for lunch his [View Full Entry]

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Last weekend we went to Paradise, otherwise known as Semuc Champey. It is a series of limestone pools set atop a cave where the river flows through. The water is crystal blue/green, with tiny fish swimming in it. It is an oasis in the jungle. It's not very easy to get to either, as the roads are still partially unpaved. But the bumpy ride is worth it. It is a beautiful place. We spent all of Saturday swimming in the pools. Our accommodations for the evening were quite interesting. We did the whole weekend as a package deal, so we had [View Full Entry]

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Sometimes its good to have a little something go wrong now and then. It reminds you that you are not invinceble. After leaving Tikal and Flores behind me and Barton took off for Coban, on our way to the limestone and the caves at semuc Champey. A few miles down a very well paved highway the road appeared to end in a small lake. We noticed however that a small ferry took you across. AS we drove on the ferry a man was selling 1 dollar fried chicken baskets. Health concerns aside when you are on a small ferry in the [View Full Entry]

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The past few days have been slightly wacky. Im sitting in an internet cafe, outside of a hotel in Coban a city in the Alta Verapaz highlands. We were planning to leave Coban today, but there are no buses running in Guatemala as theres been a lot of violence on the roads in the past few days. Parents, youll be happy to know that tomorrow were paying quite the price to ride on a private bus which is a lot safer. Its interesting with the safety thing, sometimes its easy to forget that travelling is risky, which is ok, but its [View Full Entry]

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Catching the 6 am lift from Casa Luna, we squeezed onto a crowded microbus with no other gringos and wound speedily through the narrow, pre-dawn streets of Coban. Once again, the leg room proved to be insufficient for our lanky frames, but our first glimpse of the jungle set our minds at ease (kind of). The sun began to rise behind dull clouds and thick blue fog only once we left the buildings behind for dense forests of dark green pointed by sharp, exotic palm fronds. We picked up and dropped off many - men, women, children - all with the [View Full Entry]

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The bus ride to Coban was the first of what's sure to be many intriguing, confusing, and harrowing rides. We got to the bus in Guatemala City, which was about the size of a Ford Econovan, and they crammed no less than 25 people . We were unable to sit together and our bags were unexpectedly whisked to the roof, which only compounded the overwhelming sense of being out of our element. We rumbled up winding roads, passing other cars around blind corners while screeching the tires as we held the exact point of equilibrium between remainin [View Full Entry]

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After a quick overnight stop in Flores, near Tikal in northern Guatemala we made our way towards what I´d heard was the most beautiful place in Guatemala: Semuc Champey. We were lucky enough to meet up with some others who were interested in doing the same thing at a hostel in Coban. So the next morning all eight of us piled into a minibus at 6am and set off. It was an interesting journey we were taken as far as Languin, where we had to get out because the roads were too bad for a minibus to continue. And so it [View Full Entry]

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