Mo Coban

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With Nicole on the computer by my side, I write to you from cool, rainy
Coban, Guatemala. I currently have my shirt pulled over my nose because the
fumes from some stupid diesel car parked outside are making me light headed.

After a VERY long ride from Flores, we finally turned off the paved road and
spent the next hour on a twisting, rocky, pothole ridden goat trail. We
both felt pretty beat up at the end of the journey. Our final destination
was the Hotel Portal, a 5 minute walk from Semuc Champey. The first night
in this place wasnt the greatest...the place was full, so we slept in a half
finished room which I think really belonged to the hotel employees. The
sheets were dirty, there was no glass in the windows, the families of the
employees were directly outside of the open windows, and the stupid rooster
started making noise at 4 A.M. and never stopped.

Let me pause here to say that Nicole has been incredibly patient with me.
She is in her element camping and roughing it, while I feel exposed and
unhappy with the same conditions. At the young age of 26 she is more mature
and understanding than I am at the age of 39.

We woke up the next morning to beautiful blue skies and with assurances from
the hotel that another room would be waiting for us when we returned after
visiting Semuc Champey. When you look on-line and see pictures of this
place, they dont even do it justice. We started out with a challenging yet
gorgeous hike to El Mirador, the viewpoint high over the falls. We were
still tired and sore from Tikal, so our legs felt like rubber once we
reached the top.

This place is a series of pools of cool, pristine, emerald green water that
is great for swimming, which is just what we did when we finally made it to
the bottom, sweaty, hot, and desperate for relief. After swimming for a
couple of hours, we headed back towards the hotel. There were a couple of
women who had a little bbq set up with aromatic chicken and carne asada.
For $2 we ate like queens the best food we have had thus far...meat,
tortillas, black beans, cucumbers, tomatoes, onions, coleslaw, and
jalapenos. We were so hungry and amazed at the flavor of the food that we
sat next to each other and quietly yet quickly stuffed ourselves. Pure
heaven.

When we returned to the hotel we got to move into our new accomodations. In
an adorable chalet style cabin we had our own bathroom, a hammock, and a
view of lush green mountains, a meandering river, and the bridge some 50
feet over the water. People were jumping off of it, screaming their lungs
out, and then hitting the water with pretty deafening thuds. Im happy to
report they all made it and had big smiles to show for their insanity.

After a short siesta we retuned to Semuc Champey for another hour of
swimming and enjoying the heavenly beauty and serenity of this place.

After a perfect nights sleep (minus dirty sheets, strangers, and roosters),
we boarded the 7:15 A.M. bus for our current location, Coban. Today we did
laundry (really the hotel did it for us for $3), lingered over a long, yummy
breakfast, then went to the mall to watch the latest Harry Potter film. We
thought it would be in English with Spanish subitles, but it was dubbed over
in Spanish. It was challenging to understand all of the words, but I think
we got the general idea of what was going on. The movie cost only $2, the
popcorn 50 cents.

Tomorrow morning we head for Chichicastenango, a place rich in culture and
with an amazing market on Sundays. We will be there for 2 nights. It is
going to be a long journey of about 7 hours with at least one connection.
Neither one of us are looking forward to it (especially me),
but oye ve.

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