to the BATCAVE!!

---

Holy cow. This weekend has been amazing. For a few weeks now the girls and I have been planning to go to Semuc Champey for a nice weekend of swimming and spelunking...we took Friday and Monday off of work, so we were able to use those as travel time since it takes about a full day to go one way. (Guate public transportation through the mountains...go figure, lol)

Thursday night after work I went out with Nick and some friends for some drinks, and it was really funny because that night Nick randomly decided to come along with us for the weekend, but in order to let his spanish teacher know he wouldn't be at class Friday or Monday, he wrote her a note on the back of a Gallo label he peeled from his beer bottle! I can't wait to hear how she reacted to that one! :-D Classy.

We left Friday morning around 6:30am, and took this random mix of chicken buses, shuttles, and pickup trucks to get to our hotel. I think the name of it was El Retiro, and it was this neat little backpacker type place right on the river near the caves. The five of us ended up sleeping in basically a 3-sided shelter full of hammocks... it was absolutely wonderful. I loved how we could fall asleep listening to the rain on the tin roof while looking out at the mountains nearby. Then the mornings were breathtaking without even leaving bed... the birds were chirping, the river was absolutely roaring right below us, and the morning mist was just hanging in the mountains...beautiful. The best part of the deal was that it only cost us 15Q per person to spend the night. That's about 2 US dollars! It cost more for breakfast than accommodations, lol. For the entire weekend...absolutely everything included... I think I spent less than $70! Can't be beat.

We did get a bit of a different experience though. It had been raining a TON before we arrived, and so when we went to go to Semuc Champey we found out that it was all flooded over and was too dangerous to go swimming. Normally, Semuc Champey is the beautiful portion of the river with a waterfall and blue-green pools perfect for swimming. It's almost always perfect, because a little way upriver, most of the water drops down underground leaving just enough left to create the pools and the waterfall. But since the river was so high, the pools were almost all covered and the water was completely brown. Not typical, but amazing nonetheless. It was really neat to walk out to where the river dropped because it was just this huge mass of foam and whirlpools. It was a bit scary though because apparently someone slipped down there once and his body wasnt found until three months later. Kinda makes you think twice before messing with some of the "attractions" around here.
Normally people also go through this neat water cave with candles as well, but because of the flooding it was just too dangerous. I wasn't too bummed though because I figure it's just an excuse to come back someday...as if I need an excuse!

After all of our fun on Saturday, the hotel had THE best homemade mexican buffet I've ever had. I wouldn't mind riding in those chicken buses all day again just for that alone! They have it every Saturday night, and it's this mix of home cooked chicken, salsas, tortillas, spicy lasagna....*drool*

Sunday morning we left with our guide at 11am, and went rappelling, a trip down a zip line, swimming in the river, a teeny peek into the amazing Lanquin Caves (I think that's how it's spelled), then for a tube ride downriver to our hotel. The caves were stunning, and I'd absolutely love to go back with Old Town Outfitters or somebody with the equipment to actually do some REAL exploring! We did go a little bit off the beaten path though. We really wanted to see the bats, and since they don't always come out if it rains, our guide took us to one of the big caverns where they all hang out. We snuck in really quiet-like and once we were all inside, our guide made a few kissey noises and all the bats went nuts. It was so neat! We stayed in there for probably a half an hour alone just listening to the bats squeak to each other. There was a little light in the cave from a hole on the side, but most of the time we could feel them fly past before we actually saw them.

The absolute best part of the entire trip though came later that night. Before dusk we went back to the main cave entrance to see if the bats would come out. Sure enough, after a few trickled out, more and more came and soon it was this constant, massive exodus of bats just swarming out for over half an hour. We ended up jumping the wall, and going into the cave itself. THAT was the neatest thing of all. You could stand there with your arms outstretched and just feel the air from all those bats swarming past you without ever touching you. When we'd take pictures, the flash lit up the bats like you wouldn't believe, and it was absolutely thrilling to actually see all of them flying directly past and all around you as if you don't even exist. Next time though, I'm bringing a flashlight!

---