Not to waste a minute

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Keep on moving

In Quetzaltenango I met a guy from Switzerland and we walked around the city the same afternoon. One of the most interesting places was the marked. With so many stalls with food, shoes and clothes. In the evening we met two English girls and we went to an Indian restaurant. I was surprised there even was one. The food was delicious and it was fun to talk about travelling. The next day I went by bus to Huehuetenango. Every time on the bus it is so much fun to look around what’s happening and look at the beautiful landscape passing by. Besides that it feels good to travel and to be on the move, not staying a minute to long at the same place.

Being joyful in a rotten place

When I arrived at the bus station in Huehuetenango I had to cross a busy capped market. Funny to walk around and try to squeeze myself and my backpack between the people and the stalls to get to the other side. Eventually I arrived at the other side and cached a bus to the center of town. It was that I passed it or that it doesn’t exist anymore, because I couldn’t find the place where I wanted to stay. Eventually I found another place to stay that was very cheap. Still I have to laugh a bit about that place. My room was like a ruin, but after a quick check I was relieved not to see any bugs in my bed. But don’t let me start about the shared bathroom on the other side of the hostel (or Hospedaje). So incredibly dirty. Only one toilet (I will spare you the details…) and a shower that looks like you will become dirtier after taking a shower than you were before. So I decided to skip taking a shower for a day. But actually I quite liked my room. Funny how you can have so much joy in a place that is actually quite bad. Maybe it is because of the unexpected. Everything that is unexpected is more joyful than the parts that are expected and planned. Speaking about my room almost makes me forget that after I arrived and dropped my bag I took a bus to Zaculeu. It is a Maya ruin site with a lot of pyramids. It was nice to walk around and sit there for a while and look at the beautiful mountains surrounding the site and enjoying the peaceful atmosphere. When it began to rain I started running back to the road and catched the bus back to Huehuetenango.

A long busride but a memorable one

My next destination was going to be Coban. So the next morning I got an early start at six and witnessed some fireworks just before the bus left. One of the electric cables above the road suddenly exploded. All the Guatemalan people in the bus were laughing about it and taking it with a good mood. To get to Coban I had to switch buses four times. There are so many things happening during those busrides that it is always a pleasure just to experience it. Like seeing a car passing by with policemen carrying huge shotguns and convicts sitting in the back of the pickup truck behind steel bars. I was wondering what kind of things they had done and to where they were going to. You should have seen their faces. I wanted to take a picture but decided it was better not to. Or another example is to see how a woman puts her child in a sheet and tie it around her waist with a big knot. The last three hours of the trip and most uncomfortable part was on an unpaved road. I was folded between the seat in front of me and the person next to me. But well that’s part of the experience. In Coban I met two Americans. We wanted to go first to a nearby coffee farm and later to an orchid farm, but both were closed. It was a nice walk though. So we decided to have dinner somewhere and this time I was lucky to have one of the most comfortable hotelrooms since my stay in Guatemala. So you can see how it all balances out…..

How can nature create so much beauty?

After my very good night of sleep I went to Lanquin. After finding my place to stay I met another American guy who just arrived at the same time. We decided to check out the nearby caves. It was nice to walk around there and see the beauty of the caves and experiencing at one moment the bats that were flying in between us. They sure can fly fast. In the evening we went for dinner with an Israeli man who was staying in my room as well. The next morning after my early morning swim in the river I went to Semuc Champey. I went with a group which contained for half of Israeli people. There are really a lot of Israeli people here in Guatemala. Semuc Champey is really beautiful. It is famous for it’s limestone bridge that is formed above the river. It creates a lot of pools and beautiful scenery. We went inside the caves and I had to swim, climb on steps or rope and try not to hit my head. At one of the climbs up on a rope you had to hold your candle in you mouth. When I got up the part of rock I just climbed I noticed I have bitten the candle in pieces. So no light in the tunnel for me for a while. At least others still had theirs luckily. After that we went tubing and climbed more, jumped of an eight meter cliff and walked around. It surely was a very nice day.

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Photos

Jumping of the bridge or not?
A part of the ´survival´ at Semuc Champey.

Semuc Champey
In the background you can see the natural limestone bridge. Such a beautiful place.