Off Again

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Dec 12 Off Again

After a long refreshing sleep we were ready to head to Lanquin. We all ate breakfast at the hostel then jumped in a van for our 7 hour trip. Our bags were thrown on the roof and 10 of us squeezed in (5 Aussies, 5 Canadians). Luckily they noticed that this wouldn't work for that long a trip, so they called up another van and we split into 2 groups. We were now heading into the poor part of Guatamala. At a river crossing James and Jeff bought cantalope off a little child for the rough equivalent of 10 cents. Women and children work in bare feet with heavy loads and motorcycles wip by at excessive speeds with familys of 4 or 5 sitting precariously on top. We drove passed two children, who I assumed were around 5 years old, swinging macchettes at sticks. Most of the houses have straw rooves with the odd one having a metal roof. It is still very humid (85% in some areas) and hot. We are constantly covered in a sheen of sweat yet we are seeing some amazing scenery. I feel bad taking photos of the locals so I have refrained from doing so until I make friends with a few 😊. Our driver drves a little like my dad only crazier. At one point we passed a truck by a speed bump so our van went off the other side of the road to dodge it. He likes using the whole road and ignores the yellow line. We all shared a nervous laugh at the top of a mountain pass when the driver decided to put on a seat belt (only one in the van). We then proceeded on a roller coaster ride down the mountain. I am glad he decided to tie our bags to the roof or we may have lost a couple. Guatamala is an amazing country and will talk more about it in later blogs so I don't ramble too much in this one. We made it to Lanquin around dinner so we spent the evening meeting people at our new hostel (Zephyr). The hostel happens to sit at the top of a valley with open sided showers overlooking the valley. Tomorrow we will head to the 8th natural wonder of the world 'Semuc Shampey' a series of water falls and different coloured pools. My first big language barrier came at the hostel. I asked the german worker at the hostel if we would be free from the tour vuide tomorrow to explore on our own for a bit. She took it as if i was asking her if she was free later. All the guys behind me sure let me have it, as if I wasn't already embarassed enough. After the long drive I decided to go to sleep early in preparation for the long tour in the morning. Matt followed shortly after and I am ending this blog not sure when the rest will follow.

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Comments

[Mom]

Sounds wonderful
Keep up the writing Robert. Sounds like an amazing adventure.