Blogs from Verapaz Region, Guatemala, Central America Caribbean - page 3

Goodbye, Flores- hello, winding, mountain roads. Today, we took a nine hour bus trip on a shuttle to our next destination. Although the ride was scenic, it was quite bumpy. We encountered numerous speed bumps, as there are many villages interspersed throughout the mountains. Women climb the steep roads on a cliff with their market goods, and children play nearby, so speedbumps were placed all along the route for the villagers safety. I am glad they are all safe, but it sure made for a crazy ride. Our shuttle stopped in Coban for lunch at McDonalds. Of all places, I'm sure he thought, Ï bet these Americans would love some McDonalds!" I wasn't too happy, but it ended up being a great cultural learning opportunity. Right when we walked in, I saw a crowd of people ... read more

I have a rule that I don’t leave a place until I have posted pics and blogged about it. I broke that rule about 10 days ago. You see, the day I headed to Semuc Champey, I was writing an infringement analysis process test that the engineers in India took today. I was on course to write 30 questions a day, when I left on the 7 hour jungle drive to Semuc from Antigua, Guatemala. Upon arrival at the El Portal Inn, at the entrance to Semuc, I learned that the hostel only had 4 hours of electricity per day. My computer batteries were dead from writing questions on the drive there, and there was no power on arrival, so I lost two days of work. You can’t bring your B game when you work with ... read more

Since it's always a guess when I'll have a good internet connection down here and whether I'll actually be able to get a blog entry up, I've maintained a journal in which I've kept track of the trip and from that I plan to continue this blog online. That being said, the first line I wrote in my journal after arriving at our hostel in Lanquin may have been a little exaggerated, but was, “I'm pretty happy right now that I'm not dead, have not been robbed, nor assaulted in the last 24 hours.” The trip was my first experience of how variable Central American travel can be, and I have no doubt that there will be more like it and worse. Leaving San Pedro, we took an 8 am shuttle to Lanquin. In reality, our ... read more

The next day I found myself on another bus to Coban back in Guatemala (for the third time).Near to Coban are the caves of Lanquin and the karst lakes of Semuc Champey. Semuc ChampeySemuc Champey is a beautiful series of small ponds and pools on a natural land bridge that crosses the Cahabon River. In the Mayan Kekchi language, Semuc Champey means Sacred Water. The Cahabon River submerges itself at the entrance of Semuc Champey and resurfaces about 400 meters later after it passes this natural limestone bridge suspended with beautiful crystal clear ponds. In this unique natural formation you have water with shades of light green emerald to dark blue sapphire. Before reaching the lakes you have to climb around 300 metres to a vantage point and then you walk down to have a swim ... read more

Wow, two months! That sure went fast. Although sometimes when I think about all that I have done and all of the places that I have been it seems like much, much longer. September was pretty busy with two groups coming to visit so it went by super quick. We only have local dental groups in October so I am afraid that it is going to go really slow. But it looks like I am going to have to take a quick side trip to Belize in October so that will break things up a bit. A lot of my time has been spent with groups coming in from the US. I have been meeting some really cool people from a variety of backgrounds and I think that over the next year I'll be making a ... read more