Caves, waterfalls, and pozas!

When we last left off, we were hitting the hay early in preparation for a 6 a.m. wake up in order to get to Las Grutas del Rey Marcos before the crowd. It turns out there is no crowd and we were the only ones going to these off the beaten path caves, but it was still nice to get an early start. The day lasts a lot longer that way.

First, we took a micro bus with a bunch of locals to a small town called Chalmeco, where we picked up another micro. Micros, by the way, are normal sized American vans (8 passengers) with an extra row of seating and three to four times the appropriate number of people (ok, only 23 at last count, but that is still crazy). The second one dropped us off at a fork in mud road. We proceeded to walk 3 km up a hill past indigenas farms until we arrived at the caves.

The setting was beautiful: waterfalls, natural swimming pools, orchids, a fountain, several small cabana structures, and a giant heart shaped rock in the river inscribed with the Ten commandments of Mother Nature. The caves had a tiny entrance: about the size of a dorm room refrigerator. Stew was confused and hit his head a lot, but was wearing a helmet so he didn´t get hurt, just more confused. The caves eventually (after a perilous climb that required stalactite grabbing for safety and lots of emphatic grunting for emphasis) opened up and revealed a rushing underground river. We had to cross it carefully, as it is a sacred religious Mayan site and also a rushing underground river. Fortunately there was a rope. There was a giant final room where we turned off our lights to contemplate the total darkness and become scared. Afterwards, we went swimming and took pictures standing in a waterfall. We´re planning on starting a TLC coverband when we get back and needed album artwork.
These aren´t our photos because our cable was stolen but they´re photos. We´re trying.
http://www.grutasdelreymarcos.com/galerias.htm

We hiked back down the road and eventually caught a taxi back to Coban (about an hour ride) for less than a dollar each. Tori is a great negotiator. She also made friends with the driver and taught him how to sing reggaeton songs in English, which they were both excited about. Stew demonstrated his comprehension by agreeing ¨Si¨ or ¨esta bien¨ every five minutes.

We caught a micro to Lanquin which was only mildly less crazy than our ride the day before. Sorry parents, we´re trying to stop, but it is the only way to get from the highlands to the jungle. There are no trains in Guatemala. When we got to Lanquin, we realized we had time for another cave, and hiked back down the road carrying our full packs because we wanted to make it before the cave closed.

We got there in plenty of time and saw some of the most amazing formations in the world. This cave was much larger and had seriously difficult rock climbing involved. There was also a beautiful river outside called Rio Lanquin (real creative guys). We waited to see the bats leave en masse, which was pretty spectacular as there are more bats here than anywhere else in the world. In fact, it was featured on Planet Earth for this reason. We saw a weak display, apparently, but we were still impressed. http://www.semucchampey.com/es/lanquin-cuevas.html This is not the most impressive photo or link but it gives an idea. It is much better in real life.

We caught a ride to a hostel called Jam bamboo near Semuc Champey after the bat show. It was pretty lucky because the hike back to town would´ve been too much for one day. The hostel was the most beautiful yet. Like a Hawaiian themed frat party minus the tackiness. It was owned by Argentines who make an excellent caiparinha and pasta carbonara. Both are weird for Guatemala or Argentina, but both are welcome anytime and anywhere. The only bad thing were the howler monkeys that do not understand Stew yelling angrily in English to stop waking him up.

This morning we went to Semuc Champey, a nature reserve. We took a hike up a muddy steep trail through the rainforest until we came to an overlook and could see all of the river below us. There were several clear pools flowing into each other through a series of waterfalls. The view is amazing. Then we hiked down and went swimming and diving in them. We are not as good at doing flips off waterfalls as Guatemalans, but we did our best. There was also a furious river rushing underneath the falls, meaning that we were actually on a land bridge over a subterranean river and cave network. Pretty cool. http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semuc_Champey

Also, a honeymooning couple that we traveled with yesterday and today offered to send us their pictures. If they follow through, we will be happy to forward the email to anyone that wants it. Just post your email address in a comment or send us an email and we´ll forward it when we get it.