Semuc Champey

We really liked Flores. It was a relaxing place to chill out and the balcony overlooking the lake felt so luxurious. We could have easily spent a nice and relaxing Thanksgiving in Flores. We could have taken a walk, swam in the lake, called our families and enjoyed a nice meal. But...

Instead, for some reason we still don't quite understand, we decided to take a 7 hour shuttle to a place called Semuc Champey. Four nights in any one place seems like a long time and we felt compelled to move on. Our shuttle picked us up at 9pm. There were six passengers so we were excited to be able to stretch out. We planned to enjoy the yogurt we had packed for breakfast a bit later.

Our shuttle driver stopped at the travel agency with a smug look on his face and looked at the tires. He then made a phone call and informed us the brake line was leaking and we would need to switch to another shuttle. We raced through the streets to catch up with the other company's van. It was a 15 passenger van already filled with 11 people. The six of us would make for 17 people. The passengers were staring daggers at us. We didn't blame them. The drivers tied the bags to the roof of the van and covered them with a tarp. Now that our bags were tied to the roof, a new option arose: We could send our bags with that shuttle and get a ride a few hours later with the other driver. We decided to tough it out in the new van. Besides, two people were planning to get out in one and a half hours. I was squeezed into the most uncomfortable position, but figured I could handle and hour and a half.

I'm sorry, did the driver say one and a half hours? He meant three and a half!!!

However, we were able to escape from the van for a while when we took this awesome ferry across the river. At a gas station, we discovered our yogurt had been smashed open. This is when Tim made a new travel rule: No yogurt or bananas allowed during travel.(We had a similar experience with bananas)

There was also a lunch stop at a mall in Coban. We had 20 minutes. Tim and I had the Chinese food from the food court. Yummy!
We finally made it to the town of Lanquin. We had already decided we were going to stay at a place called "El Portal". A pick-up truck met our shuttle and we had a thrilling 30 minute ride standing in the back of the truck!
Here is the bridge that we had to drive over. Looks pretty safe, right?
El Portal was awesome. It was like our own private rustic paradise. The generators run from 6pm until 10pm, and then the place plunges into darkness and quiet. Despite that, they managed to keep the beer fairly cold. The setting was spectacular!
The meals there were filling and generous. Our Thanksgiving dinner, although not typical, was still delicious!

The following day, we went to Semuc Champey park. This place is unique because the rushing river drains down into an underground cave. A natural bridge lays above it and includes nice swimming pools and waterfalls. We had a nice time hiking to the overlook and then swimming in the clear blue-green pools.

Here the local children pushed the sale of their local chocolate. It was tasty mixed into coffee.

The rest of our time was spent sitting here.

Here.

And here.

Tim drew us a cribbage board so we could play cards.

We watched Oscar mow the lawn with his machete.

There were daily toucan sightings!

Although we didn't eat turkey, Tim chased them around.

Baby turklets!

We did laundry.(This would turn out to be a mistake-our clothes ended up smelling terrible, and we had to have them washed at a laundromat in Antigua)

We swam in the river. We also waited to see if anyone had the guts to jump off of the bridge into the river, but no one did.

It was a nice relaxing time. After four nights we took the pick-up truck to connect with a shuttle headed for Antigua.