lanquin and semuc champey

after a mysteriously long bus ride to lanquin we arrived in one piece. lanquin is not a very exciting town, nor is it very modern. one thing that i've noticed is that even if a town seems not modern or doesn't have much money, everyone still had cell phones. they may carry baskets on their head and walk everywhere, but with a cell phone. another thing about guatemala that i've noticed is that they say "bueno" for you're welcome. =)

our stay in lanquin was okay but mostly we were there to get to semuc. the park is at the rio cahabon, a raging river in a valley. we had to go up and down this pretty much gravel road 9km to get there, in the back of a pickup. there were maybe 20 gringos in the back holding on for dear life. well it wasn't scary, it was just a very guatemalan way to get there. on the way back we actually took a mini bus with seats and other guatemalans. i think they do the truck thing for the tourists. who knows.

so first we climbed up 1.2km to a lookout point. the climb was pretty hard and slippery everywhere. we got a bit muddy and very hot. the view was magnificent though, you could see the river flowing down into the many pools that the limestone created. it's hard to explain but the heavy rushing water goes under the pools and then comes out at the bottom as a little waterfall. this makes the water in the pools very calm and like swimming pools. the colors are just amazing, mostly blues and greens and the brown of the slimy stuff. of course it is surrounded all over by greenery. we hiked back down and jumped into the nearest pool we could find. the water was very cold and refreshing but we were careful not to swallow any! we swam a bit then went to the next pool up with a better view and more people. the water was just perfect. little fishes kept biting (nibbling) our legs and it was very annoying. eventually we got out and headed back into town.

i've been writing a lot about food but in guatemala we haven't eaten that much interesting or really awesome food yet. i am hoping that will change soon. we went to this shop in antigua (where we are now) called dona maria gordillo. it is a little guatemalan sweet shop. we got a bunch of different little sweets, not really knowing what anything was. i had one that was kind of coconutty on a thin cookie and also a meringue type puff. we got a whole box of different things for about $7, mmmm...sweets! i also got some pollo compero, which i guess is like KFC. i've been seeing signs for it all over and just needed to get some fried chicken. it was delicious but not so nutritious. we might get some tacos or italian food tonight. there are a lot more options here than in lanquin. i am always happy when there is food around!

tomorrow >> lago de atitlan!