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So day 1 at Lanquin we awoke to pouring rain. Great! We headed down to the main lodge for breakfast & an assessment of the situation. The hostel, El Retiro, was huge, several blocks of dorms & rooms located very picturesquely next to a large fast flowing river. We soon met up with Moz & Seeber & the rest of their new travelling group which had swelled to 11. We all agreed the only sensible thing to do in the rain was to go tubing. That afternoon, the Ozzies did a rum run whilst we drank beers & played giant Jenga. Just when the rain was easing up and the sun trying to come out... we were called for our tubing expedition! Complete with green warpaint (snaffled by Harry from who knows where) we jumped into the back of a truck & headed for the river. Soon we were flying down the river in overinflated inner tubes, beers in hand with crys of "centro, centro" from the guide becoming ever more distant. Despite a few bumps & bruises from rock collisions it was a truly awesome experience & we rounded off the afternoon with 13 people in a sauna designed for 4. Tight squeeze!
That night was Ladies night in the bar. It's amazing how many boys will degrade themselves for discount beer! With frocks & bikinis on ( & in Moz's case I'm pretty sure make up!) we hit the bar. The food at the lodge was pretty good, so after a huge buffet we spent the night with more drinking, dancing & more Jenga this time complete with forfeits. All in all a pretty good rainy day.
The following day we planned to head to Semuc Champey, alleged by some to be an 8th wonder of the world. We opted not to do the organised day trip & set out on our own into town. 30 minutes later we were standing on the back of a truck full of locals heading down dirt tracks & with jus some metal bars to cling on to. After an hour or so we arrived at our destination & a started to explore. Semuc Champey is a system of over ground pools & caves connected by waterfalls & rivers. The waters in the lakes are absolutely crystal clear & appear a beautiful shade of turquoise. When confronted by these stunning creations of nature there really is only one thing to to, dive in face first. So after a good swim (goof around) we headed back to the hostel. Beautiful yes, 8th wonder....... not so sure! No time for sitting around we had a quick change & then headed out to catch dusk at Lanquin's famous batcaves! Alice explained to me that this was not where Christian Bale lived & I managed to bury my disappointment we started to explore the intricate cave system. At close to 6pm and just before sunset, we were all ushered back to the entrance of the caves for when they turn the lights off inside. We waited and waited for the guard to flip the switch, but when he did we were more than impressed… thousands of bats came streaming out of every small crack in the rock! You could hardly see them they were moving so fast! We tried to snap a few photos but soon realised that it was pretty pointless and just watched them flee into the night (presumably towards their human prey? We figured so!)
The following morning the ever growing group of us boarded a bus destined for a little island town called Flores, which is the best place to stay overnight before heading off at the break of dawn to go see the Tikal ruins. Another exhausting bus journey was broken up by foot long subway sandwiches and various other forms of fast food!
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