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Myself and 4 other students (American, Irish, French and Swede) from my school went away this weekend up to Coban and surrounding area. We arranged the trip through a travel agent and left after school on Friday afternoon. The idea was that we have the van to ourselves and therefore can be flexible on where we go and what we do....we quickly learnt that the locals are tough negotiators and it was not too flexible...but that is okay we still had a great weekend.
We did not have the van to ourselves, as the driver brought his "brother" along for a weekend on us, and there was one other tourist....a kiwi, who was heading to Coban as well. The trip up was pretty long as we hit the Friday afternoon Guatemala city traffic in what seemed like torrential rains...seriously there were raging rivers down the motorway. But with a few beers and the 80's CD mix the driver was playing it was all good. As per usual the driving skills were interesting to say the least. Overtaking on a solid line, around a blind corner, definitely over the speed limit while passing some cops did not seem to be a problem.
We arrived in Coban quite late and were taken to a hotel outside of the city. We were pretty hungry by the time we arrived and the hotel restaurant was closed. As we were outside the city, there were no other restaurants around, so our only option was to go across the road to the service station. So we spent the evening eating 2 minute noodles and drinking beer at the petrol station with a few other locals....not the ideal way to spend a Friday night, but entertaining no the less.
The next morning we had an early breakfast and hit the road to see the caves at Lanquin and Semuc Champey. The 1st stop was the caves, which were good....I was covered in bat s*** by the end of it. We then headed to Semuc Chamey. Normally you should take a 4x4 to Semuc Champey, however it was a nice day and no rain in sight, so the driver decided not to. Semuc Champey was absolutely beautiful. Gorgeous turquoise coloured pools and waterfalls were you could swim. Before we swam out driver suggested a 20 minute walk up the mountain so we could get great views of the pools. The walk was about 2ce that long in sweltering heat and pretty tough going on pretty dodgy paths...but worth it at the top. Finally we got back to the pools for our long awaited swim....just as it started to rain. It was still amazing though swimming in this clear, fresh water with the rain coming down....so relaxing!
It was now about 4pm and we had not eaten so we headed to a nearby hostel for food. It was still raining when we left. The roads out of Semuc Champey are not paved and pretty steep...so as I said before, usually you need a 4x4. Needless to say we got stuck and had the guys trying for quite sometime to push us out of there. The poor drivers new van was not looking good. Luckily we got out and did not have to spend the night in the van.
We got back to the hotel quite late and pretty exhausted. Once again the hotel restaurant was closed and just as we got to the service staion for some delicious noodles.....the lights went out and everything was closed for the night. After much begging at the hotel the ladies made us some lovely sandwiches which tasted of soap and had about a gallon of mayonnaise on each one. yummy! Again it was an early night as we were pretty knackered!
Early start on Sunday morning when we heading to Coban for a very nice breakfast and then hit the road home. On the way home we stopped at some kind of park were you can supposedly see Quetzals...their national bird which is nearly extinct (i think)....the walk through the park was lovely but no Quetzals in sight other than the stuffed on in a box at the end of the walk.
Got home late Sunday afternoon feeling pretty exhausted, but having had a great weekend.
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