A Breath of Fresh Air

Blessed with some of the most breathtaking lagoons, waterfalls and caves, the road from Coban to Chisec, is a nature-lover´s paradise! The past few days I have spent my time trekking through lush jungles, bathing in sunny lagoons and stumbling around slippery cave systems.

Semuc Champey, a major tourist attraction for foreigners and Guatemalteco´s alike, is framed by steep forested hillsides. The water, a series of turquoise pools, turn marvelous shades of blue and green as the sun moves across the sky. Unfortunately, we visited on a very busy day, but there was still lots of room to hike and explore at our leisure. We swam from pool to pool and had many opportunities to jump from waterfalls to the lakes below. Our guide helped us maneuver around the slippery slopes and took us to an incredible cave with limestone formations that looked like glistening tulip chandeliers.

The next day I travelled to a town four hours west called Playa Grande, which is neither a beach nor grande... It was, however, a good base to explore the national park of Lachua. I was absolutely flabbergasted to find a park with strict rules about waste and land preservation. Guatemala is a very dirty country and sadly not many people are thinking about the future of their land. Although in Lachua, we found outhouses with dry composting, organic waste receptacles and even a fruit disease control-inspection station to prevent the movement of contaminated food! We hiked a 4.5 km trail through the lush jungle where speedy lizards and colourful butterflies abound. At the end of the trail we were treated to relaxing and swimming in a gorgeous, tranquil lake.

The highlight of my day took place in the early evening when we hitched a ride in a pickup truck back to our hotel 20 km away. So far most of my favourite moments seem to take place when I´m travelling between places because transportation in Guatemala is always an adventure in itself! We stopped to pick up a family who needed to hitch a ride to a Jehovah Witness gathering. A beautiful, tiny little three year old girl was passed to me to hold during the extremely bumpy, dusty ride. I was in heaven! She was soooooo adorable! We exchanged a few words and then this little precious girl was whisked away to go celebrate at her church. These are the kind of moments that no travel book can prepare you for and no picture could ever capture!

I now have a great travelling companion so I can relax a little. The latino guys can get a bit annoying when I walk around alone, lots of whistling, staring and a few rude comments now and again. Most Guatemalan´s first impression of white women comes to them via Hollywood movies and advertisements with scantly clad Caucasian women. They seem to associate white skin with these images and slogans. Thankfully, the scene totally changes when I´m walking around with my own personal, Dutch bodyguard named Mike. Mike and I met while taking Spanish lessons in Xela. If everything goes well we are planning to travel together for the next two months to explore the ruins of Mexico, the jungles of Belize and the reefs of Honduras. As many of you may know I usually have a hard a time travelling with other people. Luckily, Mike is a very down to earth guy and we have a very similar travelling style.

I hope everyone has a good holiday weekend. I´ll be thinking about big turkey dinners with yummy apple pie while I eat yet another round of rice and beans...Happy Easter!!!