Week 7 Guatemala - After El Mirador Trek
Saturday. After the trek, we really could not face travelling 8 hours on a Collective today, so decided to stay in Flores for 1 more night. This turned out to be a good idea as we had a massive bag of laundry to do and were completely knackered. I spent most of the day on the computer completing the blog and Roland was faffing about waiting for me to finish.
Our third visit to Flores and we finally found the area where there was street food. BBQ chicken and a drink cost 30Q and was delicious! On our way back to the hostel we saw fireworks going off. Wondering what was going on, we searched for the source - the central plaza had been transformed with a rather large flashing Christmas tree, food stalls, DJ booth and a stage for local bands to perform.
Sunday.6am. No rest for the wicked. Today we left Flores for good - 3 separate visits here was enough. The Collective picked us up and took 8 hours to get to Semuc Champey, our next stop. 2 hours of the journey was bumping around in a Toyota Hilux, driving no faster than 10 mph on a dirt track to our hostel El Portal. My bones were well and truly shaken once we arrived!
Our little cabin was lovely. It over looked the river on the edge of the mountain. And to top it off there was a hammock to lie in to enjoy the view. Bliss! Finally a little bit of luxury - I would have given it 10 points if it didn't only have electricity from 6pm to 10 pm and cold showers. You can't have it all on a travellers budget!
![]() |
View from hammock |
Monday. We signed ourselves up for the tour of Semuc Champey. A day promising fun and adventure! It certainly delivered! The morning was spent getting very sweaty climbing to the viewpoint of the limestone pools. Then climbing all the way back down to swim, dive and have some fun in the pools.
Unexpectedly I had a free 'fish pedicure'. While standing on a large rock I had about 10 little fish nibble my feet. It freaked me out to start with but I soon got used to it. Roland didn't like it and swiftly swam to another area.
After lunch was the highlight of the trip, exploring the nearby caves. Now, normally when you are about to explore caves you are given a flash light ... not in Guatemala, we were given a candle! A candle to explore caves which had water and flowing rivers inside it ..hmmmmm. It was interesting trying to keep that alight while swimming, climbing up ladders and squeezing though small holes. I have never done anything quite like it before. And when it came to the point where we had to squeeze though a small hole which had a waterfall gushing through it, I really began to fear for my life!! I shut my eyes, held my breath and let go! Certainly no 'health and safety' exploring these caves! However we all made it out alive with only a few minor scratches.
![]() |
about to jump off in to a dark pool |
![]() |
The gang |
Afterwards we grabbed a inner tube and drifted down the river for about 20 minutes admiring the view. Lovely!
![]() |
All I need is a beer ... |
No comments:
Post a Comment