Back to Canada III

After climbing Volcano Tajumulco we decided it was time to leave Xela. We spent most of the day on a bus. From Xela we took a bus to Santa Cruz de Quiche. Then we took a minibus to the town of Uspatlan. We tried to catch another minibus to Coban but we missed it and had to wait around for an hour and a half for the next one. The bus went through a beautiful river valley with steep cliffs on either side and the road was excellent. Eventually we came to a long lineup for construction. We were warned we would have to wait up to an hour but luckily we were let through almost instantly. The bus directly in front of us was the same one that we had just missed an hour and a half ago. The road now degenerated into a dusty road as machines worked alongside the road chipping off pieces of the cliff making it wider. At some points the bus was forced right to the edge of the cliff on a narrow road. We made it to Coban safely however and planned to explore some of the caves and waterfalls in the area.

The first place in Coban we went to was the nearby caves Rey Marcos. Getting there consisted of a couple of quick minibus rides and a fifteen minute walk. We were the only visitors there but we were greeted by a friendly guide who gave us helmets, headlights and boots. It was a steep uphill walk to the caves and they were initially very tight. Luckily for my claustrophobia the caves eventually opened up and we arrived at an underground stream that we had to wade up. We came to rooms of stalagtites and stalagmites beautifully formed from limestone. The guide stopped us in one rooms and said we had to turn back but he mentioned that the cave system continued for miles into the earth. The final room was considered sacred to the Mayans so we turned out our lights and sat in silence in the total darkness. I kept waiting for my eyes to adjust to the darkness but they never did. It was a fascinating few minutes but I was glad to get back to the light.

After returning to Coban we took another beautiful winding road through the mountains to the town of Lanquin. We checked into to the hostel where we took the last two hammocks in the place. The next morning we signed up for a tour and were taken on the back of a pickup to Semuc Champey, a series of caves and pools. We started in the cave and we were only given candles. The caves were a series of deep pools that we waded chest deep through most of them. At one point you could scramble up a rope and the last stretch involved about 50 meters of swimming. It was difficult swimming while holding a candle especially since one shoe kept trying to fall off but I managed. Anybody who dunked their candle were quickly relit by the others. The last pool we reached was quite deep and we were allowed to scramble up the side of the cave and jump in. Directly outside the cave was a river and we took a huge rope swing and jumped into the water. My technique was poor, resulting in an impressive face plant. We spent the next half hour slowly floating down the calm river in inner tubes. After we got out we had an opportunity to jump off the bridge. It was at least 30 feet up and being the first person to jump meant that I had to trust the guide's advice on where to land. Luckily it was deep enough. The next part of the tour involved the pools. These were amazingly green limestone pools that form a bridge over a raging river that is forced underground for about 500 meters. We climbed to a lookout and had a great views of the 5 or 6 green step-like pools, the white limestone cliffs and the river pouring through the valley. Where the river entered the cave was particularly dangerous because there was no way to avoid being sucked under if you fell. The pools themselves were fantastic for swimming and you could dive from one pool to the next. The guide took us down a rope ladder to the last ledge where you could jump about 40 feet into the emerging river below. When we returned to the hostel I walked to the nearby Lanquin Caves, yet another group of caves. I got there at sunset just in time to see tens of thousands of bats pouring out of the caves. It was one of the most enjoyable days of the trip.

The next day was very relaxed as we went on a two hour inner tube ride through small rapids and I played volleyball most of the afternoon. The evening meal at the hostel was an all you can eat Italian buffet so I stuffed myself with as much pizza and pasta as I could. We left Lanquin the next day and headed north. We stopped at the Candelaria Caves for one last caving experience. The entire north of Guatemala is limestone and riddled with caves. These particular caves are one of the largest but also relatively unknown. Many of the older people we met didn't speak Spanish and our guides for the trip were three kids. We took inner tubes about 30 minutes down to the river and the current took us directly into a cave. These caves had massive ceilings and once and a while light would shine down, eerily lighting the cave and water. Eventually we emerged back into the sunlight and our guides took us on a walking tour of the caves. Most of them were huge cathedral-like caves and many times I felt like I was on a movie set. After the tour we took another minibus to the town of Sayaxche for the night.

The next morning we decided to go to the Mayan ruins of El Ceibal. It involved an 8 km walk in the tropical heat but the price, free, was right. The ruins were only partially excavated but there was almost nobody there and it was interesting hiking through the deep jungle and stumbling across an excavated temple or astronomical observatory. The clouds of mosquitoes, however, reminded us that we weren't in the mountains anymore and we should get some more repellent. When we were ready to leave we were lucky enough to meet a Guatemalan family who gave us a ride back out of the park. We headed to the town of Flores for the night. Flores is a pretty town located on an small island in a lake in northern Guatemala. It is the base most people use for visiting the Mayan ruins of Tikal.

We hung out in Flores for the morning and then caught a shuttle bus to Tikal. We bought an entry ticket after 3pm which meant that the ticket was good for the next day as well. The Tikal Ruins have five massive temples which were all built within a century. The first two temples face each directly east and west in the center plaza and there are other large structures north and south. If you clap directly in the center of the plaza the echo sounds like the quetzal bird's call. Temple 3 and Temple 4 are to the west of the plaza and face it and Temple 5 is to the south and also faces the main plaza. Temple 4 is the biggest and at 63 meters it is a very popular place to watch the sunset and the sunrise over the other temples. The entire area around Tikal is a huge national park and Tikal is filled with jungle animals and birds. We saw many spider monkeys, coatimundis, agoutis, toucans, parrots and two big birds, the ocellated turkey and the crested guan. After exploring some of the park we climbed Temple 4 and watched the sun set over Northern Guatemala. We were kicked out of the park when it got dark and arranged to set our hammocks up in the camping site outside of the park. We were planning to get up at 5am to watch the sunrise but it was cloudy so we slept in. I got up at 6am when it got light and went in. Everybody else was up on Temple 4 so I had the park to myself. The birds were out in force and there was chirping, chattering and cawing everywhere. At one point there was a crested guan and a toucan having a loud, agressive discussion. It was very awe-inspiring to be walking among these huge monuments listening to the jungle waking up. After leaving the park we got into a pick-up game of soccer with some of the shuttle drivers that were waiting around and then headed back to Flores.

We headed south to the town of Rio Dulce for the night. The town is near the small Caribbean shore of Guatemala and is a transportation crossroad with both a heavily used river to the Caribbean and the main highway between Guatemala and Tikal. In the morning we headed to some limestone pools nearby. Getting there involved a combination of hitch-hiking, minibusing and an hour of walking. The pools were the familiar limestone green and the waterfalls were truly impressive including a huge 40 foot one. There was an excellent ledge for jumping here and we spent most of our time jumping and diving into the pool. The park was off the tourist track and we had the park to ourselves for the entire day. Returning the same way we ran into a full minibus and we had to sit on the roof of the bus to get our ride.

The next day we took a boat down the river Rio Dulce to the Caribbean coast and the town of Livingston. The river was wide and very calm and there were 100 foot limestone cliffs before we reached the Caribbean. It was the first time on the Caribbean on this trip but we plan to stay on it for the next few weeks. The town had no roads and was focused on the water. It appeared to be a popular stop for yachts sailing around the Caribbean and was full of good restaurants. We left on a boat the next day for Puerto Barrios, the only Caribbean port Guatemala has. From there we got a bus to the Honduran border and stopped at the beach town of Omoa. It was still early in the day so we hiked a couple of kilometers to a nearby waterfall, which was pretty but not very clean. After I visited the restored fort in the town. It was built by the Spaniards to protect the gold route but it took a long time to finish. It was captured often by pirates, the final time in 1820 but is carefully restored and interesting to explore.