Semuc Champey

I made it to Semuc Champey, thus completing my list of must-visit places in Guatemala!

I wasn't going to go, but then Ann-Marita and Kira said it was their favorite place that they visited here, so I had to make it happen.

There's a shuttle that leaves Antigua at 2pm for Semuc Champey, but when I arranged for it to pick me up, they said it wouldn't arrive in Antigua until 4pm because the of the teachers' strike. Evidently the government hasn't been paying school teachers or something so they were demonstrating in the streets all over the country. Before I left the travel agency, they said the shuttle would arrive between 4:30 and 5, so I was planning on 6pm. Then, at 4:30 I get a phone call saying that the shuttle will leave Antigua at 9pm!

I was skeptical it would arrive at all, but it did!

Our driver drove like a madman and we arrived at our destination at 3am.

The next morning a group of us hiked up to the main event. It was incredibly beautiful! There were waterfalls everywhere! They spilled into tiered pools of vivid blue water. We swam around for a bit then climbed the path up the mountain to mirador for a view of the whole park.

After returning to the hostel, we grabbed some inner tubes and headed to the river to do some tubing! But first, we jumped off this bridge ... This has to be the highest thing I've ever jumped off of. I'm guessing it was 30 or 40 feet high. Really scary. Not everyone jumped, but I figured I had to - it's practice for the little adventure Dodrill and I are going to have! Mark your calendar man - we're gonna do it August 10th!

The tubing was disappointingly short - like 10 minutes long - but still fun.

After tubing, we headed to my favorite part - the caves! We walked/swam through about 1.5 kilometers (if I remember correctly) of pitch black caves carrying candles! We had to climb a few waterfalls and there was one point where a few of us jumped off a 20 foot ledge into a pool below! Pretty scary jumping off something in the dark.

On the way to the caves, Jemma (she's Irish) commented - "what a beautiful plant, what is it?" It took me a sec to figure out what she was talking about ... I looked around for awhile, but the only plant I saw was corn! Haha! The Dutch dude (I couldn't pronounce his name so I won't even try to spell it) and I couldn't stop laughing! Muy chistoso (very funny).

Now I'm back in Antigua, sin motocicleta! Matt drove my little motorcycle back home with him. It was a bittersweet parting. She was a good little bike. Hope she treats you well, Matt!

Today is Ellsworth's birthday! Feliz cumpleanos, Ellie! We celebrated on Saturday with a pinata! It was a lot of fun. Afterwards, Joe made a mask out of the pinata's head and chased the kids around. Grace got a turn too.

It's also our last day in Guatemala! I was supposed to fly out on the 5th, but the Julianelles left yesterday and the Gilmores leave tomorrow, so rather than sticking around Antigua all by my lonesome, I changed my flight and I leave tomorrow a few hours after the Gilmores.

Now I'm going to be spending a week in Panama. Not really sure what I'll do, but it should be interesting!