Guatemala Part 7

Hmm there are becoming a lot of parts for Guatemala. I keep having to break some small due to lack of time. And there will be at least one more too. The pound had begun to enact a swandive again after briefly rallying. Can the dollar hurry up and die please. It will probably die when it does not matter any more, once I get to Colombia (which Tim may now be joining me in part). Would be good. I got a bus at 5.30 am to Guatemala City (evil times). Once I arrived in the city I was surrounded by taxi drivers like hawks. Its only a 30 minute walk downtown from Tres Bol once you know where it is. I found an internet cafe, discovered there were ATMs in San Ignacio and that I would miss the shuttle launch in French Guyana (sucky, but then my odds had been long). I hopped on another bus to Coban and once I arrived in town I eventually found a minivan to take me to Lanquin. By this point I had been travelling all day and was knackered. Dan will be amused to know that even I struggle to sleep on chicken buses. Most Guatemalans I know don't even use them and Mercedes thinks they are muderers. The minivan had involved some shuffling around which saw two guys climb out the window and one lost his seat and had to stand. It pissed down with rain on the way there, but it is beautiful down that dusty and bumpy track. Once we got to town, they tried to take me to their hotel, but I wanted to stay in the cheap one in town so I jumped out of the window. Kindof cool. The hotel was cheap but it did not have any showers. Only a toilet. No showers in the jungle. Shit. Its quite a quiet town so I went to sleep early and caught up on some of the lost sleep.

In the morning I went to the local shop and met Senor Chris. Then I grabbed some stuff and walked 10km to Semuc Champey. Its a long walk and a fair bit of it is up stiff hills. Not as much as the way back though, which was ball breaking. Especially as I had not drank any water for 4 hours and had walked about 15km when I headed back. Its a very pretty walk and took me less than 2 hours, so I still believe I can comfortably cover 5km an hour over any terrain. Eventually when I descended to the final valley I caught up with a family from Oregon (father a firefighter, mother a nurse, two kids). Chatted with them for a while and hung out with them for an hour before leaving them some family time. One of the kids was commentating how he wished he'd travelled as much as me. Given he is eight, he has time. The entrance guard at Semuc Champey did not have change for a 100 quetzal note so I had to carry a bit of paper (effectively a promisory note) with me everywhere. Semuc Champey is achingly beautiful. A collection of limestone pools you can swim in (especially cool and refreshing when you don't have a shower and have just walked 10km). I swam around for a while and then climbed up to the vantage point. Its a brisk uphill climb. They say 1.15 hours. It took me 20 minutes. I reckon its a half hour walk. Spectacular view from the top though. You can see the pools as if you were in a helicopter. One the way down I chatted with some Germans and then went to look at the underground river. The river plunges in a mist of white foam violently into an underground cave. I asked the guard if it was possible to pass through the tunnel and he said in brusk Spanish that if I entered there I would die. Pretty clear. So I walked around the other side to see the mouth where it exits the cave. I noticed the Germans all had motorcycle helmets and I was not sure if thats because they are ultra cautious on Guatemalan roads or because they were going through the cave. I need to check if its possible to go through as that would be cool. On the walk back it was brutal. No water and steep climbs meant I was in agony and slow. Eventually I found a shop in a field that sold me my precious bag of water. That revitalised me and I blasted back to town. Around 30km of walking and plenty of swimming later I was back in town. My fitness was quite good now. Mainly in the lower half of my body though.

I managed to grab some cheap chicken dinner that I wolfed down. I only realised the following night in Flores that that was the only meal I had eaten in 48 hours as I had skipped dinner the day before. So that was 30km of walking after 24 hours with no food. On the way back I had also met a quite clearly mad man who would not let go of my hand (like mr shakey hands man) and another guy who simulated a gun action and someone falling over the side of the road. I think he wanted to show me where someone had been shot, but either way I was not stopping to chat with him. I finished up Anna Karenina and then went to the internet place. Noone for a while has had a microphone so I can't phone my dad like I suggested I would. Hopefully will find somewhere before the end of this week when he goes in for his operation. The ending to Anna Karenina was a little disappointing, but I don't think I have had a book that has wrenched me around emotionally in my own life as much as that one did before. I went back and not having time to doodle some philosophy I decided to write a letter out for Ana in Spanish clarifying what I was thinking. That took about 2 hours as I wanted to say specifically what I was thinking and my Spanish is not good enough. Thank god for the dictionary.

The next morning I overslept, having no alarm as I was preserving battery. I took a bus for 15 quetzals the 10km to the main road, but as a word of warning its not the real main road. After being an object of interest for a local school for 40 minutes a bus eventually picked me up and took me on a bone shattering 6 hour plus ride to Sayixche. Man this was a long way round. It looped 57km in 4 hours (I can cycle faster even on that terrain) and went through every tiny village and loads of great scenery. I may be one of the only gringos to ever take that bus as everyone stared at me like I was bigfoot. Noone wanted to sit near me as I was obviously some big freak thing. It was so long and tiring (and cost 50 quetzals when the maximum on the ticket is 40) that I fell asleep and accidentally headbutted an old woman. This amused her family, but I was mortified. I clearly was not going to make Belize that night and eventually was transferred to another minivan that went to Flores and this time crossed the river on a giant floating platform (cool). It cost another 20 and I had saved 40 quetzals on the shuttle price (it would at least pay for most of my dinner). Arriving in Flores I realised the skeleton building 2 months ago was now a burger king. Man they are fast at building. I ate a load in Pollo Campero because I had eaten only once in 48 hours. When your mind is elsewhere you forget to eat. I even got a double pizza and bagged some for later. I went online and wrote Ana the Spanish letter that I am sure requires much editing. Then I went to the island, but the hostel I stayed in last time only had space on the couch and I needed sleep for the next day. The other hotels were eye wateringly expensive so I found a sidestreet motel on the way to the bus station. It was dingy but did the job, albeit for a bit more than I wanted to pay. At least it did not have a huge cockroach and had a shower unlike the other place. Its remarkable how your tolerance for cold showers is inverse to how dirty you are. If you have washed in the last 48 hours you won't touch one, if not then they seem heaven sent. I grabbed a shower, slept through my alarm in the morning 3 times (so slept some more), ate the cold pizza and headed onwards for Belize in the morning. Was slightly overcharged but I made it across by 10am after having to pay some arbitrary 20 quetzals exit charge and helping the Aussie. Man it was weird to be speaking English again. Lets see what Ana says. Ominous to write a letter in between valentines day and friday 13th lol.