Our stop in Lanquin was the sublimely located "El Retiro", which is right on a river deep in a lush valley of green rolling hills. This was our third experience with a jungle lodge, and it didn´t disappoint. Well, truth be told we didn´t have many bug sightings, but we did get to chase out an adorable black and red snake from our room one night. Obeying the rule that if anything is especially flashy it is probably poisonous, we treated it with caution, but it was only maybe 18 inches long and couldn´t get any traction on the concrete floor, so it was throwing itself around in a most amusing way trying to get away from us. As soon as it hit the grass and had something to hold on to though it literally disappeared.
The big draw here is the nearby Semuc Champey, which is billed as the most beautiful spot in Guatemala, or, depending on who you talk to, in all of Central America. A river comes crashing down a canyon and then plunges underground before coming back to the surface farther downstream. But a small amount of water from the river and from the surrounding canyon flows along the surface in a stepped series of natural pools. The river water here was colder than anywhere else we´ve gone yet, but the water in the pools is heated by the sun. After swimming around at the bottom where the pools form a waterfall to rejoin the river coming out of the ground, we sat around in the pools, where little fish swam all over nibbling at our skin. That last part was a little creepy. One little fish might have been kind of cute, but there were dozens around each of us. We then hiked up a very steep but scenic trail up to the top of the canyon for a view of the pools from above. On the way down we ran into a family of howler monkeys, including an adorable little baby. We were glad they weren´t feeling territorial and didn´t throw their poop at us (as howler monkeys are known to do).
We then went to the cave. Unlike the ATM cave in Belize where we wore fancy helmets with headlamps, here we went in holding candles, which gave the whole experience a very different feel. One little candle doesn´t illuminate much, but when you get ten, it was surprising how great it looked. We swam through parts, climbed up a rope through a waterfall, and jumped into some deep pools. (We had to trust the guide that the pool was deep enough, cause we couldn´t see, and David was the first one to try it.) We´ve had several experiences where we feel like Indiana Jones coming across some ancient artifact, but this adventure was decidedly straight out of The Goonies. We didn´t find any pirate treasure, but we still had a great time. Afterwards we jumped in the river with innertubes and floated down some rapids for a bit. We even got to stand in the back of a pickup truck for a crowded ride back to the hostel. Another very fun day.
We are now back in Antigua (again), and for our last hurrah took a trip out to Volcan Pacaya. It turns out caves and waterfalls and ruins aren´t all Guatemala has to offer. You can also get up close and personal with hot lava. Magma. It is just fun to say, magma. Say it. Magma. Told you so. The crater was spewing smoke when we arrived, but besides the lava it has a tendancy to spew poisonous gas, so is strictly off limits. We were underneath the peak, watching a river of lava flowing rapidly down the side before slowing and spreading out across the lava field. It was unbelievable how close we got. We knew there had been an accident and some people had been killed a few weeks ago, so we were determined not to get ourselves in trouble. But the lava was flowing so strongly that we didn´t have to go very deep into the field at all, and were able to do so above the flow where we didn´t have to worry about it falling down on us.
We got within a few feet of one of the flows, which was moving much faster than I´d imagined, a couple of feet a minute. The heat coming off it was incredible. The rock in front would crumble away, exposing the red lava which had a consistency of sandy molasses, or molten glass maybe. Then the outer layer would cool and turn black again, until it pushed foward another few feet and another chunk would crumble down. We watched a small ledge we stood on initially get completely engulfed by the flow, it was mezmerizing. Up above we could see where the lava was much hotter, running like water, and every few minutes there would come a loud rumbly belch from the crater overhead. Just incredible.
On the way down we found a gigantic grub on the trail, bigger than my thumb. David, surprisingly, wouldn´t touch it though. "Grubs gross me out." he said.
We are still trying to figure out our route, but I think we will be heading to Juayua in El Salvador for the food festival this weekend. You never know what to expect with internet access in a new country, but hopefully I´ll have another update soon.
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