The last few days have been quite the adventure. After arriving in Coban on Sunday afternoon, we learned that our planned week in Rocj Pumtilla was not going to happen. We were all disappointed at losing the opportunity to live with families in a Mayan community and do some serious volunteer work but we got good news soon afterwards. Semuc Champey, a series of water pools, falls, and caves, was supposed to be a surprise trip that we took in another few weeks but we decided to move it up to the beginning of this week. We headed out on Monday morning and got to our hostel, El Portal, in the afternoon. After lunch, we decided to relax and get a taste of our surroundings. A bunch of us decided to take a tubing adventure down the river which was the perfect introduction. We did some swimming and jumping for the rest of the afternoon and passed the evening with dinner and games. Our streak of perfect weather was broken overnight the first night by torrential rain that hadnĀ“t let up by the time we got up, having planned to go swimming that morning. Instead we made the decision to stay another night and day at Semuc so we could do all of the activities we wanted to. After a morning of relaxing and waiting out the rain, Allison, Kira, Benji, Yuri, Jessie, and Ana headed to the caves for a big big adventure. We were given candles and entered the pitch black caves, which reminded us of fantasy movies weĀ“ve seen…Harry Potter included. Our candles gave the walls and water shadows and glows as we held them above our heads, swimming through the caves to get to different exciting points. Some of the most intense moments included climbing a rope through a waterfall, scaling steep ladders, and jumping off of cliffs into pools of water. Being in the caves was a new experience for many of us and felt like the most adventurous thing we had ever tried! Our final task was to drop into a pool through a hole in the rocks but that included free falling through a whirlpool of rushing water that blinded all of our senses. It was hard to believe that the guide actually expected us all to take that leap of faith without seeing what was below and we almost refused to take part. We all made it through without too many bumps and bruises though. We spent another evening relaxing, playing games, learning crafts from new friends, and listening to music. This morning was our last day in Semuc so we went to the big attraction, the pools of Semuc Champey. Our first site was the lookout over all of the pools that required a long hike to get to but it was worth it. We rushed to get back down the hill to the pools so we could swim and explore. We spent the rest of the morning climbing, swimming, and jumping in a series of pools with beautiful turquoise water and numerous waterfalls. We returned to Coban just for tonight and tomorrow we will be leaving for San Andres for our second Spanish school and final days in Guatemala. We will be living on a beautiful lake with host families and we are all excited to get back to speaking Spanish more often.
Love,
Ana and Kira