Saturday, May 1, 2010

Guatemala Day 5 continued: SEMUC CHAMPEY

The beautiful Semuc Champey. The entrance is very touristy, with vendors everywhere. Finally, the mango I've been looking for. Mango with chili powder, salt, and lemon. Yum.



This guy at the front gate actually takes your ticket and writes the number and your name BY HAND in his little notebook. Efficient.



Once you go in, it's a hike.



At the end of the hike, it´s kind of like a water park because you walk on this pathway and go to your pool of choice. There are at least 3 different levels and all with these gorgeous pools.



We picked one of the upper pools and found a semi-safe place for our stuff. It´s hard because we were literally carrying all of our money, cards, and valuables in my backpack. AND, the rock edges close to the pools are wet and they HURT THE FEET.

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A lot of our group hiked to the top of the mountain to take pictures of the view but we were still not feeling so hot so we skipped the hike and went straight to the pools. Little known fact - Semuc Champey is crowded.

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It reminded me of a really pretty public pool. Kylee was dying to get in, but heaven forbid she go in without me. All I wanted to do was layout in the sun. We compromised, I went in for a little while then she left me alone to layout. It was great, but man those rocks hurt!

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It looks so inviting, but the water is just so hard to get to!

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We rode home in a truck, as usual. They needed two people in front so Kylee and I volunteered but oh man. Kylee was in the king cab with 2 tourists and I was in front sitting BETWEEN two stinky guatemalans. 2 long hours. This is a picture us in the truck on our way here. You can't really tell, but we are standing in a truck bed and holding onto a bar for balance. Nice and safe.



This next one is a picture of the road we drove on. The drive is so steep and windy that it´s a miracle the trucks can get up at all. The roads are one lane and they are SCARY.

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Now picture it steep...

When we got home, we found out we'd been moved to a dormotorio (10 people, both sexes) and we were not happy. Kylee talked the "front desk personnel" into a loft room instead which we thought was better until it got dark and all the bugs swarmed. We used our dental floss and some staples we pulled out of the wall to hang our mosquito net over both beds.

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We didn't want to touch anything in the room it was so gross. If we have any say in it, we are sticking to nice hotels after this. Ah, how we miss Panajachel. I can't believe we whined about having a cockroach in the bathroom last night...now we see how good we had it. At least we HAD a bathroom!)

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Great view though! This "El Retiro" was more of a campground than a hotel. It was really pretty though.

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So we took cold showers at the community shower. So so cold. Yes, those are urinals out in the open. Not much privacy, not even in the showers...we're learning to take these things in stride. :)

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And then went to dinner. Dinner was a buffet and it was good! It had cheese crisps in flour tortillas. Unbelievable! It also had mashed potatoes and fresh vegetables.

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This ended up being one of our favorite places to eat on the whole trip. Do you like the swing seat at the bar?

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What a long day! We are still feeling a sick, so we are going to go straight to bed - with more medication. Food poisoning is NOT fun.

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