Lanquin and Semuc Champey

Alright so after dealing witht two bouts of food poisoning, a sliced open foot, severe chest cold, and bed bugs (ALL in the last two weeks), I've concluded that either I've reaaaaally pissed someone off in the karma system, or I'm being punished for ignoring this blog for so long. My theory is that if I do 1.6 million random acts of kindness, and update this thing, I should be alright.

So Katie provided an epic account of Mirador- truly a life-changing experience. We continue to run into some of the friends we've made there along this Gringo Trail we're traveling, and we couldn't be happier about it! Seeing as how we've been absolutely terrible at updating this blog, we'll work to take you guys up to date bit-by-bit, since no one wants to read a 20-paragraph blog entry.

Once we returned to Flores from Mirador, Katie, Sofia, and I booked a bus to Lanquín, to check out the glorious pools of Semuc Champey. We landed at the Zephyr Lodge, a beautiful spot with sweeping views of the valley and crystal river below. In fact, we spent Christmas Day tubing down that very river with a crew from Zephyr and a bag of beers (props to Brenda the beer wench, nicely done!). Christmas night consisted of an awesome party, complete with tequila shots and one very epic speech by Dieter (a Guatemalan who was taught to drink by Irish guys... this man is a legend).

We took a day off to recover, and then all hopped in the back of a pickup truck and arrived at Semuc Champey after a very bumpy 20 minute ride. The day was pretty action-packed; first we explored a water-filled cave using only candles (easier than you might think... definitely a unique experience). After that it was time for the infamous rope swing. Everyone we'd talked to said they got absolutely WRECKED on this thing, but we all did pretty well. Except for that one girl... but I'm sure she's recovered by now. Because we hadn't had enough action yet, we decided to jump off the 30 foot bridge on our way to the park.

Hiking around the park was awesome, with the gorgeous views being well-worth the climb. Semuc Champey's main attraction is a series of crystal blue pools formed by the Cahabón River. They're stepped, so water flows down from one to another, and there are endless possibilities for jumping and climbing. After we'd exhausted all our energy, it was time to clamber back into the pickup and force our jello-like limbs to cling on for the jolting ride home. 

We spent another day at Zephyr enjoying the views and meeting some fantastic, Jager-loving Aussies who promptly awarded me the nickname of Reginald, or Reggie for short. I've been going by Regan down here, since the whole "Cait and Katie" thing seemed to be confusing for people, and we were both sick of responding only to find that it was the other Caitlin/Katelyn being summoned. Anyway, after our fun-filled stay at Zephyr, it was time to head to Antigua to kick off the New Year! 

The Trek to Mirador

Aloha Amigos! Katie here- we are alive and well after spending the turn of a new era at the ancient Mayan City of El Mirador! We have been cruising around the beautiful country of Guatemala ever since and we've made a truly great start to 2013!

El Mirador: I will start from the start: (as that is usually a good place to do so)
On our first day, we woke up early -gear packed, and said goodbye to our friend and hostel liason Francisco. We made our way onto a chicken bus designated for our trip and left our big packs behind - taking only a few days worth of gear with us. Making new seat-mates and friends right away was made possible by our over-excitement as well as the lack of space on the bus. Right away we met the infamous "Party Mike" of San Diego (who dresses like Aladin, and parties like Jim Morrison), as well as the lovely Debrow Brothers and tricksters from the Midwest. Caitlin happpend to sit down next to a guy who looked like he had just seen a ghost, or eaten a bad bowl of chili, and I must admit I was a bit worried about the sensitivity of his upchuck reflex.  (We later recommended him to the smaller van and he -Josh- ended up making a speedy full recovery. What a trooper!)

The ride out took us from Flores to Carmelita, and was a bumpy 2 1/2 hours of our lives. Upon crossing into protected Mayan lands, we were met with strange glances, and local boarder gaurds were taking photos of us, as they had never before seen such a large group at one time enter through the gates.  When we rocked up to Carmelita, we were all given breakfast of coffee, beans, eggs, and tortillas and after organized our gear onto the mules with the help of the locals.  Some time passed before our group of 45 was summoned into a large circle where we had a ceremony where a Mayan time keeper by the name of Tatajuan, blessed our journey into the jungle.

And then we were off!  The group quickly broke up into fast, medium and slow, and Regan and I became part of the leading pack.  We had gotten a late start on day 1, which was filled with excitement and conversations of everyone getting to know each other.  We ended our hike in the dark, and some frustration mounted as we continued to wait at the campsite at Tintal, for our gear and tents that we had packed on the slow moving mules.  Dinner, drinks, and smokes were shared and soon enough we were crashed out in our 2 man tent.

The second morning was a decently early start, and a healing circle with the notorious Doctor "Gato" was formed by people in our group (myself included) who wanted to continue the positive flow of energy on the second morning. Good vibes kids.

Onward through the forest we went, and because of our morning promptness, we arrived at our campsite by midafternoon with plenty of sunlight left! Again, waiting for the mules was a necessary evil and so a small fellowship was formed and moves were made to catch the sunset on one of El Mirador's half unearthed pyramids known as El Tigre. The sunset was beautiful and as we climbed down we came upon the start of a Mayan ceremony in which chanting, fire spinning (not to be confused with fire dancing) and the burning of offerings to Mayan gods took place.

That night we bonded with our group, drinking and hanging out around the campsite and went to bed in pretty great moods.

The following morning was early, and full of walking around the different sites at El Mirador with the help of our local guides, Juan Pablo and Alex. I wish I had counted the number of stairs we climbed, honestly it was daunting. My favorite site was La Danta, a complex temple that supersedes most other pyramids in the world in both mass and volume. You can see the surrounding unearthed Mayan cities as well as how far you trekked and the vastness of it all is simply unreal.

Back to El Tigre for a Sunset ceremony with our 3rd guide Jen, and this was the moment that I was truly moved by my experience at El Mirador. It hit me like a rogue wave and I was aware of myself and everything I felt in that moment. It was wicked and something I wont ever forget.

Meeting a group of "rebel gypsies" that hiked in without a guide (which is almost impossible to do) made our last day/night tons of fun, and left a good taste in our mouths - minus the fact that we needed to hike all the way back, a wopping 55 kilometers. Not much to say in this regard, we were ready for a swift return to a more thriving civilization and had fresh beers waiting for us after the first days trek back. LOVELY how a cold, shitty beer can taste so good after a long day of huffing it through the jungle.

Finally, we made it to Carmelita and then back to Flores and our time being sweaty and dirty chicas was over. It felt nice to shower and put on a dress, but it felt even better knowing what had just accomplished and seen.