Some Adventures

After a couple rainy nights in Coban, Sarah and I trucked into Lanquin. Lanquin is a smallish town in Alta Verapaz, a large limestone plateau riddled with caves to explore. We made home base a lovely little lodge called El Retiro and took day trips from there. Being at El Retiro was a nice little vacation from all the work of traveling. The very gracious hosts have put together a comfy little compound on the shores of a river and most everything you could need is offered. There is laundry service, internet, books, music, tours and a lovely restaurant and bar that serves dinner family style with one large seating at 7:30. In Guatemala trying to find any one of these things can be a headache so having them all in one place where English is spoken was a real treat. I almost felt guilty for having it so easy. Almost. We took advantage of the tours that El Retiro offered and hit all the spots that make this area a destination. We started with some easy caving at Las Grutas de Lanquin. The Lanquin caves are over 11km long and have an immense underground river. A large part of the caves remain unmapped and unexplored. We went with a guide and didn´t stray far from the well lit concrete path. We did venture a bit past the constructed trail and got into some huge bat chambers and a good perch to view the river thundering by but as usual I wanted more. Caves always urge me on the dig further, deeper. I got my wish the next day. As part of our tour out to Semuc Champey we stopped by the Kan´ba caves. The Kan´ba caves involved a lot of climbing, ducking, twisting and scariest of all, swimming. We entered the caves in a group of about 10, with the light from 9 candles and the guides headlamp. In the middle of swimming (one handed because of my candle) down a long tunnel I was hit with a thought of, "I can´t believe I am doing this... I can´t believe I am PAYING to do this." Momentary panic aside the entire experience was amazing. Dark water has long been a fear of mine and forging into the ground to conquer my fears was very rewarding. The feeling of rebirth as we emerged from the caves was especially gratifying. We continued on to Semuc Champey, the last cave on our tour. You can´t enter the cave here because it is filled with a roaring river. The attraction at Semuc Champey is the natural limestone bridge that is over the river and has about a dozen lovely blue-green pools, multiple waterfalls pouring from each pool to the next. We basked and bathed for the remainder of the day. A perfect way to unwind after an adventurous couple of days.
-Dirk