Winter Break
My little sister Hannah and my step sister Alex came down to visit. We started our trip in Copan Ruinas. Saw the ruins again. Good fun. Honestly those ruins just don't compare to Angkor Wat in Cambodia. I've been spoiled. Talked to some guy from Norway while I was in Guatemala, who now lives in Cambodia (follow that?) and he said that Angkor Wat and Machu Picchu are the coolest ruins he has ever seen. Guess I'll have to get to Peru soon.
Next we headed to the middle of nowhere Guatemala. Shuttle from Copan to El Rancho. Hopped on a shuttle from El Rancho to Coban. Took a bus from Coban to Semuc Champey. It took a long time. A very long time. 2 days. 2 hours or more of dirt roads. lots of guatemalan type bus situations. 26 people in a 12 person van. a pig shat on my foot and squealed. good times all around.
Semuc Champey was the most stunningly beautiful place I've ever been. These pristine emerald colored pools were magnificent - but that's an understatement. See the facebook album for pictures. http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2187271&l=3a5e2&id=6703396
Here is one of many:
So, we spent 3 days swimming in these beautiful pools, in the Guatemalan forest, in the middle of nowhere. Oh! It was delightful.Our other adventure in Semuc Champey was splunking in caves! The 5 of us, me, Hannah, Alex, Sarah (my housemate), and Brett (housemate's friend), got a local guide who gave us wax candles and led us into the eerie caves. We lit the candles so we could see where we were going and had to hold them up high while we were swimming through water in the caves. We walked, climbed, swam, and crawled. We scaled a waterfall inside the caves on a rope. I dodged bats flying all around. Got brave and jumped off a high ledge in the cave into the deep black depths of a pool below. Simply amazing adventure. Wish I had had a waterproof camera.
One night, in our hostel in Semuc, a HUGE tarantula crawled into our room. It wasn't that much of a challenge for the spider since the room had lots of open spaces to the outside. Anyway, how cool is that!? A wild tarantula just came into our room. Here's a pic:
Yes, that is a Guatemalan man who worked at our hostel getting the tarantula out of our room for us. Yes, we were THOSE people. Seems the last time I was talking about tarantulas I was eating one in Cambodia.
Next went to colonial Antigua, Guatemala. Been there, done that. Had a nice dinner.
Then went on our way to Nicaragua. Had to pass through El Salvador. The border officials were not too stoked that Sarah and I had expired visas, which we had tampered with. Paid a fine. Got the hell out of that country. Granada, Nicaragua was our stop. It was cool, not as pretty as Antigua. Spent New Year's there. Partied in a swanky club in my backpacker clothes - cargo shorts and a tank top. Had to leave a day early so as not to be hassled by border officials on the Nicaragua-Costa Rica border. Said goodbye to the sisters, and made sure they had transport to the airport for the next day.
Sarah and I got to Costa Rica no problem. Spent 4 lazy days in a beach town. The water was salty and so was my hair. Got some vitamin D from the big bright sun. It was delicious for my skin. I got sunburned right under my boobs though. I hate it when that happens.
Spent 2 days in buses getting from Costa Rica back home to Honduras. See map above for reference.
Good times.
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