Guatemala is definitely rising up the ranks as one of our favourite countries. From the lake, we bussed it up to Lanquin and met some hilarious New Yorkers along the way - before long we were conducting shakey face contests and comparing the length of our second toes. As you do.

On arrival in Lanquin at our party hostel/riverside retreat, we were met by the weirdest barman - a midget Guatemalan who looked exactly like Nik Nak from James Bond´s The Man with the Golden Gun. Except he didn´t sound like a Guatemalan or a psychotic Thai man. He attempted to sound like an Australian but it came out as more of a cockney/Manc cross. Alwiiight maaaaate? How´s about I make you lot a Gua-a-malan Chick'in Bus (a crazy concoction of a shot of rum, a dash of Coke and two shots of Nutella flavoured Vodka). A night of debauchery ensued.

The next day we got down to what people are meant to do in the area. Relaxing... We spent the day sunning ourselves by the river, chilling in hammocks and tubing in big rubber rings down the river. By the evening we were ready for a bit of action again and went on a trip down into some nearby caves hunting out massive spiders and waiting for the bats to come out for the night. It was a bit freaky when the guide told us to turn off our torches and all we could hear was hundreds of bats flapping past us, between us, over us... Eeuwww.

The day after was heaps of fun. We started off with some more caving but this time we found ourselves swimming through water filled caves with only a tiny candle in our hand to guide the way. I couldn´t quite get the hang of swimming with one arm whilst trying to keep the other arm out of the water so ended up with a wet candle and a bump on the head every now and then. The best bit was when the guide pointed his torch down into a pitch black hole and said ´just aim to jump into that bit there, not that bit but that bit´.

A bit more tubing down the river and then it was on to Semuc Champey where we found paradise - a series of lagoons in the middle of the jungle with waterfalls cascading from one to the next. Amazing. Didn´t want to leave...