14/2/10 - day 67.

up at half 7, 2 swedish girls had arrived at some point during the night and they were getting the same bus as me to lanquin at 8am. the roads werent as windy as yesterday but very bumpy in places where it wasnt actually paved. did have some awesome views of the mountains and we stopped to take a few snaps at one point as well which was good. got dropped off in the tiny village of lanquin 2 and a half hours later and had a little walk to get to where i was staying - a place called el retiro lodge.

i was put in the 'mosquito' dorm, which despite its name was actually nice enough. the place is set on a really nice grassy hill, with a river running at the bottom of it and a bar/restaurant area on site as well. had 2 large burritos for breakfast then relaxed by the river in the sun for a bit. unlike coban though, i got hot very quickly and soon headed for a shaded hammock. stayed there for most of the day, occasionally moving in and out of the sun, and had beer and lunch there.

at 5pm i went on a tour of some nearby bat caves. they were amazing. absolutely massive, ceilings so high and they had put lights in there with cables and stuff so could see everything really well. only the first 1km deep has been explored though so presumably there is a lot more to uncover. when it got dark at 6pm, all the bats come flooding out of the mouth of the caves, hundreds and hundreds of them all flitting past your face could only have been inches away.

after watching this for a while and getting some cool photos, we all piled back into the back of the pickup that brought us there and went back to the hostel. i hadnt put my name down for the buffet dinner at the hostel so had to venture into lanquin village for food and found a little comedor. i had been oblivious to the fact it was valentines day until i saw all the heart decorations they had up in there. a group of people sitting a few tabel away from me must have felt sorry for me or something cos the next thing i know i look up and they are frantically waving me over! so i ate with 2 french girls, a local guatemalan and a guy from bolton.

we went out for a couple beers afterwards and i got back to the hostel about half 10. had a lengthy chat with a kiwi girl in the dorm (katie) who was by her own admission a bit tipsy and thus very loud and talkative!