15/2/10 - day 68.

up at 9, late for me, had a fruit bowl for breakfast then caught a pickup to semuc champey around half 11. semuc champey is considered by many to be the 8th natural wonders of the world and is consists of a natural 300 metre long limestone bridge under which the river cahabon flows, and there is a series of stepped turqiose pools, sort of connected by mini waterfalls. the water is ridiculously clear that you can swim in it, while, in my case, the fish nibbled at my ankles!

there was a general agreement that the 10 or so of us that it took there would also pick us up abour 4pm which was a lot longer than i needed there but not an awful lot i could do about it. from the entrance i walked up to a 1.2 km hight lookout point which was really good and rather tiring. bumped into the canadian couple id first met on the rio dulce boat ride and hung out with them most of the afternoon, dipping in and out of the pools. it wasnt a sunny day so getting out of them was a cold experience!

it was a really nice setting and peaceful, tranquil place but why the people that ive met have raved about it like its the best thing ever ever EVER, i dont know. cole and christina were visiting on a tour from coban so when they left i went for a walk around some more of the trails and by about half 2 i was ready to go. luckily there was a comedor by the entrance so i had lunch there which was a good time killer. i wasnt the only one who was ready early though, a french-canadian couple joined me for food and generally agreed 4pm was a bit long. the pickup came at 3:30 though and started to leave soon after.

there were 2 girls from eastern europe somewhere who just about made it in time and were angry and baffled that everyone was there early and were gonna leave without them. i wanted to shake them and say "hello! you're in guatemala! things dont happen when people say they will!"

when we got back, i put my name down for the nights 'north america' themed buffet, to save having to got in to the village to eat, and them had a wee nap. if you think THAT sounds lazy, the kiwi in my dorm told me she had spent all day going from hammock to hammock. thats its. she'd ranked them and everything. i guess its just that kinda place! later on, had the all you can eat buffet, felt absolutely stuffed, had a couple beers with a german and a belgian and went to bed about 10pm.