So what did we do for the next 10 days?
Since plans had changed drastically, we started asking questions about other towns in El Salvador. All we knew was that we wanted to get away from the beach that lead us to our demise, while never being too far from the capital (San Salvador). As I was prepared to call every day to check if my passport had arrived we wanted to be ready to go in the minute it was ready.
First we headed to Juayuà, a small town in the mountains known for coffee production and a weekly food festival. Luckily, the weekend we went there also happend to be a big stage with live street music and space for dancing. We made dancing friends and had a great time being stared at by the locals and learning new moves. The next day we felt like a long walk would do us good so we took a hike up to Laguna Verda - a poorly named lake in the mountains - and then back through town to some waterfalls to cool off.
After the food festival the town´s population declines immensly, so we took the cue to move on to our next destination, to ciudad Santa Ana. We finally arrived at 2:00 to Casa Verde a small but modern hostal with a killer kitchen and cool host. The next day we were up early to catch a bus to Cerro Verde, where we paid the $8 for a guide and a police officer to accompany us to the top of Volcàn Santa Ana. The view was decent but the crater stole the show. Not only 3km around but also 300m down from the rim was beautiful juniper-green laguna, with steam still pouring out and a strong smell of sulfer. Georgous! Along this trek we also met Adam, another Massachusetts Native, who decided to prolong his plans to Honduras and stay the night with us. We returned home in the late afternoon and promptly took showers.
Carlos, our host returned from work and asked if we wanted to go to Trenchtown Bar, ¨Of Course, when do you want to go?` `Temprano`, he replied with a huge grin. (It was 4:30). As you could guess, Trenchtown was a reaggae inspired local bar with an atmosphere beyond what we could find in a guide book. Kylie danced away, Adam got into the art, and Brian shared a little Whiskey with Carlos and his cousin Carlos. I attempted to speak spanish and danced with a crazy regular until the bottle of whiskey was finished and the 6 of us piled back into the car to go home.
Feeling we couldn´t top a day like that in Santa Ana, we decided to move once again to a small artist town, Suchitoto. After a horrible/hot night of sleep Kylie and I took 2 min showers and left to get some coffee and see what we could do for the day. We settled on a small walking tour with views of the nearby lake, a few stops at some galleries, a taste of michiladas and some ice creams. It barely filled our day or our stomachs, so we concluded with a stop at the market to make stir-fry wraps. However our lunch plans turned out to be a horrible idea once we saw how dirty the kitchen was.
The next day, Friday March 5th, was a gamble, we went into San Salvador so that on any chance my passport came in we could pick it up and be on our way ASAP. We left at 8:00 with plans to do a short hike on volcan San Salvador but after 4 hours on buses and bus stops we scratched our plan and heade to the Museo de Arte de San Salvador. A small but decent national gallery with air conditioning. After, a nearby Hilton Hotel generiously let me make my local call to the embassy and we found out my passport was in! It had only taken 7 days and we could finally plan for our departure.
Thinking we could cross the border into Honduras, we went to a SMALL town in western El Salvador, La Palma - famous for its art style and being the center for peace talks at the end of the revolution. Sadly though, I was not allowed to cross the border still, since I had no stamp in my passport. El Salvador would let me out but Honduras wouldn´t let me in. Kylie and Brian still went in to check out a town close to the border, with a potential opportunity for Kylie and I to volunteer.
So on Sunday we had to return to the San Salvador so that on Monday I could go to the office of Migration and finally get my stamp. Since our spirits were low and the city was modern Brian suggested we treated ourselves to a fancy Sushi dinner with plenty of Saki. Finally on Monday morning Kylie and I were up early to the office of migration where I paid $25 for but only got a 15 day stamp. Which meant I would eventually have to go to Costa Rica for 3 days but at least we could leave El Salvador!
Monday, March 29, 2010
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Clumsy Muggers
As usual there have been many things to cover from over the last 3 weeks, some stories more exciting than others, and some even a little frightening. In a nutshell we´ve covered a lot of ground, ate a million more pupusas, and have had 4 different border crossings. And perhaps one of the bigger traveling changes is that we are now a solid Trio, since Bz has joined in the adventure.
So as soon as we had said our goodbyes to Brian´s parents and to Bz´s friend Sharon, we immediately planned our departure from Guatemala to El Salvador, and were ready for the travels to continue on.
Our first border crossing was a test to our nerves, and introduced us to fact that even though El Salvador has banned guns in most cities, carrying a machete around is fairly normal. After our failed attempt to take a bus across the border, we paid the extra money to have a taxi drive us in about half the time. Marvin our driver passed every truck, bus and cow that came across our path, but really proved to be useful as he battled the money changers while we got our exit stamps. One flash of his machete and some strong No thank yous, was enough to make them back off.
Our plan was to visit some of the highlights of El Salvador for about 4-5 days and still have time to go back to Honduras for the Copan Ruins and a Micro-Brewery. But our plans which are usually altered on a daily basis, took a complete detour with a memorable event on the beaches in La Libertad. On our first full day on the beach, we decided to take a 2 hour walk to the main town about 5km away. After about an hour into the walk 2 super skinny guys approached us and proceeded to clumsily mug us of the few belonging we had.
The first guy with no teeth, reached for my backpack right out of my hands. My first reaction was to pull back, but as Ia saw the machete being raised over my head I immediatly let go. Its money and a backpack, easily replaceable items, whereas my arms are far more important As we talked about it after- we all selfishly felt survival mode kick in and how to not get everything robbed from us. Kylie slyly turned her fanny pack around out of view which held her money, camera, and passport, and kicked off her shoes. In the caos and yelling they never even noticed it around her waist.
Brian seeing my backpack as already gone, backed up into the shore throwing his towel, his shirt, and his book into the water. The second Ladrón kept telling Brian to calm down and even picked the wet book back up and handed it to him. He eventally had to fork over the $15 phone to satisfy the ladrones
My survival mode kicked in to me begging for my sandels that were attached to the backpack, which the stupid ladron oddly gave back to me, even though they demanded Kylie´s sandels and Brians sneakers. In the end they got away with 2 watches, a cheap phone, old sneakers, worn Chacos, and an old backpack with a tank top, water bottle, $40, an ATM card, my license and Sadly my passport. Why my Passport was in my backpack has been the crucial mistake of this event and what has eventually altered our plans.
The Ladrones left us on the beach, kylie and brian barefoot, me in a bathing suit top, and the three of us in awe at what just happened. We walked back through a garbage filled river and hitched a ride to our hostal- El Roble, where we spilled the details to the manager. They were shocked,In the 3 years that they have been running the hostal this is the first time anything like this has happened.
Ana called the police- they showed up 2 hours later only to have us pile into the back of their sedan and show the officer where it went down. Finally we made it to the ¨station¨ aka, beach house where we filed a report. As the day dragged on it became apparent there would not be much of an effort to retreive our stolen items.
The next day Kylie accompanied me to the embassy in a car ride set up by our hostal. I got a new photo taken and filled out the forms. And with $100 and in 7-10 days I was told a new passport would be ready. So knowing we had at least a week ahead of us we began looking into where we could go.
So as soon as we had said our goodbyes to Brian´s parents and to Bz´s friend Sharon, we immediately planned our departure from Guatemala to El Salvador, and were ready for the travels to continue on.
Our first border crossing was a test to our nerves, and introduced us to fact that even though El Salvador has banned guns in most cities, carrying a machete around is fairly normal. After our failed attempt to take a bus across the border, we paid the extra money to have a taxi drive us in about half the time. Marvin our driver passed every truck, bus and cow that came across our path, but really proved to be useful as he battled the money changers while we got our exit stamps. One flash of his machete and some strong No thank yous, was enough to make them back off.
Our plan was to visit some of the highlights of El Salvador for about 4-5 days and still have time to go back to Honduras for the Copan Ruins and a Micro-Brewery. But our plans which are usually altered on a daily basis, took a complete detour with a memorable event on the beaches in La Libertad. On our first full day on the beach, we decided to take a 2 hour walk to the main town about 5km away. After about an hour into the walk 2 super skinny guys approached us and proceeded to clumsily mug us of the few belonging we had.
The first guy with no teeth, reached for my backpack right out of my hands. My first reaction was to pull back, but as Ia saw the machete being raised over my head I immediatly let go. Its money and a backpack, easily replaceable items, whereas my arms are far more important As we talked about it after- we all selfishly felt survival mode kick in and how to not get everything robbed from us. Kylie slyly turned her fanny pack around out of view which held her money, camera, and passport, and kicked off her shoes. In the caos and yelling they never even noticed it around her waist.
Brian seeing my backpack as already gone, backed up into the shore throwing his towel, his shirt, and his book into the water. The second Ladrón kept telling Brian to calm down and even picked the wet book back up and handed it to him. He eventally had to fork over the $15 phone to satisfy the ladrones
My survival mode kicked in to me begging for my sandels that were attached to the backpack, which the stupid ladron oddly gave back to me, even though they demanded Kylie´s sandels and Brians sneakers. In the end they got away with 2 watches, a cheap phone, old sneakers, worn Chacos, and an old backpack with a tank top, water bottle, $40, an ATM card, my license and Sadly my passport. Why my Passport was in my backpack has been the crucial mistake of this event and what has eventually altered our plans.
The Ladrones left us on the beach, kylie and brian barefoot, me in a bathing suit top, and the three of us in awe at what just happened. We walked back through a garbage filled river and hitched a ride to our hostal- El Roble, where we spilled the details to the manager. They were shocked,In the 3 years that they have been running the hostal this is the first time anything like this has happened.
Ana called the police- they showed up 2 hours later only to have us pile into the back of their sedan and show the officer where it went down. Finally we made it to the ¨station¨ aka, beach house where we filed a report. As the day dragged on it became apparent there would not be much of an effort to retreive our stolen items.
The next day Kylie accompanied me to the embassy in a car ride set up by our hostal. I got a new photo taken and filled out the forms. And with $100 and in 7-10 days I was told a new passport would be ready. So knowing we had at least a week ahead of us we began looking into where we could go.
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Shields folks @ Tikal
Jezz, this was awhile ago since it´s March now and my folks were here in mid Feb. Thanks for visiting us; we never would have enjoyed such fine dinning or lodging without your generous spending, feel free to come again soon!
The Shields folks looked New England winter pale and tired from a long day of flying when we first caught sight of them walking out of the Flores airport terminal by late evening on Tues. the 16th of Feb. After dropping their bags off at the hotel room (sorry about the noisey construction the following moring), Kylie and I were treated to a fine dinner in Flores (and fine rum afterwards).
Cool Beans was the spot for breakfast before we called Santiago, our shuttle driver from the airport the night before, and got a ride to El Remante. Here is the back yard of our hotel there. The weeds that grew in the grass here closed when you brushed them; ask Kylie about the "touch of death" for more details.
By 3 P.M., so we could enter the following day with same ticket, the four of us had reached Tikal. We only had a few hours before the sun was set yet we did get a great idea of what the park was like. 
This is a back shot and front pic of temple one from the top of temple two, the iconic image of Guatemala. Some shakey steps we climbed to the top of the temples; recent additions to the park after too many visitors feel to their deaths on the original stairs. The park´s policy seemed to be, "people died on this temple, but no one has on this one, so enjoy!
The next moring we took a guided tour of the park. We would have never seen these animals if we hadn´t taken the tour. This is a cidcada which blended in with the tree bark perfectly. It´s about five inches long. 
"
We took a short hike outside the hotel after leaving the Tikal park that night. We got a get chance to see a howler monkey do its thing, but, like photos of Big Foot, we only have this blurry pic.
We left our hotel the next day and headed back to Flores, stopping at a nature reserve with six bridges over the canopy. Orchids and the calls of howler monkeys were plentiful. 
The flight to Guate City and later shuttle to Antigua was plesant. The dinner we had that night would be very difficult to top anywhere in the world. Our salsa dancing elderly couple were surely a hit with us! The climb up Volcano Pacya was eadier the second time. Glad to hear you two have made it home safely and thanks again for coming!
Saturday, February 13, 2010
Belize Cayes
3-Wens
The scene around Rìo Dulce was getting to us. By noon Kylie and I hopped onto a public launch over to Finca Tatin, a little jungle get-away named after the tributary of Rìo Dulce it is located on.
We were able to score a room even though it was packed with guests. Our room was off a little stone walkway from the main house.
It had a very rustic feel. Checking out our room, I noticed the light was not working. When we brought this to the attention of our host, he didn`t seem surprised. "That`s cuz the power is only on from five to ten." Check. The rope swing off the dock was a nice bonus.
After a shrimp dinner at the lodge, we drank beers and played cards with some wacky Canadian kids before crashing.
4-Thurs
Kylie and I got wicked sunburned today kayaking around the river for about four hours. Here is us before turning bright red.
Finca Tatin provided the two person kayak. Neither of us were impressed by the condition of it, yet it floated, so... We paddled over to Rìo Dulce canyons, where vertical cliff faces drop off into the water.
Herons and pelicans were abundant.
Here is a shot of lunch we ate on the river.
5-Fri to 11-Thurs
Back to Rìo Dulce to catch the sailboat at 1:30 for our trip out to the Belize Cayes.
Five others were also on the boat besides the captain, cook, and first mate. We were the youngest couple. Our double room was like a coffin, leaving us to wonder how the single cabins felt. Showers were 1.5 liter bottles of fresh water to pour over your head standing at the stern, rationed to one bottle a day. Unfortunately the weather was not always on our side; it rained or the clouds blocked out the sun.
There were a few sunny days, making wonderful sunsets.
We ate very well, consisting of whatever was caught; lobster, fish, conch, crab.
The crew worked very hard everyday, spear fishing for hours each morning and afternoon to get our next meal and sailing the boat from caye to caye.
Snorkeling in the clear water over the reef filled our days, viewing the colorful sea-life.
Sort of regret not buying a disposable water camera to capture those sights. On the paddle boards we chased a four foot nurse shark shortly (glad to have viewed it from above the water than in).
The days passed easily; our return to land seemed too soon.
11-Thurs
Itching to get away, we spent very little time in Rìo Dulce after leaving the boat. Tonight we bunked at the eco-friendly Finca Ixobel, just outside the city of Poptùn to the north. They offered a wide range of activities; horseback riding, cave exploring with tubing, hikes up a nearby lookout point, yet we were interested in hot showers. A quick moving tarantula near Kylie`s bed that evening made me share mine with her.
12-Fri
A two hour shuttle ride north and we arrived at Flores. The city is very tourist orientated; gringos outnumber locals by far. Restaurants, hotels, shops, travel agencies, bars, and cafes are everywhere. The entire city of Flores is located on a tiny peninsula out into Lago Pèten.
It takes only minutes to walk from one side the other.
The scene around Rìo Dulce was getting to us. By noon Kylie and I hopped onto a public launch over to Finca Tatin, a little jungle get-away named after the tributary of Rìo Dulce it is located on.
We were able to score a room even though it was packed with guests. Our room was off a little stone walkway from the main house.
It had a very rustic feel. Checking out our room, I noticed the light was not working. When we brought this to the attention of our host, he didn`t seem surprised. "That`s cuz the power is only on from five to ten." Check. The rope swing off the dock was a nice bonus.
After a shrimp dinner at the lodge, we drank beers and played cards with some wacky Canadian kids before crashing.
4-Thurs
Kylie and I got wicked sunburned today kayaking around the river for about four hours. Here is us before turning bright red.
Finca Tatin provided the two person kayak. Neither of us were impressed by the condition of it, yet it floated, so... We paddled over to Rìo Dulce canyons, where vertical cliff faces drop off into the water.
Herons and pelicans were abundant.
Here is a shot of lunch we ate on the river.
5-Fri to 11-Thurs
Back to Rìo Dulce to catch the sailboat at 1:30 for our trip out to the Belize Cayes.
Five others were also on the boat besides the captain, cook, and first mate. We were the youngest couple. Our double room was like a coffin, leaving us to wonder how the single cabins felt. Showers were 1.5 liter bottles of fresh water to pour over your head standing at the stern, rationed to one bottle a day. Unfortunately the weather was not always on our side; it rained or the clouds blocked out the sun.
There were a few sunny days, making wonderful sunsets.
We ate very well, consisting of whatever was caught; lobster, fish, conch, crab.
The crew worked very hard everyday, spear fishing for hours each morning and afternoon to get our next meal and sailing the boat from caye to caye.
Snorkeling in the clear water over the reef filled our days, viewing the colorful sea-life.
Sort of regret not buying a disposable water camera to capture those sights. On the paddle boards we chased a four foot nurse shark shortly (glad to have viewed it from above the water than in).
The days passed easily; our return to land seemed too soon.
11-Thurs
Itching to get away, we spent very little time in Rìo Dulce after leaving the boat. Tonight we bunked at the eco-friendly Finca Ixobel, just outside the city of Poptùn to the north. They offered a wide range of activities; horseback riding, cave exploring with tubing, hikes up a nearby lookout point, yet we were interested in hot showers. A quick moving tarantula near Kylie`s bed that evening made me share mine with her.
12-Fri
A two hour shuttle ride north and we arrived at Flores. The city is very tourist orientated; gringos outnumber locals by far. Restaurants, hotels, shops, travel agencies, bars, and cafes are everywhere. The entire city of Flores is located on a tiny peninsula out into Lago Pèten.
It takes only minutes to walk from one side the other.
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Pacific coast to the Caribbean
Hey-hey people! We are here in Río Dulce next the the Atlantic Coast. It was an interesting ride across Guatemala from the Pacific. We are about to leave on our week long sailing trip out to the Belize Cayes this Friday so we won´t have any means of communication until next Thursday. Sweet!
18-Tues to 23-Sat
Staying at the park in Hawaii grew on us the longer we stayed there. When we took the 4:30 AM bus on Saturday to Guate City it was difficult to leave for multiple and obvious reasons. We got accustomed to hitchhiking into town. A young couple who picked us up one night and gave us a ride back to the park, we invited them the following night to see some hatchlings being released. We had become close to the park dogs, Sessy and the puppy Suerte.
I had bought a T-shirt from the park as well (not that I needed another one). Hope to get pictures emailed to us of the leatherback turtles from Eduardo, the park director, when the nest hatches around late February.
On Saturday we rode a chicken bus for 5 hours to Guate City on our way to Cobàn. It was another 4 hours via coach to get to our destination. The day we arrived the weather was bright blue sky. The city of Cobàn is quite smaller than what we were used to in Xela and consisting of many hills. Walking around the city today, both we saw one of the street dogs get run over by a shuttle bus. It was a harsh reminder of our different cultures and attitudes; while Kylie and I felt terrible seeing the dog run away yelping in pain, the locals nearby laughed at the sight. It had been a long day of traveling; we got dinner and went to bed early at our hostel.
24-Sun
Today we did a little sight seeing around town. Here is the Templo El Calvario, a church from 1810.
It sits on a hillside at the top of many, many stairs. This spot allowed a great view of the Cobán layout below.
Close by is Parque Nacional Las Victorias,
a natural evergreen forest consisting of 170 acres that we walked though located in the city´s center. Here is a shot of a line of leaf-cutter ants bringing their haul back to the nest. 
After lunch we got a taxi ride over to Vivero Verapaz, an orchid nursery just outside of town, only to find out is was closed when arrived! At least we knew where to go now when we walked there tomorrow.
25-Mon
Today we walked to Vivero Verapaz. The local name for the rainy mist that occurs here is chipi chipi and today was a great example of such weather. One of the caretakers showed us around. Most of the orchids were not blooming at the time.
These miniature orchids growing in champagne corks were some of my favorite.
Back in town, we got a tour of a coffee farm right in Cobán.
Dieseldorff Coffee was founded by Germans in 1888 and still in operation growing, picking, sorting, roasting, packing and selling. The entire process of from plant to product is very labor intensive. The white blossoms of the upcoming season were just beginning to emerge. The red beans are ready to be picked, 
which is done by hand. Here they are spread out to dry in the sun after being filtered through water here
(good coffee sinks while the bad floats). Once more the beans are sorted for quality by hand before being roasted. Of course we bought some beans to take home, just one more item in our overstuffed bags to lug around.
26-Tues
We left Cobán to a rural town outside to stay at an expat´s house who rents out cabins on his property and serves vegetarian meals. Our Moon guide book billed the place as a working blueberry farm, but when we got there, Tim informed us that the berry´s had succumbed to fungus and he pulled them out years ago, well before the publication of the guide book we have. Here is the porch view from our room.
The chipi chipi was still in the sky and we ended up only staying the night before moving on, turning down the mountain hike in the morning since it would only be covered in clouds. The food was great, as is most food that is cooked by someone else, and the room was a nice change from the hostels and shacks with mosquito nets that we had become used to.
27-Wens
A short bus ride in the morning took us to the town of Lanquín and our stay at El Retiro. This hostel consisted of several thatched roofed suits on a hillside over looking a stream. It was full of backpackers and young travelers. Not having a reservation, we were shown in a loft room that required we climbed a latter. We ended up staying three nights. There was a restaurant and bar by the water which served buffet style meals with different themes each night. It was too easy and nearby to eat anywhere else and the town didn´t have many options either.
28-Thurs
Just a couple of kilometers out of town, we walked to Lanquín Caves National Park.
The cave was huge and long and the floor was covered in shit. At dusk we sat by the mouth and watched a million bats fly out into the night sky.
29-Fri
Semuc Champey had been on our list of must do´s since the beginning of our trip. It was 11 kilometers outside Lanquín and we opted to hitch hike rather than pay for a ride and guide.
Inside the park, we climbed some trails to an overlook of the pools. The water was warm and very clear, only you needed to keep moving or else little fish would begin to nibble at your feet and butt. Kylie didn´t care for that much.
30-Sat
We left our hostel by morning and headed north to the small village of Raxrujá. On the way while waiting roadside for a lift by the turn for Lanquín, we saw Alex and Raphael, the Canadian couple we climbed Volcano Tasamulco a month earlier, get off a truck coming from the direction we were headed (there is a picture of them with Kylies in an earlier post). They that been to El Salvador, Honduras and Belize since we saw them last. Our trip up the dirt road was fun since we rode on top of the packed shuttle.
The landscape was beautiful and great to see unobstructed from the roof. We spent the night at Hotel Cancuén; a place both Kylie and I would come to refer to as the roach motel. Understandably, we only stayed the night.
31-Sun
Our reason for heading north to Raxrujá was the Candelaria Caves. These are very sacred sites to the local Mayans. The rain was falling that morning so we wore out rain coats and hailed a shuttle.
After a little miscommunication and confusion, we arrived at the caves. The Candelaria is not lit by a diesel generator like the Lanquín caves, but rather natural light coming through windows in the walls.
This aspect made us feel like real explorers. There were tubing rides in the cave river offered by the park, but the rain and chilly weather turned us away. Later that day, trying to get a bus to Río Dulce, we took the advice from a local and went to Poptun, a town north of our destination and 5 hours down a dirt road. We had to stand most of the time and were miserable by our arrival. Luckily, the Tropical Inn was just across the street from where we got off the bus. A private room with clean sheets and no sign of roaches! Quite nice!
1-Mon
By 11 AM we boarded a coach down to Río Dulce, two hours away by paved roads, on which we had to stand. The Hotel Backpackers in Río Dulce is on a dock right over the river and under the overpass.
The sounds of passing trucks and boats soothed us in our sleep. About a 40 minute walk from town is Castillo De San Felipe De Lara, a Spanish fortification built in 1652.
2-Tues
Down the road lining Lake Izabal going West, we visited Finca El Paraíso. Here a hot springs waterfall enters the cool river water.
The same biting fish we encountered at Semuc Champey were waiting for us. The springs were steaming hot, even during the mid-day sun. By contrast, downstream from where the gringos were bathing were the locals doing their laundry in the river. Later that night back at the hotel, I caught some drunk local in the dorm helping himself to money and cameras of other people staying the night, yet he took off down the road before I realized what was going on. A harsh reminder to be careful to those that lost belongings.
18-Tues to 23-Sat
Staying at the park in Hawaii grew on us the longer we stayed there. When we took the 4:30 AM bus on Saturday to Guate City it was difficult to leave for multiple and obvious reasons. We got accustomed to hitchhiking into town. A young couple who picked us up one night and gave us a ride back to the park, we invited them the following night to see some hatchlings being released. We had become close to the park dogs, Sessy and the puppy Suerte.
I had bought a T-shirt from the park as well (not that I needed another one). Hope to get pictures emailed to us of the leatherback turtles from Eduardo, the park director, when the nest hatches around late February.
On Saturday we rode a chicken bus for 5 hours to Guate City on our way to Cobàn. It was another 4 hours via coach to get to our destination. The day we arrived the weather was bright blue sky. The city of Cobàn is quite smaller than what we were used to in Xela and consisting of many hills. Walking around the city today, both we saw one of the street dogs get run over by a shuttle bus. It was a harsh reminder of our different cultures and attitudes; while Kylie and I felt terrible seeing the dog run away yelping in pain, the locals nearby laughed at the sight. It had been a long day of traveling; we got dinner and went to bed early at our hostel.
24-Sun
Today we did a little sight seeing around town. Here is the Templo El Calvario, a church from 1810.
It sits on a hillside at the top of many, many stairs. This spot allowed a great view of the Cobán layout below.
Close by is Parque Nacional Las Victorias,
a natural evergreen forest consisting of 170 acres that we walked though located in the city´s center. Here is a shot of a line of leaf-cutter ants bringing their haul back to the nest. 
After lunch we got a taxi ride over to Vivero Verapaz, an orchid nursery just outside of town, only to find out is was closed when arrived! At least we knew where to go now when we walked there tomorrow.25-Mon
Today we walked to Vivero Verapaz. The local name for the rainy mist that occurs here is chipi chipi and today was a great example of such weather. One of the caretakers showed us around. Most of the orchids were not blooming at the time.
These miniature orchids growing in champagne corks were some of my favorite.
Back in town, we got a tour of a coffee farm right in Cobán.
Dieseldorff Coffee was founded by Germans in 1888 and still in operation growing, picking, sorting, roasting, packing and selling. The entire process of from plant to product is very labor intensive. The white blossoms of the upcoming season were just beginning to emerge. The red beans are ready to be picked, 
which is done by hand. Here they are spread out to dry in the sun after being filtered through water here
(good coffee sinks while the bad floats). Once more the beans are sorted for quality by hand before being roasted. Of course we bought some beans to take home, just one more item in our overstuffed bags to lug around.26-Tues
We left Cobán to a rural town outside to stay at an expat´s house who rents out cabins on his property and serves vegetarian meals. Our Moon guide book billed the place as a working blueberry farm, but when we got there, Tim informed us that the berry´s had succumbed to fungus and he pulled them out years ago, well before the publication of the guide book we have. Here is the porch view from our room.
The chipi chipi was still in the sky and we ended up only staying the night before moving on, turning down the mountain hike in the morning since it would only be covered in clouds. The food was great, as is most food that is cooked by someone else, and the room was a nice change from the hostels and shacks with mosquito nets that we had become used to.27-Wens
A short bus ride in the morning took us to the town of Lanquín and our stay at El Retiro. This hostel consisted of several thatched roofed suits on a hillside over looking a stream. It was full of backpackers and young travelers. Not having a reservation, we were shown in a loft room that required we climbed a latter. We ended up staying three nights. There was a restaurant and bar by the water which served buffet style meals with different themes each night. It was too easy and nearby to eat anywhere else and the town didn´t have many options either.
28-Thurs
Just a couple of kilometers out of town, we walked to Lanquín Caves National Park.
The cave was huge and long and the floor was covered in shit. At dusk we sat by the mouth and watched a million bats fly out into the night sky.
29-Fri
Semuc Champey had been on our list of must do´s since the beginning of our trip. It was 11 kilometers outside Lanquín and we opted to hitch hike rather than pay for a ride and guide.
Inside the park, we climbed some trails to an overlook of the pools. The water was warm and very clear, only you needed to keep moving or else little fish would begin to nibble at your feet and butt. Kylie didn´t care for that much.30-Sat
We left our hostel by morning and headed north to the small village of Raxrujá. On the way while waiting roadside for a lift by the turn for Lanquín, we saw Alex and Raphael, the Canadian couple we climbed Volcano Tasamulco a month earlier, get off a truck coming from the direction we were headed (there is a picture of them with Kylies in an earlier post). They that been to El Salvador, Honduras and Belize since we saw them last. Our trip up the dirt road was fun since we rode on top of the packed shuttle.
The landscape was beautiful and great to see unobstructed from the roof. We spent the night at Hotel Cancuén; a place both Kylie and I would come to refer to as the roach motel. Understandably, we only stayed the night.31-Sun
Our reason for heading north to Raxrujá was the Candelaria Caves. These are very sacred sites to the local Mayans. The rain was falling that morning so we wore out rain coats and hailed a shuttle.
After a little miscommunication and confusion, we arrived at the caves. The Candelaria is not lit by a diesel generator like the Lanquín caves, but rather natural light coming through windows in the walls.
This aspect made us feel like real explorers. There were tubing rides in the cave river offered by the park, but the rain and chilly weather turned us away. Later that day, trying to get a bus to Río Dulce, we took the advice from a local and went to Poptun, a town north of our destination and 5 hours down a dirt road. We had to stand most of the time and were miserable by our arrival. Luckily, the Tropical Inn was just across the street from where we got off the bus. A private room with clean sheets and no sign of roaches! Quite nice!1-Mon
By 11 AM we boarded a coach down to Río Dulce, two hours away by paved roads, on which we had to stand. The Hotel Backpackers in Río Dulce is on a dock right over the river and under the overpass.
The sounds of passing trucks and boats soothed us in our sleep. About a 40 minute walk from town is Castillo De San Felipe De Lara, a Spanish fortification built in 1652.
2-Tues
Down the road lining Lake Izabal going West, we visited Finca El Paraíso. Here a hot springs waterfall enters the cool river water.
The same biting fish we encountered at Semuc Champey were waiting for us. The springs were steaming hot, even during the mid-day sun. By contrast, downstream from where the gringos were bathing were the locals doing their laundry in the river. Later that night back at the hotel, I caught some drunk local in the dorm helping himself to money and cameras of other people staying the night, yet he took off down the road before I realized what was going on. A harsh reminder to be careful to those that lost belongings.
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