Mountain Caves and Crocodile Infested Rivers

So I know I've said that every trip so far has been the best trip of my life, but I seem to have changed my mind. This weekend we went to Coban and I'm pretty sure it's the most beautiful place in the world. Hands down. The whole group didn't go, just some of us girls (11 total counting the 2 tour guides and Brittany and Amy's teacher).


We left at 4 in the morning on the shuttle of death which you couldn't even sleep in cuz the driver was crazy and the roads are awful and you're bouncing around like a frickin...bouncer...?


Anyhow we finally (after like 7 hours of jostling) got to the edge of this jungle where they warned us about the kinds of animals we might see...including something called a boob! I was excited when they talked about howler monkeys and small creatures but when they started warning us about gorrillas and pumas and poisionous snakes I got a little nervous. So I put on my water shoes (excellent for hiking...excellent for everything) and headed out into the jungle.


We hiked for like 5 miles and swang on a jungle swing...can you say Tarzan? (never seeing the scary creatures but we did hear howler monkeys and lots of birds and other unknown creatures) until we got to the campsite, all sweaty and nasty.


But it was beautiful. We swam in the lake (so clear and turquoise...unreal!) and played on the rocks.


We saw this beautiful stream leading off into the jungle and after hearing that that that's where the crocodiles go at night, we had to go! So Kala and I start swimming down the river, which is easy cuz the current's so strong. We didn't think so much about getting back.


After we were pretty far down the river and couldn't see our friends anymore, we decided it would be sweet to say you've been skinny-dipping in a crocodile infested stream, so off come the swimsuits. It's fun for a while until it starts to get dark and we're trying to get back up the stream, naked, against the strong current and not succeeding. Then we hear a man's voice yelling at us telling us that we better get out cuz this is the time that the crocodiles come out. Are you joking me? So the only way we can get out of the stream is to hold on to sticks and branches hanging out over the stream and pull ourselves upstream. The only problem is that the edges of the river is where the crocodiles are! There's no way we could have gotten out on the riverbank and walked because that's where the dangerous creatures are. After much current fighting we made it back (with our swimsuits on and all our limbs attached) and decided that we wanted to do it again at night when the crocodiles were out for sure. Just kidding. We stayed out in the lagoon from then on. It was so cool laying in a hut under mosquito netting (I'm getting used to this) and going to sleep with the jungle noises. Let me tell you jungles are not quiet at night!


So the next day we hiked back (and saw puma poop on a bridge!) and took the vehicle from hell to another place for an even cooler experience, if that's possible. We got to our hotel (more like a campsite) which was on this big beautiful river and we swung out on this rope swing into the water. So gorgeous. Then this little man came and got us to take us exploring caves! Once again the water shoes came in handy and after climbing up the mountain next to a waterfall, we followed the waterfall inside the mountain into a pitch black cave. Luckily we had candles. Not flashlights. Old fashioned hand-dipped candles. Which you can usually only hold with one hand because you're swimming with the other. Yes swimming. I wish I had pictures of it but it was too dangerous to bring a camera with, and where would we have put it. It was so amazing. We climed up into higher levels of the cave (stalagtites and stalagmites everywhere...and bats!), climbed up a waterfall using only a rope that was hanging down from above, and jumped down holes in the rock (where you couldn't see where you're going). It felt like death was always just around the corner, but not because we had a guide. It's scary cuz it's not like a commercialized tourist area, it's a raw, inside-a-Guatemalan mountain natural wonder. It was amazing. Then we got to this place where you could climb up the wall and jump off into this pool of water. The girls all started to turn around thinking that it was way too dangerous, but after I saw the guide do it, I knew it was safe. Well safe isn't really the best word. The girls are all trying to convince me out of it but I climbed up the wall (had I fallen at any point during the climb I would have landed on pointy rocks, probably to my death, or at least a serious concussion) but thank goodness I made it. Thanks to the water shoes. So I'm at the top and the girls are all praying that I'm not going to die and the man points his headlamp at some spots on the water saying "now don't land here, or here, or here, because there's big rocks...if you land here, you'll be okay. But don't hit your head on this rock up here when you jump." I was beginning to think this might not have been the best idea but it'd be worse to try to climb back. Talk about a point of no return. I calculated my jump and went for it. I hit the dark water and missed every rock! It was so beautiful. I can't describe it. I think I'm becoming addicted to adrenaline. Anyways so after much convincing, some of the other girls went too and then we swam back out of the cave (climbing down the waterfall this time). It looked so cool to look behind me and see a whole line of candles held out of the water with just the faces showing above the water. Once we got out, we tubed down the river to our hotel and spent the night there.


The next day was also amazing, although not so dangerous. We went to this place called Chamuc Champay which is all these natural mountain pools and waterfalls and stuff. Trust me these pictures don't do it justice.


First we climbed several kilometers up this mountain...seriously straight up. Like a ladder, but with rocks. I told the guide that I wanted to see some snakes. He told me that I could if I wanted to, but that every snake here is poisionous and would bite me and I would probably die. That's not so much my kind of danger. I like when death's a possibility, not a given.


Anyhow, we got to the top (best workout of my life, I didn't think I was gonna make it) and the view was unreal. Then back down again and we swam in the pools, climed the little waterfalls and jumped off cliffs into the pools. Kala and I were floating on our backs in the water and decided that when we needed to go to a happy place, this is where we'd go. We made friends with these two little boys who looked like Mowgli from the Jungle Book in their little underwear and they taught us where to jump from and they climbed this tree and shimmied down this branch over the water and dropped in. They were precious.


Then we sat by the big rushing waterfall for a while and watched where the huge waterfall goes underground...the guide said nobody knows where it goes. So I figured That wouldn't be the best place to swim. There's something about rushing water that's so powerful. Wow. I feel like there's so much left to explore there but we had to go home. The whole way home I kept thinking "I can't believe I was just in those places. I can't believe places like that exist in real life." Once again stunned by the creativity and beauty of our Lord. And his sense of humor (see the crocodile story).