Coban/Semuc Champay

Saturday morning, Ryan and I headed to Copan with our Guatemalan friend Laura on the nice air conditioned bus (which was freezing and the driver maniacal.) The 4 hour bus ride to Coban seemed to take longer due to my motion sickness, but we arrived without anyone throwing up. Once in Coban we proceeded to pick up our rental car equipped with our own personal chauffuer (Samuel), compliments of Laura. Thanks! After getting our ride, we went to eat some lunch at a nice restaurante that was playing one of the best compilations of music I have ever heard.

After lunch we went to buy some dulces tipicos downtown. Those coffee candies were out of this world!!! Our next stop was the main church in town located on top of a hill overlooking the entire city. We walked up the hill and looked around the church for a while and then headed to find a place to stay. We ended up going outside of Coban to some town i dont remember the name of and visiting one of Laura's friends (Rudy). We talked for the rest of the night en solo espanol which was quite difficult at times I must say, but it was a great time, none the less. We also became well informed about the cardamon seed which Rudy is very knowledgeable about. Did you know there are large amounts of cardamom in Guatemala? I didnt!! Anyway we saw Rudy's factory where they process the cardamom seeds and then ship them to companies. Rudy was kind enough to let us stay at his home for the night.

The next morning we woke up at the crack of dawn and began the long, winding, bumpy journey to Semuc Champay with our driver Samuel. That guy loved speeding up and slowing down, I tell you what! I barely made it to Semuc with everything still in my stomach. Once there we stopped and had breakfast with what looked like a bunch of German gypsies and hippy gringos who hadn't showered in a week. After breakfast we entered Semuc Champay park and walked around taking pictures and gazing at the beautiful scenery. We also took a hike up to the mirador in the park for a birds eye view of the surrounding area, which was incredible. This concluded our time in Semuc and we headed back to Coban stopping at some caves where we tried to pass as Guatemalans (unsuccessfully), in order to save a few Q's. 30 quetzales, wth!!! I look like a Juan Aguilera!! We arrived back in Coban in time to catch the bus back to Guate.