Chichi to Coban

Chichi to Coban

26/02/2010

15 32 01 N 89 57 27 W

Don is still recovering - oh dear probably not the best idea we have had so far !!!  We caught the first shuttle bus at 8am.  It was a 1/2hr ride from Chichi to Quiche.  Our next shuttle bus ride was to Uspantan - a 2hr ride squashed in a minivan designed to seat 12 people but we had 24 - all sitting on top of each other and with a bus driver who obviously passed his kamikaze bus drivers exam with honors!!  The bus hustlers cannot resist a person standing on the side of the road - it is like honey to bees - they have to stop and convince the person that they need to travel to wherever the bus is heading.  At times the bus hustler had to ride standing on the back bumper and hanging onto the tiny ladder leading to the roof as he simply could not fit in the passenger door.  One fellow climbed aboard with his chainsaw and his load of wood was thrown up on the roof - it sounded as though it was coming back through to us.  

We were horrified to see one shuttle bus full of passengers with a totally flat tire in the middle of nowhere!  A short time later we pulled into a tiny mountain town and our front wheel was removed - I didn't see the brake pad come out but did watch the new one go in - I wonder if that is a cost saving - only put them in when in needing to go downhill !!!  

Before we knew it we were being shoe horned into another minvan for the leg from Uspantan to Coban - the bus was a wreck - rusty seat springs popping out everywhere - a sliding door that did not slide except to jump off its track - the bus crawled everywhere exactly opposite to the usual break-neck speed of these buses.  The driver used the gears to go down hill - and I mean really down hill - for miles and miles - the engine screamed - but not quite as loud as the diff when going up hill, which drowned out any music that was playing and alerted the sun baking dogs to our imminent arrival.  That trip was another 2.5hrs and Don was a squashed mess by the time we arrived.  Too tired to catch another bus for yet another 2 hrs we booked into a hostel in Coban - a very busy city which is not somewhere travelers would normally stop - there is nothing here that would appeal to a tourist.

Semuc Champey, Lanquin Cave Coban

27/02/2010

A large portion of the country has been logged and the result is a big problem with landslides.  Every a few kilometers you pass yet another small landslide that is being cleared by locals.  If a large rock the size of a small car tumbles down it is left where it landed (usually on the road) and painted white - everyone then goes around it.  One section of the road had been completely obliterated by a massive landslide that appeared to be about a kilometer wide. We had to take a recently bulldozed only 1 lane wide, extremely rough, very steep and mostly very slippery loose rock and dusty limestone. It would have been treacherous if it had been wet.

We decided it would be easier to take the day-tour bus tour to Semuc Champey and Lanquin cave. As these sites are quite isolated it is more difficult to get to on your own. This had the advantage of a guaranteed seat to onesself and a local guide to explain the cultural significances which is always more interesting than just reading it from the travel book. Once again the road there was rough and slow. Semuc Champey is along the Rio Cahabon and is now a  National Park, which is particularly beautiful. The site is famous for its great natural limestone bridge 300m long on top of which is a stepped series of pools with cool turquoise water. We hiked up the valley wall to a spectacular lookout and then enjoyed some time swimming in the clear cool waters on descent. 

A short drive then to Lanquin cave. The cave has many large caverns and is quite well lit but very slippery and being a bat cave a bit stinky. The cave was very important and sacred in the Mayan culture. It can be explored for miles for the brave and non-claustrophobic. Remarkably a substantial river flows beneath the cave though you would not know whilst inside. The water gushes in torrents just below the cave entrance where its possible to go tubing - that would have been fun.