Staring death in the face

i love Guatemala. I have a strange rash on my legs that look like leprosy and I´ve been told its probably bed bugs, and my stomach never feels quite right, and its always either really hot or really cold but...I love Guatemala, I just can´t explain it. I have met so many awesome people along the way-both locals and fellow travellers-and i just feel so privileged to be among such an amazing culture that I don´t really have time to do anything but absorb every opportunity that is given to me, which I think has so far lead to me becoming a stronger person.

For example, about a week ago, we ventured out to a small town called Semuc Champey where, once again, my intense and uncontrollable fear of climbing up things and jumping off rocks was completely irrelevant to the guides leading the trek. Following a hefty hike up and down a huge mountain, we were taken to the beginning of a cave and given candles. Because I was too cheap and too aesthetically involved in myself to by those strap on sandals, known to most old men and hippy women as Tivas, I had to trade my rainbows for some tennis shoes that were completely missing half the sole, about 3 sizes too big and held together by a shoe lace. They said that my sandals would fly off in the cave, which probably really should have been an indicator as to what I was about to get myself into. So, with nothing but a candle and wearing my little green bikini and oversized tennis shoes, we began to venture into the cave. At first, we were about calf high in water and our biggest concern was avoiding flying bats, but all too quickly, things got bad....really bad. A waterfall in the distance caused the current to begin to pick up and the water level got higher and higher, which caused a predicament for someone like myself, who on a good day is a little over 5 feet tall. Also, I was blessed with the ability to run, but absolutely no desire to swim more than what it takes to cool me down after a long day of tanning. So add that together, along with the fact that my tennis shoes were acting as 10 pound weights on my feet, and subtract one arm (because it was pitch dark and the only way to see was to keep your candle above water and hope it didn´t get splashed) and you can see that i had myself a terrible situation. And to add to that, the guides seem to get some kind of sick pleasure out of explaining the bare minimum of what we were about to do, in the fastest spanish possible, over the extremely loud and echo-y noise of water currents , to the first 5 people in a group of 20 and watching all of us try to not die as we climbed over rocks and swam through small holes and God knows what else. It was at the point that I had about enough that we approached the mother of all waterfalls that he turned to me and said (in spanish)

¨Chica, you are going to grab that make shift rope that is being sustained by a small rock out yonder and hoist yourself up against the force of an extremely strong waterfall while not being able to breathe or see anything. Also, you can´t see what is on the other side becasue it will be dark and your candle will be soaked and useless. And after that, you are going to feel for a worm hole in the wall and then slide down to the other side, but stay to the left or else you will fall into an abyss of the waterfall - Ready, set, go!¨

okay, I wish his description was the detailed, but really it was like ¨chica, follow me and hold on tight, okay!!¨

Needless to say, we all made it out alive and daylight has never looked so amazing.

After that, I jumped off a tall bridge into the river and also off a swing, you know how you did it in third grade where you would land in sand, except I had to time it so I didn´t fall into rocks. This is what Travellers insurance is for, right??

And now that I´m ranting about how cool I am, I am going to continue with saying that two days ago I climbed up a volcano and stared death in the face as I peered into smouldering hot lava, just so that I could roast the most perfect marshmallows and hot dog weenie on a long stick that was given to by some locals. Can you say, AMAZING??? Man, I am so fired up and I want everyone to come to Guatemala. I just love it, love it, love it and I can´t wait to see what the rest of Central America is like. Right now, we are in a little hippy lake town called San Pedro and we are going to hang out here for a few days until our amazing English friend Steve, who we met in Belize meets up with us, and then we are off to explore El Salvador. We celebreated Steve´s 300th day traveling last week and our group has not been the same since he left us (or is it maybe that among 4 girls, we need some testosterone to balance it all out?) Anyways, we have heard some shady stories about El Salvador so it will be good to have a man around.

Alright, well I am going to go get some dinner.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMY AND GOOD LUCK ON YOUR FIRST DAY OF HAVING A REAL JOB!!!! (well, tomorrow anyways!!) I am proud of you!!