Semuc Champey and Lanquin

Okay so the night before we left for Lanquin we stayed at a backpackers called Los Amigos (Q150/dorm) on Isla de Flores. Great place for relaxing and we ate the best Q20 ($2.5) meal ever - a huge borrito, tostada, taco and a beer! Fed both of us. When we left for Lanquin the next day there was a misunderstanding and the hostel forgot to give us our passports back. We had to turn the shuttle bus around (wasted 20min) to get them, so now we never give our passports in.

The bus to Lanquin was nice - a tourist van. Got to Lanquin and it was a lot smaller than expected. Stayed at a Zephyr Lodge, an awesome backpackers. Very party vibey. We got to the reception and bumped into our mate Michael from Denmark that we met in Tequila. Small world! I had written him an e-mail, but hadn't sent it as I didn't have internet in Belize. Stoked to see Michael again, we had some beers to celebrate and chatted to people who are going to Tikal, telling them the ins and outs of camping in the archeological park.

Rob, Chrissie & Michael reuinited again!

We also decided to save some money so as we knew were going to be there for a few days we opted to set up our tent and camp, it was a nice spot! After setting up camp we chatted with Micheal and some other foreigners who needed advice. We also signed up for the cave exploration tour the next day which included going to the stunning pools of Semuc Champey. We played some games and headed to bed.

Our tent is the orange thing in the corner - Zephyr Lodge, Lanquin

Early the next morning we woke up and pottered around until the guide came to take us to the caving and pools. He was a nice friendly guy who cracked alot of jokes and seemed to enjoy his work, I always like going with an enthusiatic guide (since we have gone with some who are just going through the motions).So we drove for about a half hour and arrived at the first spot, the guide found some local berries and painted all of our faces with "war paint"  then we all had a chance to swing out over this big river with a swing and jump quite a high distance into the water, so far a good start!

Ready to battle the cave demons!

Chrissie mid-air about to slam the deep waters!

Next we were all given hand made candles and led to the entrace of a cave, appparently the cave had alot of religious significance to the Mayans in the area who would descend into the Earth to commune with their ancestors. So here we are at the entrance and I could tell everyone was excited about the caving. Being the brave, handsome and bold fellow I am I prompted to be in the middle of the group so if anyone was drowned from behind or attacked from in front I would have other schmucks to feed to the cave demons, hopefully filling them before they ate me (I know I am such a humanitarian).

Armed with only a Candle and our wits we bravely entered the cave.

"That's why I never walk in front" - Gary Larson

So into the cave we descended sometimes walking in water up to our thighs other times actually swimming without being able to touch the floor of the pitch black cave, we climbed up subterranean waterfalls with our candles and waded through pools, it was awesome! After a while of venturing though the caves we got to a larger cavern and the guide stopped and said if anybody was brave they could climb the limestone walls and jump into the pools from above. Obviously my rugged good looks had all the girls assuming I was going to climb and do some gnarly acrobatics jumping into the pools*. So obviously I was like "crimp", "crimp", "sloper", "lay off" and "dyno" to the top and was ready for some cave jumping deep inside the Earth. Once I had done it the other less manly members drew courage from me and too managed to get up the wall with my help and did a couple of jumps.

Cave demon is watching you!

Boldly going where no people* have been.

 Unfortunately this was as deep into the cave as our guide would take us so we all turned around and headed back out, we passed some other groups on the way out and were glad we had come in the morning before other people were there to make noise etc. Once we reached outside our guide collected what was left of our candles to recycle and then we started off walking toward our next destination, the pools of Semuc Champey!

We now walk, Into The Wild.

Along the way to the pools there was a high bridge over the river (about 10 meters high), I had heard that some people had jumped off of it, so I asked the guide if I could do it too. He went and studied the water and said he thought the river was too low but if I wanted to I could jump, as long as any broken legs etc weren't blamed on him. Challenge accepted! I shimmied over the metal bridge frame to the edge and gauged the water depth, I reckonned it was alright so I prepared to jump, amazed the other visitors stared on at this incredible show of human courage. I jumped splashed down, bent my legs and felt the river bottom below my feet, I pushed off and shot out of the water while the others aplauded me in awe*. No-one else was brave enough to do the jump but after a lot of pressure I got another bloke to jump with me, we both survived just fine...

Bridge of manhood! Seen by many conquered by few!

* may, or may not, be true