The Adventure Continues...

So when we left off last time the hero of our story was wading through sewage and trying to get the hell out of Coban. After two hours of searching the city we found a bus willing to make the drive to Lanquin (we were told no by the fist three we asked, as the road was flooded). Rapidly gathering our things Nir and I raced to the bus and set out for Lanquin hoping everything would be O.K. Of course it wasn´t. The road out of town was flooded so we had to take a weird detour that added about an hour to the trip. After that we hit two other crossings and spent about 45 minutes at each one while the driver figured out what to do. Eventually he crossed both, though after the first one the bus died and would not start for almost 20 minutes. After the second one we had to get off the bus, ford a third crossing that was to deep to cross in the bus, and then get on another bus that had been stuck on the other side. We arrived in Lanquin after 4.5 hours of travel (the trip usually takes just under two), and went directly to El Retiro. The place was packed with travelers who had been unable to leave, and because we were the only two travelers to make it to Lanquin they had two beds still available! The night was spent at the bar with fellow travelers drinking beer and playing cards.

According to some of the locals this is the worst flooding in over 15 years. Semuc Champey is flooded, and even though I am here until Thursday it does not look like I will be able to go visit what I hear is the most beautiful place in Guatemala. I may have to come back after my language schools, which is where I am headed after this. Though from what I have heard I am going to have quite a difficult time studying in San Pedro, so I may take a few days to hang out before I devote myself to studying full time. I am quite anxious to start the schools, and am already amazed at how quickly my Spanish is improving. At this rate I will be fluent in a month!!!

I also have some unfortunate news to report. The night of the flooding 6 people died in Coban. Sorry to leave on such a grim note. I have been having trouble dealing with the fact that people were dying while I was just taking pictures and having an adventure. Sadly, none of the other travelers seem to give a damn about this and that is also bothering me.

Hasta la vista