Guatemala´s Highlands

So our days in San Pedro were pretty much all about, Great Friends (we had a cool group of 8 amigos from Antigua), Budha Bar,

Zoo-La, great Indian, Asian & Middle Eastern Food,

Partying @ Freedom Bar, swimming and suntanning. We ended up there for about 6 nights I think, which is way longer than intended but it is a place where you can easily get trapped. Dave & I did manage to escape on our last full day there however for a walk (which ended up as hitch) around to San Marcos, stopping of at this great little Mirador for some fantastic views of the lake. San Marcos was really beautiful, with crystal clear water and great viewsand we had a great day checking out some of the town's fine bars and restaurants before hitching a ride home and spending 1 last night in Freedom.

We were up early the next morning to head back to Antigua for Lilla's last night in Latin America before she took off to London a little early to start a serious life again. It was just the four of us in the end (Lil, Dave, Johnny Boy & I), but as what has now become the standard, John couldn't quite make it out of bed in time for the early bus and rocked into Antigua some 8 hours later. We were back at the BC for our final night and although we had plans to hit up the BVSC again, Lil & I opted for a nice romantic dinner just the 2 of us and a great bottle of champagne before joing the rest of the crew at the local Thursday night hotspot, which pretty much ended in all the shenanigans that San Pedro offered.

I saw Lilla off at the airport the following morning very early before making my way towards Lanquin & Semuc Champey. The boys were supposedly on my tail, but I had a hunch that they were going to be atleast a day behind, so after almost 12 hours in transport, I pulled the chair to the river, jumped in for a swim and grabbed a cerveza to sooth my thirst. I spent the next morning also by that river, awaiting the arrival of my amigos before Dave rolled in at about 1:30 that afternoon, John last seen drinking Sambuca at 1 the afternoon priror, still sleepless. I introduced him to the shed and we grabbed some lunch and a few rounds of Uno before trying to hit the caves in Lanquin without enough people, which just meant more cards and lounging.

The shed (a hammock filled, open walled, tin room which was our abode at El Retiro) got us up quite early with some nasty sun light shining straight into our eyes, but El Retiro offered enough of nothing to do in the morning to keep us occupied whilst we awaited old Johnny boy to arrive. He hadn't showed by cave time, but this time there was enough people so we headed there to check the cool formations & bats, before inner tubing down the river back to El Retiro and to our complete surprise (we had pretty much given up on him), John was actually there awaiting! Some dinner and a few not so happy hour specials and off to bed, ready for another big day in Semuc Champey.

We shot off at 9, hoarded like cattle in the back of a pick-up and after 30 minutes of gruelling uncomfortableness finally arrived. We hit the Miradoe first for some great views of the river and pools before shooting down to the pools for a dip or 2, some lunch and some further refreshing in the amazingly turquoise, beautiful waters. Just after lunch time we hit the infamous SC Caves, a little crazier than the caves in Lanquin, you have to swim through a lot of it, with a candle in your hand to lead the way and nothing to hang on to. It wasn't too long until John gave up on the whole candle idea and just tried to keep his head above water. There were some jumps, slides and climbs, but we had plenty of fun, then we headed out to the bridge that runs over the main river for some 9-11m tumbles!

Us and some Vikings headed out for some dinner last night in town (we got over El Retiro's pricey vegi options), before heading home for some more hysterical shithead and an earlyish nights sleep before our trip Tikal way this morning. Stuck in Coban with not a hell of a lot to do at the moment but wait for our bus, John actually made it up and left with us on time this morning, also seems as if he will be joining us in Belize and Mexico, loose........

Photos not co-operating again (surprise) but will get there soon