Cuevas y Lagunas

Last weekend I took the most fantastic trip up north. If you take a look at a map of Guatemala, you'll see that there is a big chunk sticking up towards Mexico and next to Belize. Most of that big chunk is the department of Peten. Just under that is, among other things, the department of Alta Verapaz, where we spent the weekend. It's a beautiful, mountainous, mostly rural area which has the distinction of being home to beautiful limestone caves and deep turquoise lagoons. A friend of mine from Guatemala City was planning on a quick jaunt to see some of these caves and lagoons and asked me if I wanted to join her. We set off early Saturday morning from Guatemala City in her little sedan (which we later realized was not the most ideal mode of transportation on the back roads in need of some serious pothole management) and made it back late Monday night, just in time to catch some zzz's before heading off to work (my friend to her job as a psychiatrist and me to my work at the National Library archives).

We headed up to Coban, the largest city in Alta Verapaz, and from there to a small town called Chisec. Just north of Chisec are a group of natural/ecological tourist areas run by a community organization funded by, among other organizations, USAID. The intention of this project, from what I understand, is to give the community a good reason to preserve the natural wonders of their area while also being able to make some money off of it and to get a little further away from subsistence living. Our first stop was the entrance to the Bombil Pek cave. Unfortunately, there was no one manning the area. There was, hoever, a handwritten phone number above the door to the cabin, and we called. Apparently all the local community guides had been at a party celebrating the end of the planting and were too tired to work that day. So we headed to the Laguna Sepalau which, thankfully, was manned by a friendly gentleman. The photo to the left is a shot of the lagoon, a beautiful and extremely deep lagoon hidden down a long, winding, and dangerously bumpy gravel/dirt road. I will admit there were a few spots where we thought we might get stranded and never make it out. It was worth the trip, though. We took a kayak ride around the lagoon, a lovely way, I must admit, to spend an afternoon.

After saying farewell to our cheerful guide, we made our way to the Candelaria Caves, about a half-hour drive from the lagoon. Once again, however, our bad luck with local guides reared its head. A few women and young girls were manning the small store adjacent to the tourist cabin. Unfortunately, none of the women spoke much Spanish (and we did not speak the local Maya language, Q'eqchi'). We thought about staying at the campsite or in the cabin they had at the tourist area, but truly we were a little sketched-out by the place. Didn't really want the whole neighborhood to know a couple of folks from the capital are sleeping in a tent by the side of the road. So we called the number from the cabin at Bombil Pek, set up a meeting for the next morning and then looked for a hotel. We drove back towards Chisec, and pulled in to a place that looked like it might be a hotel. Turns out it was a hotel in construction, and the owner kindly let us stay for no charge, since the rooms weren't completely done. We helped him move some mattresses into a room and spent a lovely, relaxing (and much safer) night in the half-constructed hotel. It's going to be a nice place once it's done.

It's getting late and I've got to be heading back to the house. But I'll fill in the rest of the trip tomorrow. Next up, the trek to Bombil Pek and a journey through Sempuc Champey.