Nikkie's Travel Blog: Goodbye Guatemala.....Hello Costa Rica!

Hi friends and family,

Another stamp in my passport and I've spent a couple of weeks in Costa Rica!

Before I get onto here, let me update you on my week travelling in Guatemala.

I left San Andres and Spanish School on a Saturday and got a bus down to Lanquin. The bus ride was long, about 7 hours. We stopped off at Coban for lunch and I got sooo excited when I saw the Chinese takeaway. After 3 weeks of pretty bland food, the chicken fried rice I had tasted out of this world! I arrived at Lanquin in late afternoon and checked into this really cool hostel called El Retiro, right on the river with little thatched cabanas for rooms. Lanquin is 10kms away from Semuc Champey, which is in a valley with steep walls, surrounded by tropical humid forest. There is a 300m long limestone bridge, on top of which there are several natural pools of different sizes, filled with crystalline mountain spring water. The pools are 3-14 ft. deep. Underneath the bridge is the Cahabón River. At the end of the bridge, the water from the pools falls rejoining the river, forming a 40ft waterfall. At Semuc Champey we went caving by candlelight, went tubing down the river and then went and visited the pools. First a few of us climbed to the viewpoint which was well worth the sweat as you can see.

(El Retiro)

(The ride to Semuc Champey)

(Semuc Champey)

ter we went and kicked back in the pools before climbing down under the pools at the point where the waterfall is and jumped into the river. The power of the water was amazing and we had to swim really hard to break free of the current.

(Relaxing in the pools)

I really liked Semuc Champey and Lanquin and El Retiro hostel so much that when the manager of the bar at the hostel said he was looking for a girl to work the bar for a month I was extremely tempted. I stayed on another day to see if I could move around my plans to stay but it meant missing out of the Sloth experience so instead I spent a relaxing day sunbathing, tubing on the river and visiting the local caves before leaving the following day. If I get the opportunity I will definately return and have the guys email address to see if a job is waiting for me.

Next on my list was Lake Atitlan but the journey was long so I broke it up with a night in Antigua. Lake Atitlan is surrounded by 3 volcanos so was the perfect setting for a bit of R&R. After the bus I took the river boat and headed over to San Pedro, a village on the lakeside. It certainly lived up to it's hippy reputation and the vibe was chilled during the day and party at night. I relaxed here and visited San Marco, took a horse trek around the lake and enjoyed the tranquility.

(The boat taxi to San Pedro on Lake Atitlan)

Back in Antigua I booked onto a Volcano hike to visit Volcan Pacaya, the most active volcano in Guatemala. I chose the evening trek to get the best view of the lava. The hike took about 1.5 hours and was mainly up through volcanic ash. The last 15 minutes was across sharp jagged rocks and volcanic ash, all the colour of slate. We were able to walk right up to the lava flow which was very slow and rocky. Every now and then there would be shouts of warning when glowing rocks tumbled down the leading edge. It was amazing to get so close, although I was one of the ones who got a warning and moved out of the way of a rolling rock just in time. If you look behind me you can see it falling.

(Volcano Pacaya)

What a way to finish Guatemala! The next day I travelled to the airport and flew into San Jose in Costa Rica. I didn't stay there long, instead getting straight on the bus to Cahuita on the Caribean cost to spend a couple of days before starting at the Sloth Sanctuary.

(The kittens, Hero and Tiger)

Cahuita was not what I was expecting. The vibe was very Carribean and Reggie and dreadlocks are very popular. There is a mix of indigenous people and people from the Carribean. The food here is really good, I especially like the spicy coconut shrimp dishes. I stayed a few days and caught up with emails, washing but not enough sun unfortunately.

(The Beach at Cahuita)

(Me and Taz the Sloth)

Two weeks ago I started at the Sloth Sanctuary. The place is much bigger than I was expecting and has a really nice setting next to a lagoon. I am staying in a house for volunteers which is pretty good but is unfortunately very close to a busy road. My day starts pretty early and if the cockerel doesn't wake me at around 3am then the Howler monkeys do at around 5am. I start work at 6am mucking out the adult sloths and preparing their breakfast. At 8am I return to the house and have an hour for breakfast myself. I do a variety of things during the rest of the day including raking leaves, preparing vegetables for the afternoon feed, helping with the tours, exercising the babies etc. I am also building a database to store information about all of the sloths. After the afternoon feed we finish about 3pm so we still have time to go into Cahuita for a bit of sunbathing and dinner. Yesterday we took canoes out on the lagoon which was fun and we paddled down to the beach.