Sabado
My body has kept my routine of waking around 5:30am. It is
much easier to get out of bed here though because the sun has already risen.
Though I am a night person buy nature, I enjoy the quiet mornings for prayer. A
priest told me once you receive all the grace you need for the day during the
time you take for morning prayer, which is probably why satan tries to always
sabotage it.
Dona Luisa provided breakfast before we headed out for
Semuc. Banana bread and peanut butter will never get old! I think hiking Pecaya
last week prepared me for some of the inclines. It was such a peaceful hike!
Besides my heart beating, the only sounds were the river and some insects! It
was so surreal! I was trying to take it all in around my without losing my
footing. The pictures I had seen of Semuc really do no justice and sorry but
that's all I have to offer you as well! This really is one of the most
beautiful places on earth! We all agreed that while we could spend the day just
staring off in wonder and awe, we were all so excited for the pools! 
Again no words can explain the beauty of these aqua pools
contained within a limestone bridge on top of a raging river. My brain still cannot
comprehend that amazing phenomenon! I can't explain the anticipation and
excitement I had to jump into the first pool! I felt like a mermaid in a
lagoon:) Even the regret of not having brought a mask & snorkel could not
take anything away from this experience. We slid from pool to pool over a
series of natural water slides! We tried to strategize the best way to slide
down in order to avoid rocks, but once you got going there was no controlling
it! Gracias a Dios we all made it safe! A few cuts to practice good
infection-prevention on. (I have already implemented the infection- prevention
protocol so that it is well-ingrained once prior to arrival at the Farm. hehe)
Once we made it down to the last pool, it was about lunch
time and the majority vote was to head back for lunch. (Anyone that knows me,
knows I could stay in the water...forever...no not really, it wasn't the ocean... there were no waves:)
*On a side note, one day after a break, or pausa as they
call it, my teacher asked me how I was feeling. Sometimes you just need to
switch it up so I told her, "me siento seca" or I feel dry. She
laughed and named me sirenita (little mermaid). I told sorry but it's not
original. My mom gave me that name long ago:)
I should have been full from a bread-filled breakfast but
around mediodia my body was letting me know she was hungry. We decided we
needed something a bit more substantial for lunch. I don't know if you are one
of those people or if you just happen to know one, that when they find
something they enjoy on the menu, they stick with it, because they have a fear
of trying something new and having food envy . I'm not one of those, I order
chicken-fingers at every meal:) agggg Agustin ummmm. sorry just clearing the
throat, but yes I played it safe and ordered the nachos again. Despite knowing
that I had delicious nachos coming we all couldn't hold back from another slice
of Dona Luisa's! She lasted almost all weekend! Did we mention we had 2 loaves
for 5 people. (We're going to work on the food discipline thing...starting at
the Farm:) To my surprise, but not really, everyone ordered nachos!
Definitely felt the food coma after lunch but Tiffany,
Patrick, and I headed for the caves! We heard many things about these caves;
one time as it started raining they flooded and they had to rescue people out
of them, but you don't really need to know how to swim to go through them, and
above all as long as you have this candle they give you, you're good. "So
what if I just brought a flashlight?" (me)
"No, it takes away
from the ambiance."
"Well what if
while we're doing all this climbing I can't hold it?" (me)
"The guide holds
it for you."
"Ok, well then
how do I see? the flashlight makes a lot of sense to me."
"No, the candle
is better. It's all good if you have your candle."
Ok I thought well skills
in order to actually go on this adventure I'm just have to turn off my critical
thinking skills and better judgment. (Not recommended but sometimes needed in
order to enjoy experiences more fully:)
Thankfully the fact that a huge Guatemalan family was going
with us gave us reassurance. They had older kids in their group and one guy
with his broken arm in a plastic bag! The water was freezing as we headed into
the cave. You could hear bats as we entered. The water got deeper as we
continued. I think we were all just focused on I was in about waste-high water
for about 75% of the time. There was one point I slipped off the rock and went
completely under. All I could think about was brain-eating bacteria. ( I think
I blew out my nose and spit for a good 5 min after that.) Tiffany also took a
decent spill, in which when she resurfaced I strongly advised or rather
mandatoed (spanglish translation for command:), "You spit that water
out!" We were crawling in, up, down, and just swimming through these
amazing caverns! Our candles went out at least a dozen times along the way, and
we would frantically paddle to the closest flame to re-ignite, which is quite
difficult while wadding water and keeping up with the group, especially if your
wick went under. At one point we came to a waterfall. I was enjoying just
taking it in, when our guide, Rojo (insane doesn't begin to describe this
Guatemalan), showed us to the shadiest ladder I've ever seen, to climb
basically up through it. I was so focused on keeping up (because when you
turned around it was just pitch black) that I didn't bother comprehending how I
was going to accomplish this. In retrospect climbing up was way easier than
trying to climb back down. I believe the focus on keeping our candle lit
prevented the anxiety/reality of all the near-death experiences! It was
probably the scariest/most amazing thing I've ever done in my life. Gracias a
Dios! We made it! We have the candle stubs to prove it. The last stretch was a
short tube down the river, but first a giant tree swing! Those will never get
old! After a couple rides each we all headed into the river, which surprisingly
felt much colder than the caves. The Guatemalan family (about 20 people) all
linked tubes! haha. The three of us went solo! As we gazed at the beautiful
landscape on either side we didn't realize the strength of the current. There
were a few panic moments as we flailed to steer ourselves around some rocks.
haha. It's all good. At one point as we
moseyed down the river Tiffany attempted to correct Pat's use of the term
literally. (If I haven't mentioned before when Tiffany uses this term it is
always in complete incorrect context. We tried to explain that there was a word
for that, figuratively, haha, but she is quite convinced.) A bunch of laughs
and a couple of selfies later we finished up our river trip and walked our
tubes back up to the waterfall. A complete day of fun, but we were tired, wet
and hungry. We arrived back just in time to catch a ride back to the nearby
city of Lanquin to make sunday's departure
easier. 
Every mode of transportation is an adventure here. We are
really missing out in the States with our mundane solo commutes! This is
another one of those experiences that I just really can't put into words as I
think my missionary family would agree! haha. I don't even know where to begin. Just imagine a bunch of foreigners singing Mulan at the top of our lungs, mind you, only one person actually knew all the words, as were all hanging on/sitting on top of each other in the back of a pick up in the pitch black outside over unpaved roads and then add a full on thunderstorm. I was overjoyed when we arrived at the hotel!
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