Onward!

On leaving Semuc Champey, Alice and Anna almost convinced me to stick with them and head to the coast, followed by Belize and then up into Mexico.  It would have been a great plan, and I could have found a real cheap flight out of Cancun.  Of course, instead of making the smart choice and following two beautiful girls to the beaches of Mexico, I made the Alex choice and hit the dusty road north towards uncertainty.  I guess my travelers' luck finally caught up with me, because I hit a string of 3 shitty towns in a row, where I'm pretty sure I was ripped off quite a few times, people were generally unhelpful, and accommodation was waaaay overpriced.

Army in Coban.  Protecting the market?

My first stop was back in Coban, where I figured on staying at the same comfy place I did on the way into Semuc for $6 a night with TV, WiFi, and a private bathroom.  Unfortunately, no one came to the door when I rang, so I was forced to try another selection from the book.  Casa D'Acuna was just down the hill, and was listed as "a near-legendary travelers' haunt".  Turns out that the building and restaurant were quite fancy (even had a doorman and white-suited waiters), but the 4 rooms they had were strangely placed right in the middle of the restaurant.  I could look out my two windows, and see people having a fancy lunch not 15 feet from my bed.  I can only assume that they could see me as well, and I'm quite sure I didn't improve the ambiance for them.

I headed out the next morning for the town of Chisec, which was small and dirty, but nearby the "stunning, jungle clad" Lagunas de Sepalau.  Supposedly three turquoise lakes ringed by jungle, perfect for swimming and relaxing.  Sounds like my kind of place, right?  Well I wasted the entire first day trying to figure out how to get to the lakes.  Everyone pointed me to a different place to wait for a bus.  The guys at the terminal said to wait on the corner, the owner of the corner store told me to wait on the highway, the drivers on the highway told me to go to the park, and the guys in the park said there was no bus.

Frustrated, the next morning I set out walking (it was only 12km), and of course, after I'd walked for about an hour, a pickup came by and I hopped in.  It dropped me off in the tiny town of Sepalau, and again, I just started walking.  As I walked down the road, I was joined by a guy named Santiago, who seemed dead-set on walking me to the lakes.  I was a little confused, and his spanish wasn't much better than mine, but we had a good, awkward, silent walk together for about 30 minutes.  When we finally arrived at the "entrance" to the lakes, I was surprised to see him pull out a set of keys and open up the gates.  Ooooohhh, why didn't he tell me he worked there!?  He pointed to a sign that said the price was $Q60 and then insisted on charging me $Q150.  I showed him the sign, confused, but he insisted.  I would have walked, but I'd spent so much time and energy to get here, I just gave in and paid ($19 instead of the $7.50 that I'm pretty sure it should have cost).

Guate's finest?

There are a lot of pictures on the internet that make these lakes look amazing, but this one, from the Guatemala tourism board (of all places) is the most accurate representation.  The first two lakes were just stagnant ponds, but good ol' Santiago tried to convince me that they were something special.  We even spent 20 minutes draining a kayak so that he could paddle me around the lake (small enough that I could throw a rock across it at it's widest point).  As we were hoisting this kayak up to drain out the water, I almost asked how much it would cost to skip the kayak tour, but Santiago seemed pretty set on it.

Anyway, after a quick 3 minute circumnavigation of the lake, I got out of the kayak and went to grab some water out of my backpack.  When I turned back around, Santiago was suddenly in his underwear staring at me.  I was at least a foot taller than him, and at least 30 years younger, so I figured I could hold my own if we were going to have an issue.  Luckily, he was just waiting to go for a swim.  Somewhat relieved, I joined him for a quick dip before moving on to the third and final lake.  The third lake turned out to be what is commonly referred to as a "field".  It was totally dry, and looked like it might have been dry for some time.  The surrounding jungle that was described in my guidebook had been completely replaced by farmland, and I told Santiago that we could call it a day.

Back in Sepalau, I waited for a bus for about 30 minutes, then figured I'd just start walking at catch one on the road.  Of course, no bus ever came, and I spent 3 hours walking back to town.  I rewarded myself with a strawberry cheesecake ice cream bar.  

The only positive memory I have from that day is a great churrasco dinner (a set plate of grilled meat, cabbage salad, refried beans, and tortillas for $2.50) in the park while a guy across the street played some panflutes.  I was almost tempted to buy one, but then I remembered this handy chart.

**Again...none of my pictures.  Thank you internet.**