Coban, Semuc Champey and Kan'ba

To get to Coban it took me about 7 hours, 1 chicken bus and 2 collettivos. One of those minibus was so full, that I had to stand for about 30 minutes, with my body squished against other two girls. Just to make understand the situation : in a minibus with 3 rows of seats in the back where usually only 9 people should sit, we were 20, plus our hand bags (the big ones where on the roof, with some animals (chickens and ducks) and boxes of vegetables). No place was unused, even the external part of the minibus was place for 3 people grabbed to everything that allowed them not to fall. Describing it, it seems worst than what it really was, probably I just got used to it that it seems to me a normal trip. But then I remember the old times when I had to take every day the train to Milan, when we always complained about travelling like chickens because the train was too crowded and people had to stand for more than one hour before getting to Milan... People here don't complain, they smile to each other, they help each other to find a little space and even if the trip is long and uncomfortable, no one seems bothered. Here this is the normality. 

Coban is not a special city, but it has a great location, just in the middle of different parks and natural attractions. I rested here one day, before heading to Semuc Champey.
Searching in the Internet I found a very beautiful hostel, immersed in the nature, for a very low rate. I wrote to the owner to reserve an hammock (yes, I love sleeping in a hammock) and he asked me to convince someone else to come to the hostel, promising me a free beer. You can never say no to a free beer, so once I got to the collettivo I tried to convince an English/Ecuadorian guy to come to my hostel. I wasn't that lucky, because he already had a reservation in my same hostel. So we tried successfully to convince another guy, a Mexican/American, to come with us. So, we arrived to the hostel, we shared our free 1L beer and we spent few days together. The hostel was beautiful, located next to the river. It was so hot that we jumped immediately into the river with tubes supplied by the hostel (see pictures to understand what is a tube) floating here and there, transported by the stream. That was really fun, even if I hit some rocks and my butt is still hurting!
The second day we walked to Semuc Champey. This is one of the most beautiful places in Guatemala, even if it's not very known in other countries. Semuc is a complex of 7 natural pools and many waterfalls. The water in the pools is green/blue and very calm. But once you get to the first pool (the lowest one), you can see a brown river coming out with a strong stream. You don't really understand where this water is coming from, till when you get to the last pool (the highest one). Here you can see a big brown river, Rio Cahabon, disappearing underground with its strong stream. This water sees again the light only after passing under all the 7 pools. The spectacle is impressive. This is a very unique place in the world. We walked up to the mirador to have a complete view of Semuc Champey. A little paradise in a wonderful country.
Most of the tourists come to Semuc Champey with a guided tour, so they arrive with a minibus directly to entrance of the park, missing out one of the highlights of this day. Me and my new two friends decided to get to the park by foot. The path is so beautiful that it would have been a crime not to walk it. On the way we met a group of 4 children (4-8 years old) selling homemade chocolate. They were so cute, we couldn't resist. So we bought some chocolate from them, one of the best one I've ever eaten. Their mums prepare it adding to pure chocolate some sugar and some flavours: vanilla, cinnamon, milk or cardamom. Few metres after, other children run to us, trying to sell us other chocolate. We told them we already bought chocolate and we couldn't buy more. They asked us our names, we talked for a while, we took some pictures together. Sometimes when a truck with some tourists arrived, they started running after them, trying to sell chocolate. We proceeded on our way and another little girl came with her bag full of chocolate, so I told her I would buy one on my way back.
Some hours later, when we were coming back to the hostel, we met again the same children. They remembered our names and they asked us to buy some chocolate. We already ate everything we bought before, so I decided to buy some. One of the children offered me to buy 2 chocolates for 5 Quetzales. After paying him, another very cute child came and I bought one chocolate from him, this time for the "regular" price : one chocolate for 5 Quetzales. At this point the first child understood he didn't make a good deal (or better, he complain with his friend telling him that he should give me another chocolate for the same price). So I talked to them and I gave back to the first child one of the chocolate I bought. Then we played all together for a while with two little balls made with mud, with their parents looking at us and smiling. Time to say goodbye arrived, but 100 metres after another child run to me, ignoring my friends. She recognised me and immediately reminded me I promised her to buy some chocolate on my way back. And so I did (the morning after we had a very sweet breakfast).
The sun was very hot, it was very humid and all of us were sweating , drops were just running down from every part of our bodies. We were almost running out of water, when we saw some coconut trees next to a house. We asked to this family if they could sell us couple of coconuts. Probably they don't usually sell coconuts, but they were more than happy to help us and to earn some money. The man took down the coconuts and in few minutes he opened them for us. They looked very happy.
Sometimes we don't even realise how much we can help local people while travelling. Some tourists don't buy chocolate from these children, because they don't trust local food or because they believe that they are promoting children work. You are also brought to think that their mum's send these children to sell chocolate to tourists because they are so cute that it's very difficult to resist. All of this is true, but here we are not in a modern country and the prospective change completely. Buying this chocolate from the children means a lot to them, a little income that help them to live. The same for the family that sold us the coconuts: we got something good to drink and eat, they earned some money and for them this means a lot.
Unfortunately, I saw many times tourists eating at restaurants instead of comedores (little fast food run by locals), travelling in touristic buses instead taking a collettivo, sleeping in fancy hostel owned by foreigners instead of taking a room in a hospedaje familiare (local hostel where at the same price of a dorm bed in a big hostel, you can get a single room. In this moment I am myself giving a bad example: the beautiful hostel where I'm staying is run by an American ) or buying Hershey chocolate instead of homemade chocolate.
I wish that more and more tourists that spend their holidays in these beautiful countries, start to really appreciate these people and try in their simple way to help these people to have a good life in their own land.

Now a little parenthesis for my Israeli friends.
Yesterday I was talking with a local guy working in this hostel and he was telling me that he learned some Hebrew and that for him it was quite easy. Then he explained me that Hebrew and K'iche' (the local language) have many words in common, even if they were spoken in antiquity in very distant parts of the world . For example :
שם = fire
פא = moon
אני =who is this
מסטול = we


Today is one of those days it will be impossible to forget. After the wonderful day a Samuc Champey, today I visited another amazing place: Kan'ba, a cave next to Semuc. We got lucky enough and a group of people that booked this tour didn't show up, so me and my Mexican friend had a private tour with our guide. We lighted candles and entered into the cave, making our first steps inside the water. Just few metres ahead, the water was too high and we had to swim (always keeping the candle outside the water). We reached some rocks, we walked against the stream holding a rope, the we arrived to a big underground waterfall, we passed through it, we climbed some rocks or stairs to get further inside the cave. No other lights in the cave beside our candles and one torch. We saw some bats, but they weren't very interested in us. We went through the cave for about 45 minutes, walking, swimming, grabbing ropes till when we got to a pool. At this point our guide asked us if we were brave enough to climb some rocks and jump inside the pool in the darkness. Of course we couldn't refuse. I was the first one: once I got about 3-4 metres high it took me few seconds before I found the courage to jump, but once I did it, I had lot of fun. We enjoyed the pool for a while before heading to the exit of the cave. Once we got near it, two groups of 20 tourists each, began their tour . We immediately realised how lucky we were to be alone in the cave. Too many people down there ruined completely the atmosphere: too much talking, shouting, too much light. Being only the 3 of us made this experience more intimate and unique.
Maya people are strictly connected with the underground world. They're used to practice their religious ritual in caves, where the have a strongest connection with their divinities.

As I just said, Kan'Ba is next to Semuc, so on our way we met again the children that tried again to sell us chocolate. It was so funny because they saw us in the distance and run to us shouting "Emanuela Emanuela, chocolates chocolates "(I was a good client! ) . We spent some time with all those children, talking, playing, singing and eating chocolate. Sometimes the children, all together, run to some new tourists to sell some chocolate, then the came back to us. They started singing a song and I was quite amazed because I could recognise some Hebrew words. But the children told me that the song was in K'iche. I asked them to sing again the song, but this time slower. That was definitely Hebrew! Then one of the children explained me they learned this song from some Israeli tourists. They taught us the song and few minutes later me and the Mexican were singing along with the children. Then they surprised us speaking English (even the youngest ones), learned from the tourists.
We had lot of fun with them, they were so cute and smart. They brought to these couple of days in Semuc lot of joy.

The hostel 

Semuc Champey