Walk to Semuc Champey

Yesterday I walked to Semuc Champey with my compact Canon and GPS. I strolled through Lanquin and hit the 9km mark. After a mile and a half of uphill climbing and an ascent of between 900 and 1000 feet (my GPS switched off a couple of times and failed to record part of the trek) I reached the 7km marker. The balance of the trek to Semuc was primarily downhill. The guys at a lodge were kind enough to refill my one liter water bottle on my return trip. By the time I got back to El Retiro I had logged over 15 miles and over 3,000 feet of ascent but still, I felt unjustifiably tired. Many of the people at El Retiro, guests and staffed commented on my walk as though it were an accomplishment a couple of the employees kind of smirked and said I looked very tired while walking back.

This morning I arranged to take a tour back to Semuc to go see the caves. After I hopped into the back of the pickup truck with the rest of the tour group I was told by the driver that I needed to pay. I informed him that I had booked through El Retiro, where I was putting it on my tab as I was out of cash (I am going to pay my tab with a credit card as there is no ATM in this town). That didn't work for him so I got out of the truck and walked the several hundred yards back to El Retiro. The WIFI was still down but the computers were up. One had a defective keyboard, so it was available. I spend my time typing the 'a' character as ALT-097 and managed to get on and kill a little time. The DJ who wants to swap music with me told me that he could have gotten me on the tour if he had known. I would have thought that El Retiro would have taken care of it. None the less I guess I am done here, I have seen plenty of caves. I leave tomorrow at 8:00 AM for Antigua if things go according to plan. A lovely day to hang around and do not a lot.