So we're hoping to catch a bus.
We're trusting some people to pick us up very early in the morning as we're hanging
on the street with stray dogs.
We did that today at Samok Shempeh.
That's with the ladder.
Although we didn't have a ladder, we had a rope with some knots.
It's not good to be in the jungle in the dark.
After leaving the bustling town of Panahachel, we headed for the Ketchi Maya town of Lankin.
We see another of Guatemala's natural wonders, Samok Shempeh.
The bus ride awarded us with beautiful landscape views of endless rolling hills and mountains.
We didn't think anyone would be living in such a remote countryside, but we soon realized
most of the hills were cultivated with corn.
In the late afternoon, the farming families made their way onto the road after finishing
a day's harvesting on these steep slopes.
We arrived in Lankin, only to hitch another, more adventurous ride down to Samok Shempeh.
Our driver paused for a bit, and we witnessed a celebration with kids hitting a piñata
in the street.
Our destination was El Portal Lodge, which rests directly on the river's edge.
Be sure to bring a mosquito net, this is the jungle.
So, we are in our cabin, maybe, and Arizona is one of the most beautiful places in the
world.
We've seen creatures we didn't know exist, bugs.
As we look over here at the well-prepared Andy and Paulina, they've got these really
great mosquito nets.
Hard to see, I'm sure, but well-prepared.
We awoke early after a restless night to hike to the pools of Samok Shempeh with our guide,
J.C.
After capturing the view of the pools from the lookout deck, we began hiking again.
One of my friends was telling me that just to see that amount of water and at the pace that it is moving, it's incredible.
It was the entrance of Lutken Bay and it's very powerful salt water where it comes in. You can't go in in here.
The guys just told us that we'll make it out alive and that happens several times.
It's a beautiful, spectacular jungle track, pretty short to get here. Not very difficult, but very slippery and a lot of rocks.
We're ready to jump in the pool.
We're eating the blisters of the fish.
I feel like I'm swimming around.
The one thing about when you're going on adventures in Guatemala, when you try to compare it to home, is that nothing that we did would ever be permitted in the states.
Just how difficult or how dangerous, you have to have concrete steps with a railing in the states.
For instance here, they throw down a rope that has some knots in it and you climb up and if you fall, you're pretty much cracking your skull open and dying.
