Diversión

Yesterday rocked. Seriously. We went to the Cimarrón which is basically a huge hole in the earth about two hours from where I live. There are all sorts of theories as to how it got there (meteor, aliens, prankster with a lot of expensive earth-moving equipment, etc.). At the bottom there are all these trees and supposedly a unique ecosystem, although how any one knows that, I'm not sure, because supposedly nobody's ever been to the bottom.

And what do mature people do when they see a big hole in the ground? Throw stuff down it, of course. So we threw rocks and counted how long it took for them to hit bottom (nine seconds). And listened for the sound they made. Legend has it that people who do this will then be hungry for the rest of their lives and never be able to satisfy said hunger. I was so tired I went to bed without dinner when we got back, but ate two breakfasts and had a coke float before noon today, so take that as you will.

Swimmin' in the rain
Despite a large snack at the hole, we were famished on the way back (hmmm...), and so stopped off for some caldo de pollo criollo (free range chicken soup) and a couple of frías. We then headed down to the nearby river for a swim. This is the same river that passes through Jacal (Río Azul), only a little further to the west where it's much warmer and swimmer-friendly.

No sooner had we entered the water than it started to rain. "No problem," we said. "It's been hot all day and hasn't been raining at all lately, so it will probably just sprinkle and then stop." Wrong. It wasn't the strongest Guatemalan downpour I've ever witnessed, but it was up there. But we just decided to go with it.

Erica took some shots from under the safety of a nearby bridge

About half of us, myself included, forgot to bring a change of clothes (or in my case, even a bathing suit), so when we realized it was getting late and that the last bus was about to come by, we ran up to the road sopping wet to wait for it in the on-going torrent. We got some interesting looks from the other passengers as we walked down the aisle to the very last row of seats, dripping on everyone as we passed.

We organized the trip as a farewell activity for my friend Cat who used to live nearby and wanted to come up for one final hurrah in the Huista Region. And while I'm very sad that she's finishing her service and will be leaving us, I'm glad it gave us an excuse to have this outing, which turned out to be my favorite day in Guatemala so far.

Peace out,
Kristina