Water and Rock

I promise not to complain any more about the rain, for the simple fact that nothing can top our most recent drenching. On the bus ride south to Coban, it poured heavily the entire time, and despite the canvas wrapped around our rooftop bags, they got soaked thoroughly. So we're just learning to be wet now. At least it's very cool, actually cold, since we're up in the mountains. Although there is always a sense of oncoming death as the bus flies through fog and rain down windy mountain roads overlooking vast jungle-shrouded panaromas, the bus rides around here are amazing and some of the highlights of our trip. Today we went to two incredible places. The first was Semuc Champey. It's basically a limestone bridge 300 m long and covered by a series of cascading pools and waterfalls. The overhanging cliffs and jungle and the shimmering pools of emerald and blue make for some fantastic swimming.Most amazing of all is the fact that a river flows right through the rock underneath these placid pools; it cuts in at the top in the most frightening display of water and fury that I have ever seen, vanishes into a foaming chasm, and reemerges turbulently further down. We also went to some nearby caves, which looked like a chapel of flowing water and ice inside with all the stalagmites and stalagtites, which dripped with water and sparkled with quartz. Deep below our path you could hear the roar of a mighty subterranean river, and beyond the few lighted rooms we went through most of the cave is unexplored. Unfortunately it was all too soon time to catch the bus back.