The minibus ride from Coban- Lanquin
was our shortest in 3 days, but it was rough. Very little of the road
is paved and its very narrow and mountainous. All down the 'road' you
can see evidence of landslides and fallen boulders. It takes about
2.5-3 hours, the beginning and end being gloriously paved. We were
charged Q30 per person. Oh, and, it was spectacularly scenic.
Finding out about the bus schedule was
difficult. We now know only one thing for sure: a minibus left Coban
for Lanquin at 9am from the corner of 3 Calle and 3 Avendia. Well,
maybe two things: we also know that there is a pupusa stand on the
corner at which you can buy breakfast. (Q5 per pupusa)
Just outside of Lanquin our minibus was
met with a pickup truck that was going to Semuc Champey and a
plethora of guides looking to be of assistance. In hindsight they
were helpful, although I was incredibly suspicious of everything they
said at the time. Its hard not to be. The pickup was going 'directo'
to Semuc Champey (apparently) and cost Q25pp. This is, according to
our hostel, the correct price (for tourists at least). It was raining
cats and dogs and didn't look like it was going to clear up anytime soon, so into the back of this pickup truck we begrudgingly climbed.
The 'directo' part turned out to be a lie. The road down to Semuc
Champey is insanely bad. Unpaved, slippery, muddy and at that point,
flooded. The truck bounced around like a kernel in a popcorn maker.
It was very unenjoyable. Add to this the pouring rain. We're standing
in the back of a pickup truck, jostling about, in a downpour. There
is no doubt in my mind that a drown rat was in better shape than myself and my backpack were after 5 minutes. Everything we own (aka our bags) was getting
soaked and our hands were slipping all over the wet rails as we tried
to hold on. Finally, after 40 minutes (or a lifetime) I saw a sign
that said “Semuc Champey 2kms” pointing to the right. I was very
happy to see this sign, signalling the end to this most uncomfortable
of journeys. And then we bumped right on past it, continuing on
straight. NOOO!! And so on we went, in the wrong direction, in a
torrential downpour on a road that was becoming increasingly non
existent. Another 15 minutes on and we came to an empty clearing
where we dropped off a big white bucket of something, turned around,
and continued back towards Semuc Champey. Sigh. I hope that we had
just delivered a bucket of liquid gold to a village of starving
children because, otherwise, that detour most certainly didn't
enhance my day, let alone further my endearment to Guatemala.
When you're soaked, you're soaked, I
suppose. You thankfully can't get more wet once you're drenched, and
drenched we were. Right down to our skivvies. I dreaded opening our
bags. It wasn't until we were finally dropped off at Greengos (after 1.5 hours and a whopping total of 11kms), and greeted by a smiling
English speaker that finally exhaled and smiled. It was still
raining, but we had made it and were safely in a land where we could actually communicate with people (ie, The hotel staff), hang all our wet clothes and eat some warm yummy food.
Definitely in hindsight, I would have
skipped Nebaj and Coban all together and taken a shuttle from Xela
all the way to Lanquin. Sure, it would have been long, and maybe even
involved a night in Antigua, but it would have likely been the better
option for us.
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