We woke up at 7, although Amber had woken up an hour and a half earlier. We got dressed and went down to the restaurant where we said goodbye to Erika and Felippo. Felippo didn’t finish all his plantanos, so he gave them to us. We ordered breakfast and read/wrote while we waited for it to arrive. We shared two plates of eggs with plantains, beans, and toast. During breakfast, the couple from New Zealand, Alex and Paul, arrived and we talked with them. We were going to visit the cave of K’an Ba at 9:30, so we still had some time to kill before we went. For this reason, we read/wrote in the restaurant and the cabin before going. We went with Hugo, Alex, and Paul. When we arrived, there was a huge group of people waiting to enter. I was disappointed that it appeared that we were going to be part of such a big group. However, Hugo presented us to our guide, Carlos, and he was the guide for only the five of us! The cave is really amazing. In order to enter the cave, all you need is a candle and rope tied around your flip flops to make sure they don’t fall off. This would not be allowed in the U.S. We didn’t even have to sign a waiver; there was just a sign that warned of entering the cave at your own risk. The level of the water was higher than the day before due to the rain. We had to swim with our candles above the water, like I had the year before. Amber had been there four years ago. During one part, we had to cross under a furious waterfall. I went first. I could not see what I was doing or even where I was going. All I could see was the river pounding over the waterfall. I gripped my candle (that had gone out from all the water), held onto Carlos’ hand, and blindly followed him under the rushing water. It was a little scary, but I completely trusted Carlos. We all made it safely across, and after climbing a ladder, we relit our candles. The big group was in front of us, and because of this, we had to extinguish our candles (to save them for later) and wait for the group to advance. There were four pools that we had to swim across. Because it was dark and you couldn’t see through the water, once in a while, we would stub our toes on a rock. The next day, we could see bruises on our legs where they had collided with underwater rocks. After we had climbed a ladder, we had to grab onto a rope and walk across walks that were submerged in the rushing river. Carlos found some black ashes that were on a rock and made a cross on each of our foreheads that looked like a cross from Ash Wednesday. Finally we passed the other group that was jumping off a high rock and we went deeper into the cave into a big room with rock formations. One of the formations looked like a hat and because of this was called El Sombrero. When the big group caught up to us in the big room, the room was illuminated by all the candles. Their guide secretly climbed up on a high rock. Then he got our attention and jumped off. When the large group got ready to leave, Carlos directed us to swim first. We returned by the same route by which we had entered.
After the cave, we used inner tubes and went down the river with Carlos. We wrapped our legs around each other so that we were all connected. The water was quite cold, but the sun was out. We floated all the way down to Las Marías where Carlos left us. We showered, and it felt so good to be clean. We ordered two chicken sandwiches and a fruit plate to share. Afterwards, we played a card game that the couple from New Zealand had taught us during lunch. They went to Semuc Champey in the afternoon. Johnny taught us another game that was similar to the New Zealand pile game. His game was called Presidente. It was a bit unfair because the loser had to give the winner his-her two best cards the next round. While we were playing, a big tree fell down over part of a cabin and harmed the roof. Johnny and his brother Juan cut the tree into pieces. The sun came out and we decided to take advantage of it. We went to the platform by the side of the river. It had a roof over part of it, which we needed because it began to rain shortly. We did our nails, read, and wrote. Amber and Lauren left, but I stayed there for another hour or two, reading, writing, praying, and thinking. There was a group of three people from Argentina who were camping by the river. They were swimming and then they cooked dinner over a fire. Johnny arrived and jumped off the platform in the river because he said he had ants in his pants from cutting up the tree. Two children who lived nearby came and the people from Argentina shared their food with them. I talked with them and Ramiro read my journal over my shoulder (I had written in Spanish). José, the other boy, left, but Ramiro stayed for a while. He taught me two words in his Mayan language (Q´kek che?): notebook and rain. Both words began with H, but I could not pronounce either of them correctly. I left shortly after Ramiro did.
For dinner, we shared two plates of food: one of chicken and one of beef. After dinner, we played Presidente and then Johnny and Juan danced salsa with us. There was a new group from France and the United States there. I met a man who is part of the Peace Corps near Sololá. At ten, the lights went out, but we were still having fun, so we went into the other dining area and Johnny lit candles for us that he stuck in empty glass pop bottles as holders. We played cards (Johnny, Juan, Amber, Lauren, and I) and talked for three hours. The other group only stayed up for maybe another hour. Johnny gave us Gatorade to drink. It was pouring down rain. Finally, at 1:30, we went back to our room and got ready for bed. We went to bed at 1:45 with only 4.5 hours to sleep!
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