My family decided to start off our ‘vacation’ week by heading over to one of the first places we were going to be staying: San Juan Chamelco, an area much further north than Guatemala City. We were surrounded by gorgeous natural beauty and landscapes, including mountains, rivers, and caves. 

After getting settled into our hotel, we started off our stay by heading to a café for a light snack. We got hot chocolates, which were super rich, and my family had me try cardamom candies, which were sweet, spicy, and warm! 

We then walked over to the zip lining area. The man hooked us onto our zip lines in harnesses, then gave us gloves and blocks to brake. I definitely got very muddy as I zipped over a little pond and through a couple of trees, but I had a great time and decided to go twice.

After zip lining, we decided to hike up to a cave we were going to get a tour of. The hike was beautiful, and I got to enjoy the views of the forest and the greenery. Eventually, we got to the cave’s entrance, and our tour guide led us through.

The cave was difficult to get through, but was such a fun experience. We climbed and crawled through tighter spaces and walked along the side of a river within the cave, gripping on to the rope that was attached to the side. When we got to the final area of the cave, our guide instructed us to dip our hands in the mud in order to feel the cave’s energy, then turned off all the lights and told us to have a moment of silence in the complete darkness. It was eerily dark, but extremely peaceful. He ended the tour by showing us different rock structures in the cave, and we made the hike back.

We then went to have dinner at the hotel’s restaurant. As with a lot of Guatemalan restaurants, we were seated outside, and were able to enjoy the gorgeous scenic river as we ate. After eating, we decided to head on a walk around the grounds. Though it had been raining, the views of the little waterfalls, rivers, and trees were still beautiful, and the walk along the bridges and paths was incredible.

We ended the night by heading back to our hotel room to play games. We played charades, which was pretty difficult in Spanish, but was still fun. Then, we decided to play Yahtzee, a game which I had never tried before, but was very fun! We then went to sleep and prepared for the upcoming day.

#JumptheWorld