Lucy's Locale: “Remember that happiness is a way of travel – not a destination.”

Two weekends ago, we visited Lake Atitlan in southwestern Guatemala. We were only there for two days, so the time literally flew by, but the scenery, boat ride around the lake, and fellowship was well worth it. Last weekend we went to Semuc Champey, a system of waterfalls in the middle of Guatemala. 15 people (plus our driver) rode in a 16 passenger van (not a bus, a van) for 6 hours to the city of Coban. Then we drove for 2 more hours; one on a relatively paved road and another on a dirt road (if it can even be called a road) down the side of a mountain and through a valley in the thickest part of the jungle in Guatemala. When we reached a small village at the base of the mountain, we transferred to a four-wheel truck type vehicle and drove through the rain forest for another hour(ish), most of us had to stand and hold on for our lives in the bed of the truck because only four people could actually ride in the vehicle, so that was quite an adventure; much like a roller coaster, only our only safety restraints were each other, and I do not know how many people got hit in the face with branches or almost fell out. Finally, we reached our hotel in the park of Semuc Champey, which was very nice with gorgeous views looking down on the river. We hiked through the park and swam in the pools, and relaxed and lounged around with each other. Then, we had to go through the same transportation process for our return trip, and in total we spent more time traveling to and from our destination than at Semuc Champey itself. But it was worth it; we all had a blast and gained lots of interesting experiences and stories from it.