Cobán

A good, lightly-touristy town to stop at before Semuc Champey is Cobán.  There are several pleasant hotel options for less than $50/night, and at our Norwegian friend’s suggestion we selected Hotel Monja Blanca which is very nice and gardeney.

We were delighted to find the dining to be spectacular.  We had a succulent French dinner at La Abadia and a local-with-international-twist dinner at Kardamomuss that we loved so much we returned for breakfast the next morning.  Neither were cheap, but both are extremely reasonable for the quality (which is San Francisco-esque).

It rained both days we were here, so we got a bit of blogging done, heh.   We took Ted to the vet the first day.  He got a shot (to fight anything bacterial), pills (to fight common internal parasites), and what’s basically Pepto Bismal for dogs.  He started feeling better almost immediately.  He ate well that afternoon and by the second day he was bounding around the yard of our hotel and smiling.  We were so relieved to see him healthy and happy again!  He’d been looking very svelte before he got sick, but after being sick he’s a little too skinny.   Extra helpings of our leftover fish skin, ham, and french fries have already graced his bowl.

While I stayed back and blogged the second afternoon, Dmitri and Nina did some shopping and visited a nearby National Park featuring alligators.

Next we set off for Green Go’s hostel at Semuc Champey and Finca Tatin hostel in Rio Dulce, both quite remote and sans-WiFi.  We’re looking forward to being even more off the grid than normal.