The Kan'Bah Caves

Day 2 in Lanquin.  We went into the mostly uncharted caves of Kan'Bah.  A deep river flowed through the cave and unfortuneatly, my pics are poor quality.  This was another mistake on our part, but it was one that we shared with others and so it didn't feel as dangerous as our river incident the day before.  But it would be.  That monsoon storm picked up the river current and shot it down into this cavern.  Guatemalans tell you it's safe when they should warn people who can't swim well about the dangers.  We entered this cave with only candles.  I was okay as long as I kept moving.  I've done caving before and love it.  But the minute we stop, I get anxiety attacks.  Now put that with my sister not being able to swim and you've got trouble.  Today's post is a sad one because these pics remind me about another brother/sister team from Tucson who did not make it.  And it all happened the same time we were in Guatemala.  Here's our Kan'Bah story.....

Our new friends planned a day trip into the caves of Kan'Bah and invited us along.  It seemed like a great idea because I had been to several caves before and had a great time.  My favorite part about caves are the bats that drop down right above your head.  There's something really cool about these mammals.  At the mouth of the cave, we encountered several bats flying around the Kan'Bah ceiling.  But we also noticed a river coming out of it flowing into the same Coban river that we nearly lost our lives on the day before.  Now add that with candles and we have a potential issue.  As we entered the dark caves, we waded through water up to our waists.  Until my sister, got into an area over her head....literally! Out went her candle and my own because I went in after her.  The group pulled her up onto a ledge.  She panicked and then....so did I.  Why?  I don't like feeling trapped.  I hate crowds or crowded spaces.  Elevators are not cool.  Car rides after several hours take their toll on me. And concert halls can cause anxiety attacks.  The group went on into the caves leaving us behind with one candle burning.  There was darkness.  Water flowing down a ledge.  Bats flying around our heads.  And candles placed along the sides of the cavern to the exit.  The only issue was that my sister would have to swim through the deep areas of the cave to get out.  In her state of fear, it wasn't going to happen.  The group went further and further into the cave and their voices echoed to a silence eventually.  We wondered if they were going to come back.

The candles to the faint light of the entrance slowly burned out.....as was our own candle.  I thought of things to make us laugh and pass the time.  Eventually, the others returned.  Several people did the same thing we did and stayed on ledges waiting for the group to return.  The others made it into the secret waterfall cavern where they jumped into the darkness of the cool pools below.  Our group helped my sister get her footing on solid rock...slippery....but solid rock nonetheless and we made our way out of this extremely dangerous cave to the people down below.  Open air made me relax and smile.  My sister vowed never to go into water again.  And unfortuneatly to this day, she won't go into unknown waters without being able to see the bottom. The pic below shows the Coban river after the monsoon storm.  Never ever ever again.  And to my Tucson readers, this rule applies to all of us here.  Recently a man was swept to his death as a wash suddenly filled after a microburst formed on the East side of town.  He was taking his dog for a run in the wash like most people do, but during that day a storm hit one side of town while it was sunny where he was at......and yet the wall of water caught him unaware.

Sadly, I'd like to bring this post to a close and remember two siblings from Tucson who did die during the same time period that we were in Guatemala. Stunned, I collapsed on my living room floor after hearing the news. But they were thought to still be alive at the time. So I went on the internet right away to read the Peruvian articles which confirmed that they actually were dead, but their parents still were hopeful.  Even though I didn't know them personally, I understood the pain and sadness around the event.  That could have been easily us.... They had been mountain climbing and fell through an ice crack where they froze to death together on a cave ledge.  Dustin and Kristen Yoder were experienced climbers and their deaths really hit very close to home for me.  Today there is a Dustin and Kristen Yoder Memorial Foundation set up in their names. After all these years, I haven't forgotten these two siblings.  Imagine being a parent and losing both your children.  I can't imagine the pain that they went through during this tragedy and continue to feel as the years pass by without them.  I imagined my own parents in the same situation and it broke my heart.  Life is precious and we can't take it for granted because you never know when your time is up. Their story and example reminds me to live each day to my fullest. And you know what?  If you watch their slideshow, they lived and had wonderful lives....and they did what they loved best.  We can't dictate how the cards are dealt, but we certainly should play the game the best we can. And that's all we can do.  More tomorrow.

The Lessons of Lanquin

This Lanquin, why is it important?  What's so special about this place? Well there's a lot about this village beyond the lagoons of Semuc Champey. I ate my best meal here.  I woke up emotionally inside here. My baby sister almost died here during a freak monsoon storm in the rain forest on the Coban river.  If you knew me personally, I'm a joker during my lectures and a quiet thinker at home.  Very little provokes an emotion in my own life.  But almost losing my sister was probably the scariest thing I've ever experienced in my life.  If it happened to me, I could care less because I chose my path and am okay with the consequences. But when a random act of nature entered the pic, I went into survival mode for my sister.  For the rest of my life, I will remember this little village on the odd glowing green river in the middle of the jungle.

It began in the strange city of Coban.  Cold.  Misty.  A long trek from Guatemala City and far away from the logical world of modern day.  I remember entering the village and seeing all the different Mayan groups with different family colors and designs at the central market.  I wanted to get out from the bus, but I felt that if I left, the bus would take off and I'd be somewhere stranded.  Part of me wished that it would happen, but my youngest sister was me.  As the eldest sibling, I am very protective when it comes to my family.  But I've never had to show them that side of me because it's never been needed until this trip.  We crammed into a transit bus to the village of Lanquin which took what seemed like hours!  But we arrived.

On this leg of the trip, we would face a screaming girl bitten by an Emperor Scorpion at 2 in the morning. 

She hadn't searched through her sheets before she got into bed. The lights went out inside our cabana and our travel buddy felt something on her arm.  She slapped it and it stung her.  When the lights went on, the large dark crablike insect met its fate.  But by that time, the venom had already set into her arm and our friend began to see the poster of the Mayan woman's face moving around.  Her body cramped and she panicked.  There were no doctors in the village to help and all she could do is wait.  After several days, she felt better again.  But there would be more adventures around the corner in this village.....

We thought it would be fun to go tubing on the Coban river, but what I hadn't known was that my sister was afraid of water.  Plus the water in the river "glowed" a strange green color.  Being from the desert, I recognized, while on the river, that a storm had begun on one side of the forest while we were in the middle of tubing.  The canopy from the trees created this eery and dark feeling.....and the water currents started picking up.  My sister fell off her tube and that's when chaos happened.

 My teacher/big brother instinct at this point snapped into focus. I had to get her out of the water.  Adrenaline is magic and gave me the strength to get out of the strong rivers currents.  It was surprising how calm I was at this point, but I think it had to do with the years of training I received while working with special needs people.  I was grateful for that experience because it came in hand.  I watched my sister get caught in the now powerful current.  There were 3 things I could do.  And if they all failed, I would have lost my sister to either drowning or a waterfall around the bend.  The rain began to fall harder.  Plan A.  My sister was screaming for help and her head was bobbing up and down.  There is nothing worse than feeling helpless, but the current was taking her near the riverbank.  I ran and ran and ran screaming "GRAB THE BRANCH!!"  She did, but the branch broke and off she went.  Plan A died.  Plan B.  I don't think I've ever run as fast as I have in my life.  Barefoot through the woods, my feet were getting bit up by the thousands of ants all along the muddy path.    I saw another  spot I could grab her and pull her up.  The current pulled her again close to the shore and this time I had her stop and gently pull herself towards my hand.  The river, thankfully, had trees leaning into the water from the bank.  Once I pulled her up, I began to cry and we hugged each other tightly.  And right after that moment, the adrenaline left my body and I collapsed onto the ground.  Yeah...that part sucked. I felt like Bruce Banner after being the Hulk. 

We walked back to the village greatful for our lives and awake.  Not just living....but awake and alive.  Everyday is such a routine, but this incident reminded me of what's important in this life.  We came back to our cabana and sat down exhausted.  The rain was really coming down now and lightening flashed all around us.  And for a monsoon storm, it was pretty bad.  The rain subsided and we went for dinner at a simple little place.  We had the most delicious chicken and fries.  Frogs jumped up on the concrete by our plastic table and helped themselves to bugs.  Fireflies, so many fireflies, circled around our patio and lit up the night sky.  It was like every moment was heightened by the near death experience.  We would face one more scare before enjoying the rest of our trip. On our way back to the cabana, we saw snakes and lots of nighttime critters crossing the dirt roads.

To this day, my sister and I both remember our first day in the village of Lanquin. The village of the glowing green rivers and underwater caves.