Erik and Jamie stayed at our accommodations in Coban because of illness, but the rest of us took off by 9am. The 4 of us driving up with Rob got a taxi to the bus center because of Lisa’s injured ankle. She got a pair of crutches that will hopefully help take some pressure off. We also got some ice. We actually had missed the transport, but Rob arranged for us to hire one, so we had lots of room. It took about an hour and a half to get to Tucuru where we would meet the 4-wheeled drive truck to take us the 3+ hours up the mountain to the beautiful swiss chalet we would be staying in. The ride up was good. We had room to sit in the back of the truck and it wasn’t very 
muddy because it hadn’t rained in a couple days. Our driver did not have second gear, however, which made some parts a bit jerky. There were some beautiful views and we were singing a Q’eqchi’ kids song about the things we saw on the road. In some of the small towns, the kids would yell “gringo” (white person) to us. Rob would yell back the Q’eqchi’ word for “Guatemalan.”
When we arrived we were stunned by how beautiful this place is. Check out their website for even more photos. (http://www.chelemha.org) If you click on the tourism link, you see pictures of the lodge. We had hot showers that were better than the best
shower in the states. The water was warmed by the fireplace throughout the house. There were 2 amazing balconies and there were literally thousands of hummingbirds. Apparently, there are 20 species of hummingbirds that you can see from the balcony. I saw at least 7. We could face the hill that the rest of our group would hike down. The entire lodge is made from carved wood, including the furniture and everything was lit by candlelight for the evening. Rob and others called it Elron’s house, which I guess is some Lord of the Rings reference:-)
We saw them come down the mountain and went out to meet them. The arrived just as it was getting dark and they were exhausted. It had been about 5 ½ hours and 2 of them over the mountain were incredibly strenuous. The mountain was over 2000 meters. After everyone was showered and rested we sat down to dinner. We had homemade bread and a huge bowl of soup. It was delicious…then we realized 
that this was just the soup course. We had another plate with potatoes, squash, greens, and something like a cubed Salisbury steak. After that we had a European style apple tart. Everything was local and delicious. The manager is a wonderful chef and he’s Swiss.
After that day and all the unexpected comforts, everyone slept very well.
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