1/24/15 - Matthew Danaher

Today was a long day of traveling as we departed Semuc Champey, to return back to the hostel in Antigua. We woke up at around 6, but then fell back to sleep shortly after. We were woken at 7:55, which is when we were told we would be leaving at 8, in five minutes. It had been raining the whole night, and we knew we were in for a wild ride up the twelve kilometer dirt rode back to the local village Lanquin where we would have breakfast and get picked up from by the van. To get there, we piled into the back of a truck which took us up the muddy dirt road, which we traveled on at about five miles per hour because of its state. With all the super steep uphill and downhills, it felt as though we were on a crazy roller coaster.  We all had to wait about twenty minutes after breakfast was over for the van to come, but eventually we were embarking on our ten hour ride back to Antigua. For the first few hours it was obvious we were all sleep deprived, and everyone was asleep. Those in the front, Joe, Ryan, and I stayed awake the whole ride because we couldn't fall asleep. After stopping at several stops for food, primarily chips, cookies, fried chicken, and milkshakes, we slowly made our way back to our hostel in Antigua, where there was much rejoicing. We got our belongings settled back in, and were then treated to a delicious pizza dinner by Father Kirk at a local Italian restaurant. We went through about six out of our ten pizzas, and saved the last three for the next day. Then we returned to the hostel after a nice night walk though Antigua, and after a long day of traveling, we called it a day. Tomorrow is our last full day here, and we're looking very forward to it.