Copoc y Rio Azul

Well as I am writing this I clearly survived - but will I be functioning tomorrow?

I had breakfast at 7ish and went back to el descanso at 8:15 to check out the news (read that as 'how is Rodgers doing and what is the latest Favre news').

I was ready at 8:45 and walked next door to the guide place and the gal told me that there would be 2 more people going (instant panic - i was woried as it was about climbing uphill and if the 2 were young Europeans - uh oh). She gave me back 50Q - the more the cheaper. The 2 were 35 yr old spanish guys - real nice and I didn't hold anyone back (although they had the energy to go to the falls afterward that I went to yesterday). I made a huge mistake and asked the guide how many km we would be walking - he told me "8 km up and then 6 km down and then we would return by camineta" - boy was it up - 8 steady km up and up and up - but the views were awsome - something tells me that the pictures really won't do the vistas justice.

(this picture was taken at 11:31 at the highest point - thats Nebaj where I started from)

Actually it wasn't a horrid climb - we went slow but steady and took 2 breaks. basically we reached the top of our climb in just over 1 1/2 hrs. Then we started down for a bit and came to copoc. The village was really - i hunt for the correct adjective. Its a traditional village. 40+ homes and 300+ inhabitants. The thought that I had and didn't ask- lastima - what about the gene pool - they all have to be related - do they traditionally marry outside the village? hmm...

The road to copoc was definately drivable - not sure my geo would make it - but we saw no vehicles go past although there was a truck in the town. The school has 3 teachers who make the trek daily from Nebaj (both ways on foot and I'm dead - yikes), but it is only a primary school -3 kids that go on must also make the trek daily to Nebaj (not sure if its common or not). The village was very quiet, tranquil, clean and simple. We stopped at a tienda and I bought a piece of bread and the guys bought water. They also bought some handicrafts and took pictures with the promise of sending them a copy. Not sure on the ages - but the mom seemed young and had 3 kids and on of the kids had 9 month old twins - cute. Its really hard to judge ages and the people out in the country marry so damn young.

From the village we walked on trails that were muddy, yucky and did I mention muddy? These were trails that were a pain to walk on, but I didn't fall - slipped and almost fell several times but didn't embarress my self. The thought actually entered my mind several times that it was easier climbing up then it was going down.

We got to Rio Azul - which I believe was one of the towns that the army created... need to do more research on this - the conservation went over my head...

I'm beat and need to sleep.
buenas noches