Coban

By: Carlos Danilo De Leon Coosemans

Travelling can make you change your thinking and do not think you have to go far to do so.

Traveling is an amazing experience that the persons can do because we can meet beautiful places and cultures that we don´t know. I think that the best age of travelling is when we are young because we can learn from different persons and different places. And we are used to living with our traditions and people, but it is good to travel out. All we know is that the outside is different and we can learn a lot of things of these different places, but we don´t need to go so far away to meet beautiful places and different kinds of persons. That’s my case when I traveled to Coban during my vacations.

I live in Guatemala and I traveled to Coban; it´s a little trip but it had effects in me. Initially I really did not want to go because I had some birthday parties of my friends. I was upset because my parents forced me to go and I was thinking that it would be a boring trip. But when I was in Coban, I saw the landscapes that Coban has and changed my mind. I had visited Coban as a child but I did not remember anything, I noted that Guatemala has beautiful places to visit and I didn’t really know it.

One of the good effects that travelling to Coban caused on me was that I met a different persons, and what I mean is that the persons were from different cultures and had different ways to have fun. I met a family that has a big collection of “bonsai”; they use these bonsais like a hobby and always to have a family time to share. This family always cares about the environmental issues and they separate their trash in three different kinds organic waste, plastics and glass. They take advantages of organic waste using it as fertilizer, so they don´t waste their money on fertilizer. The other thing that travelling to Coban caused a good effect in me was the beautiful places that Coban has and not all the people know about them. We visited the most common touristic places on Coban; Semuc Champey and Las Grutas de Lanquin. Semuc Champey is an incredibly beautiful natural limestone bridge resting on top of a river, with little waterfalls and pools of crystal clear water that are excellent for swimming. And Las Grutas de Lanquin is a large cave with excellent formations and a river that flows under it. I thought the beautiful landscapes happened only in other countries and that Guatemala had beautiful scenery, but by visiting these two places changed my mind and I learned that Guatemala also has good things.

Traveling can teach you so many things and you can meet others kinds of persons, cultures and beautiful sceneries, and we can learn about them. It´s your choice to know more about the world around you; do not shut yourself in a social group with a closed mind. You can visit beautiful places without going out of your country, and you can learn many things of your country if you travel it.