Lanquin & Semuc Champey

The journey from Lake Atitlan to Lanquin was a tough one. We hopped on a private bus and headed off on an incredibly bumpy journey. The trail leads all through the mountains, constantly up and down and around. Sometimes we were so high up we're looking down on other mountains... did I say that these roads were unpaved? As they were, which made the ride bumpy and precarious going round tight bends on the hill side. There were so many times I thought to myself how is this vehicle still running!? As it was pushed hard on all of those terrible roads. Some roads are paved but even then full of potholes and they swerve all over the road avoiding them. Every time I fell asleep I was awoken with a sharp thud as we'd hit the dirt or gravel roads. No sleeping on this journey! Rather hanging on, did I mention there were no seat belts? You get the idea.

After the journey taking the entire day we arrived in the town, down in the jungle and got to our hostel. The hostel was pretty funky down on the rivers edge and served us a cracking buffet dinner which was much needed by then!

The next day we joined a tour to go see the famous Semuc Champey (blue limestone pools in a river). Along with approx 12 others we piled into the back of a pickup truck with a bar round the top. We were all standing and packed in like sardines. Off we went for a 45 minute drive down a dirt road that lead up and down deeper into the jungle. You had to hang on and deal with no personal space, what a ride! Everyone found it fun and it felt like you were really exploring.

Our first stop on the tour was down the beautiful river by the entrance to some water caves. I chose not to do this part so will let Phil tell you how that was:

Phil: I'd been told I may want to wear shoes as there were lots of rocks submerged in water and the like, but lacking any real option from my backpack I chose to just wear some socks (after a tip that this helps with grip on slippery wet rocks!) So wearing only swimming shorts and socks I joined the group heading into shallow water in the entrance to the tunnel. The guide (who looked about 14...) handed out a 20cm candle to each of us and then painted our faces with 'war paint' - now I was ready. He explained the cave system could be explored for hours and hours but we didn't have enough candles for that so we were going about 45 minutes into it and as we began slowly making our way along I started to stub my toes and bump my head, but thankfully nothing serious! The track we were following led through water I couldn't stand in, up ladders that were held only by ropes tied around ancient stone pillars naturally formed in the cave, and then back down another ladder - at times the up-and-down was about 10m! This in itself wasn't too challenging but what made it so was the pitch black that threatened to close in if our candles became extinguished! After climbing, crawling and swimming our way deep into the cave the water had become cold and pitch black and then ahead of us was a rock face which our guide climbed using some footholds etched into the rock (I don't exaggerate when I say there was about 3inch chunks of stone cut out of a large boulder that formed the 'staircase'). We were given the most detailed safety briefing of the day, in broken English "if you want to, climb up here and jump in the water. Don't jump there, there or there as there are rocks" he said as he pointed at basically the whole pool below him... after a couple of the group had done it I wanted a go. The 4m climb to the 'jumping point' was VERY difficult and had very little to hold onto. At the top the guide made sure I knew where to jump and also pointed out the overhang, so I knew not to hit my head. Was I scared at this point? A bit. Did I do it? Of course! My jump went fine and it was quite a thrill in the dark of the cave, and made a good way to end the cave exploration before the group retraced it's steps to the entrance. Great fun - and my candle only got wet once!

Meanwhile I had a swim in the water and relaxed, as the only person there it was quite mystical on my own. At one point a young lad, who must have only been 14 came along, and was intensely looking into the water. Quickly I realised he was fishing and would throw out a weighted net then jump in himself to gather up the fish. He had a wire around his waist and would thread the fish alive onto it, still flapping around! It was a live fish belt, pretty cool to see.

After the water caves the group came out all wet and covered in warrior paint, pumped for the next activity. Along the river was a giant rope swing that could lift you as high as 8-10 metres! Most people did it and went flying into the water. Phil loved it and thankfully no one got hurt (even when one guy fell backwards and unintentially did a back flip).
From this spot we were each given a rubber tube to go tubing down the river. This was so awesome. The river had a fairly slowly current and it felt great just drifting down the water. Suddenly some local lads with their tubes jumped in and started handing out some beers to buy. Perfect!
I even had some tropical dragonflies that kept landing on me (potentially mating but hey ho). We felt very lost in nature as we drifted on. We all got out at the same point and the pick up truck was here to pick us up...along with all the tubes. That was hilarious trying to hold them and fit everyone in. At one point i even noticed a small 6 year old child that had snuck on for the free ride. Mad!
Thankfully it was just as 10 minute drive back.

There was a large bridge over the river at least 8 metres high. After grabbing our stuff and dropping off the tube rings, before crossing the bridge in the truck they asked if anyone wanted to jump off it. Some brave souls did it and it was such a drop! Not for us though...

Onwards we went towards the main sight itself Semuc Champey. We decided to do the climb to the viewpoint first, then go down the other side to the pools to swim. The climb was supposed to take 45 minutes but I think may have taken us longer, it was very steep! They had built in some wooden staircases and stone steps so wasn't too challenging, but just going higher and higher so was quite the workout, especially in the heat. However we made it and it was absolutely worth every single step. The view was stunning. You looked down into the valley between the two huge cliffs (one of which we were on) and you see the river cutting through and all the formations of the limestone ledges. See the photo to understand it better! It really felt like you'd stumbled across this incredible natural wonder.

By now we were desperate to swim and I wanted a good amount of time there before we had to leave. So I was racing ahead down the mountain jumping steps and pacing fast. Suddenly I came across a crowd on the path and typically I was just keen to get by and not to be held up! I walked past the people and saw a lady a few metres ahead facing backwards, I abruptly stopped thinking I was about to walk into a photo of her being taken. Little did I realise the crowd were not taking a photo of the lady... but rather the snake not even a metre from my feet now looking very angry, head up high. Swiftly I backed off back into the crowd. There was a guide amongst the people who said that snake was one of the most poisonous in Guatemala! What! Thanks for the warning people....
The snake was mad and in the attack position and was not going to move from the path, so the guide said we'd have to climb down the hill side to meet up with the path further down. I was hoping there were no others around. Once we got to the bottom we met up with our guide, who only confirmed the near death experience when shown a photo, and he exclaimed 'shit!' Confirming that you'd have a maximum of 5 hours to live if it got you. Unbelievable.

Anyway scare over, we throw off our clothes and went to the top pool and fell into the refreshing water. It felt amazing and the surroundings were beautiful. We'd swim around, then go to the next ledge and move down to the next pool, which would require sliding down the very slippery rocks like water slides to fall into the next pool. One of these was unsuccessful for me and I hit a very slippery bit before I was ready. Not only did I land awkwardly and hurt my knee (just a bit) but let's just say in a bikini there isn't a lot of skin protection.. anyone ever had a carpet burn on their bare bum? Let's say no more!
But it was worth it and we explored each water terrace. This also included getting a 'free' skin refresh by the fish in the water who liked to nibble you, they were quite big so not as enjoyable as the ones you get in feet tanks across Asia, but pretty cool seeing them in the wild I guess.
Too soon it was time to leave and we walked back to our pick up truck and enjoyed another bumpy ride back through the jungle as the sun was setting. What an amazing day!

We concluded the evening with another amazing buffet and some great conversation with other travellers until late in the evening.

BethRead more