V. CA Guatemala/W2, 6d: Semuc Ch-Tikal E

Fr, 11.08. Antigua - Lanquín
That day was going to be a veeery looong journey - 9 well at the end almost 11h for 314km :O I started around 9am with a typical hostel drive 2h to Guatemala City and from there a totally bendy, a lot of roadworks but scenic way until Cobán where we arrived around 4:30pm. The last 1,5h or then almost 2h to the village Lanquín were via a super steep and bendy unsealed road with incredibly nice and hard to describe landscapes. Upon arrival around 6:30pm we were immediately and quite touristy greeted by many boys trying to sell the best hostel to last minute prices - in most cases it is better and more interesting not to book everything in advance ;)
I thus decided spontaneously to spend the first night at hostel El Portal located 12km southwest from Lanquín in the jungle and not even 100m or 2min walking distance from the Nature Reserve Semuc Champey and the second night at hostel El Oasis 10min walking distance from Lanquín; both hostels belong together and also offered free shuttle services. I thus then had another 40min super adventurous and spooky ride at the back of a pick-up passing small houses via one of the poorest and steepest gravel roads with unimaginable big holes in the deep jungle where we arrived around 7:30pm - absolute highlight were the many bats and glowworms we could already see during the ride.
The hostel was then also superb and rather a lodge directly located on the river with nice wooden cabins, hammocks and balconies in the mid of paradise and with really only 100m indeed the closest accommodation to Semuc Champey - I could directly walk there the next morning and thus save on an expensive tour. Despite weekend but due to the low season I was even alone in the 3bed dorm and it was really in the pure nature with all the jungle sounds - but also only cold shower, power from 6-11pm and non functionable WiFi :O

Sa, 12.08. Lanquín: Semuc Champey
The small village of Lanquín and the only 10km further away nature reserve Semuc Champey are located a bit lower at an altitude of only 600m and are super remote or hard to reach but the exhausting and long ride is absolut worth it. Even though shuttles are quality-wise not the best with narrow minivans without headrests, no leg space and partially broken windows there is sometimes no other possibility if you do not want to travel for days.
Lanquín itself has a beautiful, blue-clear, refreshing river and is surrounded by nice jungle-covered mountains. It is very small with just some shops and market stands as well as 2 churches - not that interesting but popular for its proximity to Semuc Champey.
Semuc Champey is a nature reserve and based on its uniqueness with the numerous natural turquoise pools and springs, the river, the bridge, caves as well as forests, animals and community protection also a natural monument of Guatemala. The highlight are the natural pools having been formed by unusual type of soil and a subterranean river flow of Río Cahabon and now form a bridge over this river. There is a Cave below where the river keeps running. The point where the river runs into the cave is called Sumidero - 300m later it reappears to the surface; At the Sumidero the river hides below the ground which is the translation of Semuc Champey in the local Q'eqchi language. The landscape is very impressive but due to the understream also dangerous and super slippery.
As the entrance was indeed not even 2mins away from the hostel I walked there at 8am the next morning and just had to pay the entrance fee of 50Q (for locals only 30Q of course) - all a.m. could easily be made without a tour and was also secure due to the police's omnipresence. It was a pretty cool but very steep and slippery half an h hike through nice rainforest to the Mirador from which you got a superb view of all the so-called Pozas = pools and I additionally had a nice experience with a local family. It was then another half an h pretty steep hike down to the Sumidero already explained above and afterwards all the pozas where I spent a lot of time swimming, floating, sliding and enjoyed the paradisic view of the surrounding mountains, forests as well as waterfalls/coloured rocks and the beautiful sound of the water and animals - so cool :))) The way back was also quite relaxing along the reappeared river and even a small cave.
Similar to many places in the world this one is also threatened by the increasing number of tourists and people: there are signs everywhere emphasizing not to leave garbage, to only walk on the paths, being particularly careful walking on the pools consisting of very sensitive shellstone, not to use conditioner/shower soap/sunscreen to not pollute the water and protect animals and plants, not to be noisy but to enjoy the calm and nature - especially Spanish, Central Americans and locals do not really respect that...
In the late afternoon I then went back to Lanquín and the hostel El Oasis, very similar and also directly located on the river. I visited the village and the caves where I saw many bats in the evening and then relaxed in the hammock with river view ;)

Su, 13.08. Lanquín - Río Dulce/Fronteras
Another travel day: for just about 200km it was a total 6h drive to Río Dulce, also known as Fronteras - 5 (!!!) out of the 6h were via absolute gravel roads with dozens of free massages :P Travelling in Guatemala really is worse than in South America with the additional issue that based on security reasons and non available bus services it is not possible or advisable to travel at night and thus you lose a lot of travel days and time. However, the shuttle was really punctual this time and drove like hell and without breaks via Guatemala's roads and beautiful scenery - which was due to the fact that some people had already booked a ferry to Livingston leaving at 2pm; a small town located at the end of Río Dulce on the Caribbean coast and known for the Black-Caribbean population Garifuja in particular but only accessible via super expensive $18 boat (one way) over the El Golfete Canal and presumably not too nice beaches or only two attractions which you can only do with an expensive tour. For money and time reasons or also because I will still have a lot of Caribbean coast in Mexico I thus focused on Río Dulce and Lago de Izabal and chose a hostel super nicely located on the lake that rather should be named ecolodge.
After my arrival I first visited Río Dulce town (also known as Fronteras) which has not that much to offer apart from a market and a lot of busy people as well as a small marina and port - I was thus happy to quickly escape via boat to tranquility at Kangaroo hostel where I then only relaxed on the terraces, sofas and in the jacuzzi :)

Mo, 14.08. Río Dulce/Fronteras-Santa Elena/Flores
Izabal is the starting point for the Guatemalian Atlantic and Caribbean coast with Maya ruins, the Spanish fortress El Castillo de San Felipe, nice forests, bird watching and unique cultures. The lake Lago de Izabal is Guatemala's biggest lake and does not only offer nice views of the surrounding hills but also a lot of vast rainforest and wildlife. There is a Hot Spring Waterfall, caves and small gorges; but the most famous attraction here is the Castillo de San Felipe: a miniature medieval castle directly located on the entrance of the lake and built by the Spanish as protection against British pirates. Very interesting with nice views of the whole lake and which I also visited that morning.
Río Dulce itself is super noisy and just consists of one road where all the traffic runs through - I was thus quite happy about my calm hostel lodge directly on the river; you are btw also quite close to Honduras and Belize here.
After that Guatemala showed again its best side when it comes to long and chaotic bus journeys: coming from Guatemala the bus was already delayed by 1h40 - waiting on the main road meant all the relaxation of the last few days was gone :P Additionally, the bus was so full that I had to stand for 4-6h; via Poptun we then had at least a paved road along milpa and cattle farms and at the end with absolute heavy rain further to Santa Elena. I only enjoyed the nice sunset from the roof terrace of my hostel there.

Tu, 15.08. Flores: Tikal
Santa Elena and the island Flores are located in the flat northern department of Petén. Having been the heart of the Maya culture it accounts for 1/3 of Guatemala's area but only 3% of its population. It is still very original and 40% of the area are protected by the Maya Biosphere Reserve. There is a lot of jungle and with more than 100 ruins an incredible number of Mayan sites - the most popular being Tikal but also Yaxhá and an epic 5d trek to the biggest discovered Maya ruin El Mirador are worth a visit; latter being exactly for me but for money and time reasons (with $350 it is even more expensive than Ciudad Perdida in Colombia) I unfortunately couldn't do it.
Flores itself is a small village, Petén's capital and door to the Mayan world and despite increasing tourist numbers still quite relaxed together with the other villages San Miguel, San Andrés and San José (in contrast to the noisy transport hub and markets of Santa Elena and San Benito). The small island on Lago de Petén Itzá was still Itzá Maya's capital until 1697 and nicely located on the lake, incl Rope Swing and El Mirador on the other side of the lake in San Miguel.
Around 4:30am the next morning I went to Tikal, Guatemala's biggest Maya site. As there is no public transport that early in the morning and I could haggle out a transport for only 60Q as well as with guide for only 20Q more I chose a tour, also due to the size of the site and to get more information. As usual there was a Gringo discrimination with us having to pay the 6th entrance fee being 150Q i/o 25 for locals and thus also quite expensive - sunrise or sunset would have cost an additional 100Q.
Tikal itself was super big and very impressive. The guide gave us a lot of information about the site, culture, plants etc and we saw quite a few animals such as spiders, tucans, hummingbirds and very noisy hawler monkeys. The most impressive building during the tour was apart from the main square Temple 4, 70m high where they filmed Star Wars and from which you get an incredible view of the temples and the whole rainforest. But the site is really enormous, you often have to walk 15mins through jungle between the buildings and during the 4h tour with the guide we only saw 1/3 of it. It took me another 4h to do the rest and especially Temple 5 and the place of the 7 temples were spectacular. I then went back in the afternoon via the small village El Remate.
Back in Santa Elena I then visited the town and market before crossing the bridge to Flores and then enjoying the sunset with typical street food such as tacos with pineapple, burritos with corn and chicken as well as fried burritos.

Financially Guatemala was quite good:
In total I spent around 227€ within the 11 days, roughly 21€/day - 12€ below my max daily budget of 33€/day and thus saved around 132€; a sum I would definitively later need for dearer Belize ;)Read more