Blogs from Semuc Champey, Verapaz Region, Guatemala, Central America Caribbean

Nach einer sehr langen 6-stündigen Busfahrt von Río Dulce in einem sehr kleinen Bus ohne Klimaanlage oder Toilette und nur einem kurzen Stop sind wir gegen 20h endlich in Lanquín angekommen. Die Straße dorthin war sehr schlecht gewesen, mit sehr vielen Schlaglöchern, aber die Aussicht und die Landschaft waren einfach atemberaubend ! Unser Busfahrer fuhr zwar wie ein verrückter, war aber eigentlich sehr nett und hat sogar 2 Mal angehalten, damit wir Photos machen konnten. Im Bus habe ich Tina aus Nîmes in Frankreich kennengelernt. Sie war sehr nett und reiste für 5 Wochen durch Guatemala. Sie war dort um ihren Freund zu besuchen, der in der Nähe von Guatemala City lebt, aber da er arbeiten musste, reiste sie alleine durchs Land. Sie hatte dasselbe Hostel gebucht wie wir und so haben wir auch das nächste ... read more

At Lanquín itself wasn't much to do. 2 nights was more than enough, especially after what happened: The morning after we arrived, I woke up really early as usual.. I wake up every morning between 5:00 and 7:00 since I'm traveling. So this day was like any other. I got up and went to the restaurant in my pj's, asked for a bowl to eat the cereals with milk we bought the other day and read a book from the shelf. Around 10:00 the others came for breakfast. They both already took a shower and were ready to go. I still had to take a shower so I went to the cabin to take my stuff. While showering, a frog suddenly came through the drain. I jumped out of the shower with my body still covered ... read more

Here's what we got ourselves into so far out in the middle of nowhere...The beautiful, quiet, friendly Utopia eco-hostel set on a cacao farm only 3km from caves we could go exploring and the greenish blue pools of cool water at Semuc Champey that we could swim in. Our first thought upon arrival was that we could stay here a very long time. In fact, we were only booked in for 3 nights originally but we booked in for a 4th straight away. We thought we'd stay in the dorm but the opportunity to sleep in hammocks presented itself and we couldn't pass it up. Being set on a cacao farm was the perfect excuse to go on a chocolate tour which started out on the farm with a look and taste of the raw cacao ... read more

Wczoraj autobusem turystycznym dojechalem do Semuc Champey. Tym razem nie zdecydowalem sie na chicken busaze wzgledu na odleglosc i duza liczbe przesiadek. Droga z Antigua do Semuc Chempey zajmuje minimum 8 godzin (autobus turystyczny) i ostatnie 30-40 km jedzie sie jeepem szutrowa droga :-) Cala podroz jest bardzo meczaca. Zarowno ze wzgledu na jakosc drog jak i upal. Ale na koncu czeka raj, czyli Semuc Champey:-) Miejsce to so seria niezykle malowniczych kaskad i basenow z turkusowa woda, w ktorych, pomimo tego, ze jest to park narodowy, mozna sie kapac. Dosyc odlegla lokalizacja miejsca i ciezki dojazd sprawiaja, ze nie ma tutaj zbyt wielu turystow. Jadac do Semuc Champey mijamy miasto Coban, zalozone przez niemieckich kolonistow w czasach boomu na kawe i da sie tutaj wyczuc pruskiego ducha:-) Jest czysciej i architektura jakas taka znajoma. Na ... read more

Today we did our first official tour, our guide started by pointing out plants along our walk, there was some pod he opened up and it was orange inside he shoved his finger in there and began to paint streaks on all our faces. He pointed out coffee, coco, and some interesting spices. We entered the park and hiked up a mountain for maybe 45 minutes, it was grueling and quite steep in places. As I grabbed the earth to climb up I envisioned mistakenly placing my hand on a snake or some poisonous creature. After all at breakfast there was a trantula although that seemed to be the least scary thing of the day. One of the locals picked it up and it even crawled on someone's chest. At the top there was a viewpoint ... read more