Semuc Champey

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While the dorm settings were less than ideal, the morning's light showed that the place we were staying in wasn't awful – if I put myself in the frame of mind that I'm staying at summer camp.

The following morning as we were leaving to stay at another hostel recommended to us by the Israeli's in San Pedro, we met a couple of travelers from Uruguay and a mother and daughter traveling from Europe. The daughter actually told us that this was one of the few hostels in which you could actually walk to Semuc Champey (the only reason we had for traveling through Lanquin).

Semuc Champey is a set of pools consisting of turquoise water set in a valley with mountains sloping into it from either side. The water that fills the pools is actual runoff from the mountains while a fairly turbulent river flows through the valley, plunges into the ground beneath the pools and again emerges above ground through a tunnel several hundred yards later. The site itself is a sacred place to the Mayans, only to arrive on the tourist map in 2004, and is considered by many to be a must see place.

So as we were about to get a pickup back to Lanquin, we decided that it would maybe be more reasonable to give the place one more night and have plenty of time to visit Semuc Champey and the nearby caves that same afternoon. We turned back and found a two bed room at our campsite for 45Q per person per night ($6). Obtaining a room was quite important as it allowed us to lock our bags in the room. After getting our bags settled in the new room, which was on the second floor of a building so sturdy that when you rolled over in bed the foundation would shake, we started the 3 kilometer walk to the entrance of Semuc Champey.

About 10 minutes after entering Semuc Champey, we came across the first of these pools of water. Seeing a few people already swimming in it, we went down to the ledge and jumped in. The pool was probably about 10 feet deep on average with areas that were more shallow along with a few boulders in which you could sit or stand. After about 10 minutes, we saw a tour group consisting of both Germans and Israelis working their way down the set of naturally occurring falls from the most upstream pool to the furthest downstream. The falls leading into our pool created a slide of sorts in which people could sit and descend at sort of an angle down the rock face falling sideways off a 3 foot cliff into the water. Some were obviously less graceful than others providing us more entertainment than expected from the awkward faces that accompanied unexpected bumps.

After the first pool we decided to head up to el mirador (the lookout) from which you can see all the pools from high above on the mountain. The hike was substantial at well over 1000 feet and on the way up, we ran into the Uruguayan travelers from our campsite. The birds eye view from the look out was stunning and for a few minutes, only five of us – the Uruguayan travelers, my buddy, a girl traveling from Brazil, and I, all stood looking down over the pools of water from a location that was nearly completely silent providing a feeling of extreme relaxation. That is until a large and loud tour group found their way to the lookout after which we promptly started heading away from them.

After the lookout, we headed to the place in Semuc Champey where the river plunges beneath the earth as suggested by the Uruguayans. Arriving to this viewpoint, there is a sign in Spanish stating that this location is impressive but dangerous as there's a tourist that slips into the river from time to time only to have his body show up down stream days later. Needless to say, we still went to this view point and could see the mouth of the tunnel where the white water rushes below the surface.

The last thing we did in Semuc Champey was to traverse all the pools of water - like we saw the group doing earlier only we didn't want to wait for a guide. I'd like to think that my slide down the rock into the pool below was more graceful than that of most people we saw earlier, but I kind of doubt it. Fortunately there was no one below at the time to point and laugh as we may have done.

After Semuc Champey, we went through some nearby caverns with a guide. When the journey starts, you're handed a candle and you walk up about a 100 feet of steps to the entrance the cavern. At that point, you take off your sandals and hop into the chilling water in nothing more than your swim trunks. The cavern had been carved out by the water in which we were passing through over years. The trek involved walking, swimming, and inevitably busting your toes all while having the candle wax drip down over your fingers which you gladly accept over the pitch black of the caverns all around you.

Over all, the caverns were extremely enjoyable as we had to walk, swim, climb ladders and even jump from a 10 foot ledge into a black pool of water below. On the way out, there was a waterfall inside the cavern which we jumped off by first contorting our bodies to squeeze through a crack through which the water flowed and then just let go and fall into the water below. At that point, I was really not liking the idea of just 'letting go' as I really felt that I was going to smack my face on the rock going down. Fortunately nothing happened, but talking to a girl later, she told me that she did smack her face pretty hard when doing it with another guide later in the day.

After the waterfall jump, the cave exploration pretty much came to an end with nothing more than some slightly battered up feet and amazing memories as we were not able to take a camera through the caverns less it was waterproof.

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