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

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

Well 12-12-12 was spent on a bus for a long time driving on some crazy roads to Semuc Champey. It rained heavily for the first time since we left the states. We had a lot of really cool people on the bus with us. I say bus but it was actually just a large van. There was a woman named Elaina from the states who had lived in Guatemala and spoke fluint Spanish so we had are own personal translator for a bit. She was traveling with 3 friends who were natives, they were a fun bunch. There were 4 others from the states and a guy from the UK and a young girl from Germany. We had no idea that we would arrive at Semuc Champey after dark and had no reservations anywhere. It was ... read more

Our hostel, Zephyr Lodge, is beautifully located in the middle of a mountainous jungle. The views from everywhere are fantastic. We caught an 8:30am tour to Semuc Champey, which is Mayan for "water running under rocks." Semuc Champey is supposed to be one of the prettiest natural wonderlands in the world. It began with us all piling in the back of a truck for a bumpy, hour-long, standing ride. We arrived, left all our of stuff, received a candle, and headed for the bat caves. It was pitch-black without the light from our candle. We swam, climbed, and jumped through the tunnels of the cave. This is definitely one of the most amazing excursions I have ever done. After the caves, we headed to the rope swing and bridge jump. The rope swing was amazing. You ... read more

I have a rule that I don’t leave a place until I have posted pics and blogged about it. I broke that rule about 10 days ago. You see, the day I headed to Semuc Champey, I was writing an infringement analysis process test that the engineers in India took today. I was on course to write 30 questions a day, when I left on the 7 hour jungle drive to Semuc from Antigua, Guatemala. Upon arrival at the El Portal Inn, at the entrance to Semuc, I learned that the hostel only had 4 hours of electricity per day. My computer batteries were dead from writing questions on the drive there, and there was no power on arrival, so I lost two days of work. You can’t bring your B game when you work with ... read more

Hola amigos! We made a stop in Lanquin to see some really cool caves. The lights were not functional that day (nor were they functional for the last few months, we reckon), so we relied on our head lamps for light. Slowly, but surely, we clambered over slippery rocks and a couple of dodgy ladders in the total darkness, viewing some amazing rock formations inside. The caves are relatively unexplored and continue for several miles in a maze of caverns and tunnels, although we only made it in a few hundred yards. We waited by the cave entrance until sunset and watched bats fly out of the cave by the thousands. Against the twightlight sky, we could make out their flight patterns of swooping and darting everywhere. Such amazing creatures. Only a few miles from Lanquin ... read more

The next day I found myself on another bus to Coban back in Guatemala (for the third time).Near to Coban are the caves of Lanquin and the karst lakes of Semuc Champey. Semuc ChampeySemuc Champey is a beautiful series of small ponds and pools on a natural land bridge that crosses the Cahabon River. In the Mayan Kekchi language, Semuc Champey means Sacred Water. The Cahabon River submerges itself at the entrance of Semuc Champey and resurfaces about 400 meters later after it passes this natural limestone bridge suspended with beautiful crystal clear ponds. In this unique natural formation you have water with shades of light green emerald to dark blue sapphire. Before reaching the lakes you have to climb around 300 metres to a vantage point and then you walk down to have a swim ... read more