Blogs from Semuc Champey, Verapaz Region, Guatemala, Central America Caribbean - page 3

With no internet connection at the hotel and not a lot of information on the Lonely Planet, I wasn't too sure about how much time or money I would have to spend to go from El Remate to Coban, so I left the hotel reasonably early to be on the safe side. At 8am, I was on the side of the road, waiting for the colectivo that would take me to Flores where I was hoping to catch a bus to Coban (probably with changes). But as I waited, I noticed a sign in one of the hotels stating “shuttle direct to Coban”. I was tempted and thought there was no harm in investigating. I was told the shuttle would take 5 or 6 hours, there was only a change in Flores but the bus was ... read more

Hola! San pedro ended up being a great little town to be in. We went horse riding the next afternoon with a guide (and owner of the horse) named Pedro. He took us to an amazing look out piint on the nearby hillside, a 3 hour round trip. Unfortunately my saddle was pretty damn uncomfortbale and i ended up having bruised thighs and my shins got bruised too coz the stirrups were weird! loved my little horse though, she loved to run, so we did! We learnt a lot from Pedro about the local fauna, including the snakes, spiders and the local wildcats that apparently looks like a mini black and grey tiger! The horses looked pretty well looked after, but one of my horses shoes fell off right before we started but they said it ... read more

(Day 832 on the road)And so my time in Guatemala was coming to an end. From the great market in Chichicastenango (see last entry), Tino and I embarked on our last few days in the country, the natural wonders of Semuc Champey near Lanquin. One American guy I talked to a few weeks ago had called Semuc Champey the most beautiful thing in the world. As anticipated, my resulting high expectations could only be disappointed. While the blue, terraced pools were certainly beautiful and special indeed, they are most certainly not the most beautiful thing in the world. As always, I found myself comparing this attraction to other I have seen, and instantly Huang Long National Park in Sichuan, China came to mind. Huang Long has a very similar look, but it is decidedly more beautiful. ... read more

"How many guatemalans can you fit in the back of the truck? How many? Uno mas!!(one more)" haha that was the joke of the ride all the way here. it was a 8 hour ride from flores to semuc champey but our driver made it in about 6...no speed limit here!! we are at this hostel place where we have met tons of people. one guy absolutely is like in love with me, ha. but really no kidding, he taught me already how to surf and play guitar!! it´s pretty funny! so basically all we have done is go swimming in the frigid waters of semuc champey, we ate dinner where i had my first beer...first guatemalan beer that it ;) then we went to the guy and asked to play music from his ipod and ... read more

Hello there, After a false start on Monday morning where my porridge and stomach decided to have a fight, I got up on Tuesday determined to get myself to Flores by nightfall and then onto Tikal the next day to check out some Mayan ruins. Got to the bus station and the very nice man informed me there was no 9.30am bus as they didn´t have a driver and there wouldn´t be one until 2.30am, which meant I would get into Tikal for 3am. After some internal crying and some linguistical trouble due to my still very basic Spanish, I managed to get some info off him of another bus company that was travelling towards Flores. I raced across town with my back pack and just got the next bus heading to Guate City. On the ... read more