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Beautiful drive to Semuc Champey
Sometimes it pays to be a gringo in Latin America. Chicken buses are never comfortable. You are usually crammed three to a seat, with people standing and spilling out into the aisles. Being of much bigger size than the average Guatemalan, I usually manage to get away with just two to a seat. Nevertheless, it's still an ordeal. I was on the bus from Xela to Antigua, and the only convenient way to get there is by chicken bus. As you may recall from a previous entry, they are simply old American yellow school buses that have been repainted in garish colors. When you are riding them you feel like you are back in middle school, pushing and shoving included. The journey to Antigua took
about 4 hours and 2 buses, but only cost about $4. At one point I sat next to an older gentleman on the bus who, like many others I had met, lived in the US at one point. He gave me an interesting perspective on Guatemala, noting that it was a "complex" country where it was hard to get things done. I talked in Spanish while he responded mostly in English. He said that for someone who was a Spanish major I was not doing "very well" speaking Spanish, but I had already gotten the sense from him that he was a little condescending. This was confirmed when he was surprised that I knew the word for "to retire" (jubilarse). I tried not to roll my eyes and gently reminded him that I had studied the language for many years.
The second bus to Antigua was unbelievably full. Everywhere was 3 to a seat, and the seat in front of me had 1 adult and 5 kids! The aisles were packed with standing people as well. Many people got off after only a few minutes, which helped. Soon I thought I was in Antigua because I recognized a church.
I got off at one stop and quickly realized I was nowhere near Antigua. Oops. Luckily there was another bus right there, so I hopped on that one, and had a mere 5 minute ride to Antigua. Once I got there, I went back to the first hostel I had stayed in in Antigua. It was nice to be in familiar surroundings, and I loved the staff there. When I entered the hostel I ran into the 2 Israeli guys who I met in Nebaj days before. I knew they would be in town, and we went out to dinner later that night. It was great to be able to catch up with them again, as they were some of my favorite people I had met on this trip. At this point I only had 5 days left on my trip. I wanted to go up north to see a few more sites, and so to ease the hassle I booked a travel package through my hostel. This was normally something I would never do, and was very unbackpackeresque, but given the little time I had, it made sense. They booked all of my lodging and transportation and tours...all I
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The setting of the hostel had to do was show up. I paid extra for this service, of course, but it turned out to be worth it.
The next morning was a 10 hour shuttle bus journey to the town of Lanquin, up north. These shuttles are not as cramped as chicken buses, and usually hold about 12-15 tourists. That doesn't mean they are still not hot and uncomfortable. The final road to Lanquin was about 6 miles of gravel road...what a bad way to end the trip. Once we finally got to Lanquin, I took another truck for 45 minutes which brought me to Semuc Champey. Semuc Champey is a beautiful park in Guatemala which has natural turquoise pools and a limestone bridge. It is in thick jungle, but at about 7,000 ft (2000m), it is not true rainforest. My hostel was right on the edge of the park, which was convenient. The hostel was beautifully designed, and was ideally situated on the banks of the river (see photos). I met some great people there, including one guy from the UK and a girl from Boston who had come on the last bus with me. As we were so remote, electricity was limited
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My dorm room to only 6-10pm in the evening. That meant the night ended early at this particular hostel.
The following morning we went on our tour of Semuc Champey. We started off by hiking up to the lookout point of the pools below. They were stunning formations, beautiful turquoise pools suspended on a natural limestone bridge. We were a few hundred meters up, surrounded on all sides by dense vegetation. After admiring the views, we hiked down to the pools. I slipped and fell on the wet rocks on the way and jammed my thumb, but was otherwise OK. Once we got to the pools, our guide took us for a swim. The setting was unique, and the sediments created the unique turquoise color. The pools were separated by large rocks, which fed into the Chabon River. At one point, there was a rope swing that we could use to jump into the water, which we did happily. We were all little prepared for what came next. We got to a small waterfall and wondered how we would get down. Out of nowhere our guide unfurled a simple rope ladder. That was it, I guess. He threw it over the side
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Hike up to the lookout point of the cliff, next to the waterfall. We proceeded to go down one by one. It was only about 20 feet, but the rock face was only inches away from the waterfall. One slip and that would be the end of you. We all made it down safely and explored the cave below the waterfall. There was a massive rush of water from the caves that fed into the river. I wished I had had my camera with me, but was too afraid it would get wet and damaged.
After lunch, we went on the second part of the tour, to the Kanba cave. The Kanba cave is underwater and extends for some 12 miles, most of it unexplored. In our 2 hour tour we saw maybe a mile of it. Our guide was a young local man who flashed several gold teeth whenever he smiled and laughed, which happened often. We did not know what to expect for this tour. We each got a candle and then we were off. So began one of the most amazing yet most dangerous experiences of my life.
The tour started off tame enough, with some wading and swimming through the
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The pools of Semuc Champey water. It was surreal to be doing all of this by candlelight. The guide had a headlamp as a backup, but that was it. Especially when swimming or climbing over rocks into the next section of water, you had to be careful to not get your candle wet, lest you be shrouded in darkness. My candle got wet and went out a few times, but luckily I was able to relight it each time. The caves themselves were stunning. There were some fascinating formations, including rocks that looked like clam shells, and one called La Barba (the beard) because it looked like long hairs. After some more swimming is when things started to get nuts. We had to climb up through a small waterfall using a rope. And I mean literally
through. The force of the water knocked me down twice, but on the third try I fought against the water and made it to the other side. Chinese water torture must feel like this, I thought, and I had swallowed a lot of water. Later on we came upon a big rock, which our guide told us we could jump off of. I was lucky to have water shoes
on to protect my feet. We did lots of climbing on slippery rock, and some even did it barefoot. On this particular rock we climbed up several feet then were told to jump into the pool of water below. Keep in mind that except for some faint candlelight it is
pitch black. Only the foolhardy would do this. I climbed up the rock and looked down to the pool about 10 feet below, seeing nothing. The jump was truly a leap of faith. I steeled myself and jumped, landing safely below. It was so much fun that I decided to do it again. On the way back we climbed over more slippery rocks, went up and down ladders, and swam through more pools. Then came the grand finale. We had to slide down a chute with a small opening, surrounded by rock on all sides. Although the chute was only about 5 feet long into the water below, the fact that you could not see where you were going was pretty terrifying. You also had to make sure to tuck your head so you wouldn't smash it on the rock. After cursing to myself I crossed my arms and slide
down and landed safely. Whew! Soon after this we made it out of the cave, and so ended one of the most amazing experiences of my life. But as I said, it was also extremely dangerous, and for me ranks up there with skydiving as one of the craziest things I have ever done. I later found out that people sometimes emerge with broken limbs, and there are a few deaths a year in the caves. In the US, they would never allow something like this. This is Guatemala though, where rules are merely a suggestion. I wish I had a waterproof camera, but with the
photos here you can get a sense of what it was like. After a much-needed meal and a good night's sleep, the next morning I took another shuttle bus to the town of Flores. The ride was long and hot, but I did meet a nice couple from Colorado who told me all about what it would be like to live there. When I arrived in Flores, I was picked up by someone from my hotel. The main reason for visiting Flores is to see the massive Mayan ruins of Tikal, about an hour away. My hotel happened to be right inside the Tikal
park, which was a nice touch. By the time I got to the hotel, an exhausting 12 hour journey was over. The next morning I woke up at the cruel hour of 3:45am to do the sunrise tour of Tikal. I met up with my guide and several other people. The first part of the walk into the park was still under complete darkness. We hiked up to Temple IV, the tallest structure, to see the sunrise. Unfortunately the area is often cloudy so the sunrise was unimpressive, but the early morning is the best time to see animals and avoid crowds and the oppressive heat. Tikal is about 3000 years old and was once the most important Mayan city. It is massive but only a fraction of it has been uncovered. The guide took us on a tour of the major parts of the ruins. The different structures and temples were truly impressive, and I was in awe. We also saw many animals, including coatemundis (in the opposum family), a grey fox, wild turkeys, toucans and spider monkeys. We heard howler monkeys in the distance but never saw them. After a few hours the group went back to the
hotel for breakfast. I left again and went back into the ruins to explore some more of the outlying sections.
In the afternoon I took a bus back to Flores. Flores is a town but is actually located on a small island. It is a beautiful, sleepy town, and is an easy place to relax for a few days. The streets are charming and the water and surrounding areas are very nice. After a few hours of wandering around, I got on the 8pm overnight bus to head to Guatemala City, or "Guate." I was finally on a more comfortable coach bus, although I still did not sleep very well. I arrived in Guate the next morning at 6am and went straight to my hostel.
After some rest I went on a walking tour of the city, which lasted 6 hours. I had heard lots of bad things about Guate, Central America's biggest city, including that it was ugly, dirty, dangerous and not worth seeing. Even a few Guatemalans had told me this. How wrong they were. Although I didn't think Guate was beautiful per se, I found it to be quite nice and pleasant, clean, and did
not feel dangerous at all. Sure, there are sections that are dangerous, but every city has that. There is a strong police and security presence, so I felt pretty safe. We walked through the newer downtown area and the upscale mall, and then took a bus up to the old part of the city with the historic buildings. Our guide, William, was fun and very helpful. He showed us all of the main sights and we stopped at a local market, where we had lunch and a dessert of chocolate-covered frozen fruit. We also went to the local crafts market where I bought some souvenirs. That night the whole hostel, including the owners, went out for dinner. The hostel had its own van and basically drove us around town, which was nice. After dinner, a bunch of us gringos, including the owners and their friends, went to a local music club. It was a great experience, as this was a place no gringos would ever know about it. One guy from the hostel even went up and played a few songs while the band was on intermission. At this point it was 11pm and the owners had said they would
be going back. I was relieved about this because I was ready to go to bed. I had to get up at 5am the next day for my flight back to the US. Of course popular sentiment won and we ended up staying out until 1am. Needless to say that the next morning was tough.
The flight from Guate to Atlanta was uneventful. I was at my gate in the Atlanta airport for my flight to Philadelphia when my stomach started grumbling. I will leave out the details but let's just say that the food from the market the day before had not agreed with me, and would continue to wear me down for a couple more days. To make matters worse, the flight to Philadelphia was delayed because of the weather. They kept pushing it back from the original 3pm departure time. At 6pm they said they were ready to go but had no flight attendants. What?! So we all had to wait until they arrived, and finally took off at 8, 5 hours late.
When I landed in Philadelphia, I was glad to be back home. It had been a great trip, filled with wonder and
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Near the caves some amazing experiences. Nevertheless, I was ready to get back to the real world, and prepare for my next adventure, a year in Denver, Colorado.
Thanks for reading!
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folkert
non-member comment
last trip report
Great story and shots, Thanks, Folkert