In Transit: Antigua to Semuc Champey

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From Antigua we decided to head up to Semuc Champey. We've heard it was beautiful and well worth the trip to the middle of nowhere. Since it was a long ride we planned to break it up with a stop at the Biotopo del Quetzal. We really wanted to use local transport instead of the tourist shuttles, but after talking with tourist info in Antigua we decided to take the shuttle for 125GTQ. It would have taken us all the way to Semuc Champey, but we still opted to hop out at the Biotopo and do a walk. We spent the 40GTQ each to go in at a nature reserve that had to have some hotel rooms in order to keep the land. Unfortunately they had no room for us, but we did have a room booked in Copan. The walk was nice, if not a tad muddy, but, alas, we did not see any quetzales. We waited on the roadside for a local bus to swing by and paid the 10GTQ for the 1 hr ride to the city. At first we were crammed in that 15 passenger van (I use the term 'in' loosely as Dan really only had his left arm and two feet inside the sliding door, and he was more in than some) with probably 25 people doing 70 kph down the road. Ashley was in a less precarious position, but was uncomfortable standing in front of the second row seats leaning into the front seat. It was fine for a short trip, until we had to pull off the road to let people disembark and the ditch side list became even more pronounced; Dan's thoughts turning to, 'If we roll, do I tuck into the door to avoid having legs and head mashed between the frame and ground and have everyone inside land on me? Or should I see how far I can launch myself into the ditch, away from the inevitable carnage?' Fortunately the carnage was evitable and we let off enough people that we could both sit inside for the majority of the trip. After Tactic we had a straight shot the rest of the way to Copan.

That night we took it easy in the hostel until supper. As we went out a massive downpour hit. The hostel lent us an umbrella and we scurried through the street making it no more than 200 meters before trying to cross the street, which had turned into two raging creeks, one on either curb. We stopped at the first place we came upon. It turned out to be a pretty nice place and we had a wonderful dinner. By the time we left the rain had stopped and we went to bed feeling warm and cozy.

The hostel owners tried to set us up with a shuttle for another 125GTQ to get to Semuc Champey. Since that was the same price as from Antigua (which was a lot further away) we opted to try once more to go locally. The morning after the rain we meandered through town asking where to catch the bus to Lanquin, the nearest town to Semuc Champey. No one really seemed to know so we figured we'd head to the main bus area and try our luck. Turns out our luck wasn't so good and the guys there sent us back into the city centre. After asking some police who didn't know, a man overheard and offered directions. They were more than we'd gotten so far so we followed them as best we understood. Right around where our understanding began to fail a man came out from a side street and lead us the rest rest of the way, turns out he was the hand on the bus; there always seems to be a driver, and a hand for dealing with luggage, money, and the like. I appreciate that since on these roads there seems to be enough for a driver to focus on.

We made our way over the mountains and got to Lanquin without incident, and wound up making a new friend once we all disembarked. We hadn't emailed the hostel as we were supposed to to let them know when we would reach Lanquin so when someone was there asking what hostel we were going to we, as usual, we were skeptical. They in some places tend to have Coyotes that get a commission when they take you somewhere to stay; not really a bad system per say, but you never know what you're going to get. Thankfully this guy started by asking if we were going to the hostel that we had booked at. Jenny, the girl we rode all the way to Lanquin with without saying anything to, didn't have anywhere booked and she was also skeptical, but since we were headed that way she joined us.

We waited at another Hostel/Bar in Lanquin as our ride came from the hostel. Lanquin is about 10km from Semuc Champey but our hostel was only around 3km from the attraction. Still it took ages to get there, no wonder they combined a supply run and a guest pick up. The road was tiny, busy, and didn't seem to go any one direction. We wondered what we'd gotten ourselves into being so far from everything.

More pictures are available here

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Photos

The Drive
The view from the bus while Dan was hanging out the side.