Blogs from Semuc Champey, Verapaz Region, Guatemala, Central America Caribbean - page 4

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It feels almost like we are camping here, out on a ridge in the valley. Today we are heading for Guatamala's paradise. Our guide showed up to pick us up in a pickup truck, so the ten of us jumped in the back. It was a 10km gravel road, crowding locals in for short rides when they could squeeze in. Our guide is a humorous local named Otto who likes joking with us. Our first stop in Semuc Shampey is the caves. They extend over 15km into the mountain and at points we swim. Mainly the water is at stomach level. As we enter with our candles the guide says follow him to be safe (I can tell already that Jeff is not going to follow). The guide takes three steps in and falls into a ... read more


Dec 12 Off Again After a long refreshing sleep we were ready to head to Lanquin. We all ate breakfast at the hostel then jumped in a van for our 7 hour trip. Our bags were thrown on the roof and 10 of us squeezed in (5 Aussies, 5 Canadians). Luckily they noticed that this wouldn't work for that long a trip, so they called up another van and we split into 2 groups. We were now heading into the poor part of Guatamala. At a river crossing James and Jeff bought cantalope off a little child for the rough equivalent of 10 cents. Women and children work in bare feet with heavy loads and motorcycles wip by at excessive speeds with familys of 4 or 5 sitting precariously on top. We drove passed two children, ... read more


Imagine a place that has been completely untouched - a pure natural attraction which just a few dodgy sets of steps to help you access - this is Semuc Champey. First though a two hour journey from Coban with the last hour a unmade road to make even the most secure teeth shake loose we arrived in the small market town of Lanquin. The people here seem much smaller than even their other Mayan relatives and this seemed really apparent in the market where Neil had to duck continually to not bang into the stall canvas - he looked like gandalf visiting the shires! The people are so friendly and we enjoyed just wandering around before the final 40 minutes to Semuc where the most amazing waterfalls and natural swimming pools awaited. What we had not ... read more
Kirsty taking the plunge
Semuc champey
Neil taking the plunge


We went on an excursion into Semuc Champey from a really nice hostel spot in Lanquin called "El Retiro." ... read more
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Hey guys! So we left Antigua yesterday and are now in Semuc Champey or close enough. Things kinda sucked two days ago (our last day in Antigua) when I was robbed. When I was walking through a bunch of Guats gettin on a bus some asshole slit my purse and stole my wallet which happened to contain my cash, debit card and mastercard. I cancelled my cards within 20 minutes and they had already cought 30$ worth of Subway! Luckily Mastercard was very helpful and I'm not paying for their little food spree. I was pretty bummed that afternoon but now... f*** it! My awesome mom is sending me a new debit card and Mastercard already has another credit card on the way! Sooo we took a bus for 6 hours yesterday to get here and ... read more


Efter et par dages afslapning i Antigua, besluttede vi os for at tage ud for at bestige vulkaner! Det blev en vulkan i naerheden af Guatemala City, som hedder Pacaya. Vulkanen er stadig aktiv, saa vi glaedede os til at se en masse lava - og vi blev ikke skuffede! Det var en til tider ret haard tur opad. Nogle steder var det temmeligt stejlt, og paa lange straekninger var der rullesten og grus, som man skred rundt i. Paa naesten hele turen var der et par taalmodige guatemaltekere, som fulgte efter os med nogle heste, og ca. hver femte minut spurgte, om vi ville have en "taxi" resten af vejen op ad vulkanen. Vi klarede os dog uden, og endelig kom vi op til lavaen! Pludselig blev det bare rigtig varmt, og saa vidste vi, ... read more


El fin de semana pasado, aprovechando que era la festividad del Maestro, y no se daba clases (...más adelante les cuento como se celebra aqui esta festividad) junto con tres maestros mas , también voluntarios, hicimos una esacapada a las montañas, a un parque nacional llamado Semuc Champey. El recorrido fué en camioneta y en "chicken bus" por carreteras sin asfaltar salpicadas de puequeñas aldeas mayas . Este parque nacional es celebre por sus pozas de aguas cristalinas escalalonadas en las que se puede nadar y que se llenan con el agua fresca del rio Cahabón de color verde turquesa. Imaginad enormes piscinas de agua naturales en forma escalonada conectadas unas con otras y todo en medio de una gran jungla con todo tipo de animales y aves . Estuvimos ahì el dia entero disfrutando este ... read more
Bats
Lara en Chicken bus
Mi cama!!!


Vanuit Flores de bus naar Semuc Champey genomen met kleine tussenstop in Coban, waar de andere passagiers gretig een fastfoodhap binnenschrokten, bewoonde wereld zou nameljik niet meer lang duren. Semuc Chempey ligt namelijk in de bergen van Guatemala op een slecht bereikbare plek, in Lanquin moesten we dan ook overstappen op een pick-up, of toch de laadbak ervan. Goed vasthouden want soms ging het echt steil omhoog of naar beneden, met ruige wegen. Ik raakte aan de praat met een meisje uit Californie, die rond aan het reizen was met haar moeder. Zij had het jaar ervoor als vrijwilligster op Galapagos gewerkt. In hostel El Postal verbleven we (2 Israelis, 2 Ned.meisjes, Brit), maar er waren ook andere backpackers present, allen wilden de grottour doen. Het werd een gezellige avond, iedereen at aan 1 lange tafel ... read more


Yesterday we spent the day at Samuc Champey and the Kan'ba caves. This is where the bulk of the Rio Cahabon cuts underground creating a suspended limestone bridge forming the series of pools and waterfalls that are Samuc Champey. We started the day in the Kan'ba caves doing a tour by candlelight. This turned out to be walking and climbing through the caves whilst holding a stubby candle as our only source of light. The caves were partly underwater so at times we were swimming one handed whilst trying to keep our candles alight and aviod all of the rocks that we under the water. The result was a lot of cuts and bruises but a lot of fun. The caves go about 11km deep but due to the temperature in the caves and the temperature ... read more
Samuc Champey
Samuc Champey
Samuc Champey




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