Blogs from Verapaz Region, Guatemala, Central America Caribbean

Nach einer sehr langen 6-stündigen Busfahrt von Río Dulce in einem sehr kleinen Bus ohne Klimaanlage oder Toilette und nur einem kurzen Stop sind wir gegen 20h endlich in Lanquín angekommen. Die Straße dorthin war sehr schlecht gewesen, mit sehr vielen Schlaglöchern, aber die Aussicht und die Landschaft waren einfach atemberaubend ! Unser Busfahrer fuhr zwar wie ein verrückter, war aber eigentlich sehr nett und hat sogar 2 Mal angehalten, damit wir Photos machen konnten. Im Bus habe ich Tina aus Nîmes in Frankreich kennengelernt. Sie war sehr nett und reiste für 5 Wochen durch Guatemala. Sie war dort um ihren Freund zu besuchen, der in der Nähe von Guatemala City lebt, aber da er arbeiten musste, reiste sie alleine durchs Land. Sie hatte dasselbe Hostel gebucht wie wir und so haben wir auch das nächste ... read more

At Lanquín itself wasn't much to do. 2 nights was more than enough, especially after what happened: The morning after we arrived, I woke up really early as usual.. I wake up every morning between 5:00 and 7:00 since I'm traveling. So this day was like any other. I got up and went to the restaurant in my pj's, asked for a bowl to eat the cereals with milk we bought the other day and read a book from the shelf. Around 10:00 the others came for breakfast. They both already took a shower and were ready to go. I still had to take a shower so I went to the cabin to take my stuff. While showering, a frog suddenly came through the drain. I jumped out of the shower with my body still covered ... read more

Semuc Champey is a series of limestone pools above a famed 300m bridge in the central region of Guatemala. It is. Absolutely beautiful and has a deserved reputation of being a great day out. Semuc is difficult to access, so most toursists stay in a pretty small village called Lanquin which is in a neighbouring valley. I stayed in a lovely hillside hostel with great views and a fantastic atmosphere. Lanquin is very, very small and doesn't have much to do, only having a few comedors for eating and a few roadside shops. the main restaurants are inside the hotels or hostels and wifi is rarely available. Coming here was a real get away from realit (despite being surrounded by tourists!) To get there from Flores I took a shuttle bus from my hostel to the ... read more

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 ... read more

One of the last places I visited in Guatemala was just about right in the center of the country and far from everything - the limestone pools at Semuc Champey. This would have been a great place to have a waterproof camera... US$ ≈ 7.7 Guatemalan quetzales (Q) ≈ 13 Mexican pesos (M$) Cobán Like most travelers, I merely passed through Cobán on the way from Guate to Lanquín and had to spend the night after a late arrival. Not much to see in town but nice vibe and friendly people. Very different from Antigua where I had left in the morning. Accommodation and food First looked at Hotel Central as it was on the way from the Monja Blanca bus stop to the center. Q80 for a single but it was full. Then looked at ... read more