We left Antigua in the morning and had a typical shuttle ride and arrived a nice 2 1/2 hours late to Lanquin (the town nearest to Semuc Champey). We were unfortunately in the shuttle for 10 hours with the spitting images of the stereotypically loud, arrogant, and offensive American. After finally ridding ourselves of them at the first hostel we arrived at in Lanquin, we stepped out of the van to finally stretch out legs, and then the tropical rainy season finally decided to let loose. This picture shows the few drops that hit us during our transfer to the more mountain-capable truck that took us to our final destination as dusk fell.
Here is the place we stayed. The loft of the building with the red roof hiding in the trees on the left was our humble abode. The river was about 50ft down the bank, turquoise blue.
Our private little climbing session, right below our hut.
The next morning we began the Semuc tour. Two other people hiked with us up to a good 1000ft above the ponds to a vantage point (mirador), and those ponds behind us are those of Semuc Chammpey. Pictures don't do the height justice. It is a truly extraordinary height. 1000ft is very likely a low-ball estimate.
Hilary, happy to bask in the cool turquoise pools after the "death hike" to the mirador. For those who don't know about one of the world's great wonders, there exists a type of fish which are used in South East Asia for feet massages. I got one when I was in Bangkok last year and was forever in love with the small fish that swarm your legs and feet and eat all of your dead skin, leaving your skin feeling fresher than a baby's... After dangling our feet in the ponds for a while we realized that some similar fish existed in the Semuc ponds, so we allowed them to feast upon our calloused and abused feet. It was a big scary at first because the larger fish were just as visible only a couple feet below and whenever they swam close it was quite difficult to keep our feet in the water.
Because I can't seem to grow my own facial hair, I thought I would make a water beard for myself... The pools were absent of foreigners/tourists for the majority of our time in them. The majority of the pools' baskers were locals. Quite the phenomenon at such an incredibly tourist-prone location. I think the 10 hour drive, the last 2 of which are on dirt roads in the middle of the jungle, keeps many tourists away.
After lunch and a leisurely innertubing down the river, we adorned our headlamps and followed a guide into a set of 11km deep caves. Although we had candles to help light our way, we found that treading water and swimming through pools and climbing up cavernous waterfalls was much harder to do when trying to keep a candle that drips hot wax on to your hand afloat and lit. We left them behind and left the lighting to our 21st century devices. After venturing 500 meters into the caves (the furthest you can go without a wetsuit), we stopped at a particularly deep pool and climbed up the walls of the narrow cave and took turns jumping carefully between the walls and plunging to the bottom of the pool. Then we turned around and hiked back out. It was all quite fantastic in the literal sense. What an experience. By the time we got back to the hostel for dinner we had gone through 6 liters of drinking water, but our muscles still ached and groaned with every step. This trip is well worth the 20+ hours of treacherous driving time for anybody who is traveling to Guatemala. Also, note, the best place to stay is the hostel we were at: El Portal. It is literally in the park. All of the others are 2-12km away.
Hilary takes off tomorrow morning and then I will be back to work after my 3 day break.
That sounds and looks like quite an adventure! As usual very jealous
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