We spent spent pretty much the whole of day travelling from Antigua to Semuc Champey, which is in centre of Guatemala and well off the beaten track so to speak.

The shuttle came 30 minutes early to pick us up and that caused a bit of a last minute rush and for the driver to get a bit grumpy. He managed to get even grumpier over the next half hour when the next 3 pickups weren't ready either - some of them were still eating breakfast. Eventually, after bouncing round the uneven cobbled streets for 75 minutes, we were leaving Antigua behind and heading north towards Semuc Champey.

The van was a bit smaller than we had been in previously but still had a bit of room and comfortable enough for the 7 hour journey to Lanquin. The last 10km into Lanquin were a bit slow on the unsealed road and the final 10km to Semuc was even slower. We had to change to a 4WD truck for some serious off-roading on the rough, bumpy, slow road that wound it's way up, down and around the steep hills to reach Hostal El Portal on the edge of the natural waterpark.

The sun was going down as we finally got to our room. It was a small thatched bungalow perched on he steep banks of the Rió Cahabón with a cold water shower and only 4 hours of electricity in the evenings. Exploring will have to wait for the morning light.