After returning to Antigua for a night I headed to Lanquin, located 9 km north of Semuc Champey. At my first night at Zephyr Hostel (which was one of the most spectacular hostels I have stayed at; located on the side of a hill in one of the regions many valleys) I met up with Sam and Dougie. It was good seeing the guys again and we exchanged books and insults over a few games of Veinte Uno. The next day I took a trip to Semuc Champey, the setting for one of the best days of my entire trip.

Semuc Champey is in contention to be named as one of the ‘New Natural Wonders of the World’ and it’s not difficult to see why, it’s like nothing I’ve ever seen before. The Rio Cahabon runs through the valley, it is wild and strong, however, for 300 metres of the valley a bridge crosses from one side to the other over the river. This natural limestone bridge contains a series of beautiful stepped pools. Their turquoise/emerald green colours are amazing, especially when seen from above and we took our time swimming from the top pool to the bottom. It was so peaceful and relaxing, the water was lovely and cool, perfect after the long sweaty walk we had to take to get there. It was great that after 8 months of travelling and seeing all these amazing sites that I could witness something truly unique that left me gob-smacked. We made our way down the pools, jumping off ledges, exploring caves and occasionally stopping to let the fish nibble the dead skin from our feet. Once we reached the end there were tree vines dangling over one of the pools that we used as a Tarzan swing. Our group had a great time swinging into the pool before fatty here had a go, snapped the vine and ruined the fun for everyone!

This all took place in the afternoon and was only half of the day’s fun. In the morning after jumping off a swing rope 5 metres above the river we explored the caves. Unlike normal caving the location for the activity wasn’t particularly cramped, there was actually quite a lot of room. Its selling point however was that instead of torches or headlamps, a single candle was provided to light your way. Again this was truly a unique experience, I thought about how impossible it would be to do something like that back home. It was amazing fun, I felt like Indiana Jones, wading through water and dodging bats, there were even times when the water was so deep we had to swim; holding the candle well into the air to protect our only source of light. It really was one of the most enjoyable days of my travels.