Day 1: Reaching Semuc

It was time for us to leave Antigua and head to Semuc Champey, a rural area with famous blue limestone pools and cave systems. We piled into our shuttle minibus which would be our home for the next 6-8hrs or so. Unfortunately we spent the first hour of our trip circling the bumpy cobbled roads of Antigua picking up other travellers from their hostels. But finally, we were on our way... that is until Guatemala city. Our driver informed us there was a demonstration on so we would have to make a small diversion to get on the road we needed. Before we knew it we were heading through what can only been described as the shanty town of Guatemala city. This seemed strange and evidently the police who promptly pulled us over thought so too. They took some documents from the driver and told us to wait whilst they went to the station and "verified" them. Turns out our driver had different ideas and after a frantic phone call to his boss we zoomed off without waiting for the police to return. We're we now fugitives running from the police..? We eventually exited shanty land and returned to the main road by travelling the wrong way down the hard shoulder of the freeway and crossing over the four lanes to reach the correct side. Now we were starting to make some progress though... But then upahead we spotted police pulling cars over. The policeman signaled to our driver to stop but obviously on the run from the police already (and having no papers on him), our driver thought it was a better idea to just put his foot down and accelerate past. We weren't followed but now we felt like fugitives more than ever. 6-8hrs of bumpy, windy road driving ensued, including changing to another minibus and driving for an hour along an unsealed road. Eventually we arrived in the small village of Lanquin, the nearest settlement to Semuc Champey. We opted to stay in a lodge called Utopia Eco Lodge which was a few kilometers out of Lanquin, towards Semuc Champey. The lodge picked us up and we travelled there in the back of a truck, sitting on our rucksacks. We were pleased when we arrived - it had taken us about 10hrs to get there! The lodge was lovely. A large two storey cabin at the heart of it, with a kitchen, bar, dining room and bathroom on the ground floor with nice wooden swing seats to sit on and old tree stumps made into chandeliers hanging from the ceiling. The second floor consisted of the dorm, with bunkbeds, and an area with hammocks. We stayed in a "nook", which was a small room they made in the corners of the angled roof. The lodge also had individual private huts away from the main building which you could rent. It had a lovely family atmosphere where all the travellers, about 12 of us, chatted together with the owners. Dinner was a sit down meal, family style and we enjoyed a couple of cocktails and planned our adventure to Semuc Champey the next day. A mammoth trip to get there so we just hoped Semuc Champey would live up to the hype!

Day 2: Semuc Champey

We woke and had a family style breakfast in the hostel. We had opted to explore Semuc Champey with the guide from the Lodge. Hindsight proved this was the right decision because we were in a small group (as opposed to other groups of 20 that we saw). We got dropped off in the pick up truck at the main entrance to the park. The first stop was to visit the caves (N.B I didn't enter the caves - because i'm a wus and squeezy tight spaces have never been my thing but Andrew filled me in on what happened - Sarah). Everyone stripped down to their swimming stuff and were given a candle each before entering - no head torches here! Next came an hour of clambering through tunnels half filled with water, trying to keep candles alight whilst swimming. Climbing ropes up and down small waterfalls and jumping from rock faces into dark pools (Andrew was the only one brave/crazy enough to do this jump... twice!) He said it was 'pretty different' because you had to just trust what the guide was telling you and step down blindly onto ledges and grapple your way around corners, and people's candles blew out more than once. I'm not sure it would have been my thing...
When they exited the cave we walked to a bridge across the river. Here our guide demonstrated jumping off the bridge into the river below. Again, Andrew volunteered, it must have been about a 12m jump. After all this excitement we were pretty hungry and stopped for our packed lunch - a tortilla and brownie from the lodge. Now came the real highlight, Semuc Champey itself. We entered the park and hiked to the top of the lookout to get our first sighting of the pools. The energy expended was well worth it - the view was beautiful! Far below us nestled in the forest were 4 or 5 turquoise blue pools, cascading into one another, connected by small waterfalls and/or rapids. We could make out little dots of humans splashing in the water - that would be us next! We descended and headed there straightaway. The first pool was set off from the others. This was not for swimming as it had thousands of gallons of water rushing into it and disappearing into a large underground cave. We learnt that 90% of the water in the park actually exists in underground caves and the (swimming) pools that we see on the surface are just the 10% left. We headed to the first swimming pool and dived into the cool water. We were splashing around but actually when we stopped small fish would come and nibble at the dry skin on our feet and legs (you pay money for that in Asia!) Our guide then led us from pool to pool, via small waterfalls that you jump from. However, our favourite way was when our guide made us sit down on the rock, worn smooth by the continuous flow of water and rapids. He told us to cross our arms over our chest and then gave us a push so we would slide down the rock like a water flume and drop into the pool below. The pools were such great fun - a natural playground - and very beautiful too. We were sad to leave but it was getting late in the day and we'd got as far as we could go. The final swimming pool led to a 25m high waterfall. Our guide said people used to jump off this but it was banned now as some tourists had got stuck in the currents at the bottom and been stranded on a little island for hours (probably a good thing as Andrew seemed to have got a taste for jumping from things today). So, we headed back to the lodge in time for a shower and dinner. A fun, exhilarating day and we were ready for bed. The next day we would be leaving on another mammoth day of travel on pick-up trucks and minibuses to our next destination in the north of Guatemala. We both said we could have stayed another day in the chilled out paradise of Semuc Champey but unfortunately time was against us and another exciting adventure awaited us... Tikal.

Sarah