Semuc Champey

We got up early to watch the first World Cup Football game. Mexico is a huge rival here, so there was a lot of celebrating their non-victory. Later, we said our goodbyes to Francisco, Karla and Melissa and I took one more longing look at Karla’s pink bug. Man, I miss my bug sometimes. The next one will be pink!

As Francisco says, “Pink is not a crime!” But, he also says he can’t drive it.

After getting lost a few times and driving through some areas that were easily 100% indigenous (non-Spanish speaking,) we finally got on the correct road to Semuc-Champay. The scenery was fantastic.  There are so many small bumpy mountains and the clouds were rolling in. A couple hours on pavement, and a long bumpy hour on steep dirt terrain and we were there.

We arrived at Semuc-Champay, a series of cascades emptying into some beautiful turquoise pools. The view from above is legendary, but we were anxious to go jump in. Coban had been a nice change from the heat, but now we were back in it.

We jumped right into the first pool we found and swam to a rock island in the middle. We swam around a bit until we had a feeling we hadn’t felt in a while – cold.  By the time we hiked back to the car, that feeling was gone and all the windows were down for our hot and slow climb back uphill.

There was camping there at the park, but it was just the parking lot and no one (except the armed vigilante) was there. We decided to hit the former finca near town referred to in our guidebook as “the hippest place in Guatemala.”

On the way, we picked up a farmer and his son for the very long, and very steep journey to the next town of Lanquin.We checked into our decent digs ($15US) and immediately went out to enjoy the spectacular grounds.

There was a nice river with a strong current. Bode wanted to get in, but Jason told him about the time he got swept away by the current of the Rio Grande when he was a kid, and his friend Dale had to save him. Actually, Bode was riveted by the story and we heard it about 15 times that night. By the way, thanks Dale!

Just across the river were cows grazing on the mountains. Bode insisted they wanted to cross the river to our side. I doubt it.  I’m not sure if it was the hippest place in Guatemala, but it sure was peaceful.