Semuc Champey, Guatemala – May 17-18, 2011

The journey from La Antigua to Semuc Champey was a long 9-hour trip in a crowded van.  The roads were quite good so that was not a problem, until the end when we hit some small dirt road.  The last part of our journey was actually by truck to the resort itself.  The resort is right on the river and we arrived a couple of hours before dinner so we went down to the river for a quick dip in the nice cool water.  It was very refreshing and definitely cooled me off – at least for a few minutes.

I wasn’t feeling all that well after the journey despite the fact that I sat in the front seat near the window.   However, I joined everyone for dinner.  I think there were eight of us in total at the resort.  I didn’t eat a lot.  Actually I probably ate a fair bit but the plates were huge so it just didn’t look like I ate a lot.  I think we had two choices for dinner and that was it.   The resort is very much out on its own so there weren’t a lot of alternatives for food.  That didn’t matter though as the food was good, the price was reasonable and the people were very nice.

After dinner I went right to bed and the next day I didn’t get up until noon.  It was definitely a rough night and I made many trips to the tiny bathroom.  The whole place was pretty small but at least it was quiet so I did get some sleep in the morning.  I don’t know whether I had the 24 hour flu or what but all night I was either hot and sweaty or chilled to the bone and shivering.  The trips to the bathroom stopped in the morning so that allowed me to get some more sleep.

Okay, enough of that.  I skipped the morning activity which was a trip to some caves.  Listening to the adventures later on, I’m very glad I skipped the trip.  Apparently some of the tunnels were very small and in one of the caves you had to swim while holding a candle in one hand to get to the other side of one and solid ground.  I would not have done very well on that part.   I went down for lunch and had some toast, which tasted fantastic, and then decided to venture out to the whole purpose of this visit.

Semuc Champey is one of the country’s main tourist attractions.  The area is a lush forest area so people come to see the flora and fauna including over 800 species of orchids and 100 species of birds.  They also come to see the waterfalls and the natural pools along the river.  The river flows quickly and it cut a path through the limestone and left a natural bridge above.  On this bridge are a series of pools of varying depth that slowly cascade down the river.  The pools and the park surrounding them are one of the main attractions and that’s where we headed.

 

We walked for 10-15 minutes down the road until we came to the park gates.  We then paid our fee, which was some minimal amount, and walked another 10-15 minutes along the narrow park paths to get to the pools.  There was also a lookout you could climb up to but I definitely wasn’t up to that.  I just slowly meandered along the path to the pools and stopped at several to have a relaxing and cooling dip.  The water in the pools was cool and refreshing.  The water does come from the larger river below so it is very clear and fresh.  There were small fish in the pools and they liked to nibble at your toes – a free foot massage that you didn’t have to pay extra for.  You could slide down the small waterfalls from one pool to the next but I didn’t try that.  I was quite content just to sit and soak and relax.

I did make it to the upper end of the pools and went as far out on the river bank as was allowed by the guide to see the waterfall and the river going beneath the pools.  That was quite impressive...  The rapids / waterfalls right at the entrance to the limestone bridge were very strong.   The pools are also quite impressive but they are very placid and the water is shallow on the limestone and the overall colour of the pools is a pale blue green or almost turquoise colour.  There were a few people around but not many.  Those that were there were a mix of locals and tourists.  The latter seemed to want to try out every pool while the locals had their favourite and just stayed there for their visit.  I was still pretty worn out so just walked far enough to see all the pools and the start of the underground river and then just went for a dip in a couple of the pools before heading back to the hotel.  It was a nice visit and the pools were definitely refreshing.  My only gripe was with the fire ants I obviously ran into in the one area.  I got bitten on my little toe and it was very painful and swelled up for quite some time.  I could have done without that.

Once back at the hotel I rested before dinner, which I still didn’t eat much of, and then went to bed as we had to be up early again to start our trip to Rio Dulce at 7::15.

I have a feeling that this blog is likely the shortest I’m going to have on Guatemala so I think I’ll add some general comments here about the country.  Guatemala is known as the land of eternal springs as it is supposedly green and beautiful all year round.  I would agree that everywhere we saw was beautiful but it wasn’t always green.  Some places were very dry and very much in need of rain.  The mountains and volcanoes and rivers are quite spectacular though.  There are 33 volcanoes within the country, five of which are still active.    The name Guatemala is an Indian name meaning the place of many trees.  It certainly has a lot of forests but they are certainly clearing (burning) a lot of the forests as well.

The colour of the country is enhanced by the people themselves.  Their colourful costumes are amazing and their markets are a million different colours.  The people are also very happy and friendly and always have a smile to greet you even if they can’t speak your language.  Everywhere we went we commented on how friendly everyone was. 

It is easy to get around the country by bus or van.  The roads are typical of anywhere with good highways, smaller paved roads and many dirt roads and they all seemed quite safe.  The country has a lot of historical sites and the Mayan sites we visited were very clean and well looked after and we felt very safe even when we were the only tourists for miles around.  The population of Guatemala is over 13 million and the country covers almost 109,000 square kilometers.  That certainly makes the population density much higher than Canada’s but Guatemala doesn’t really seem crowded. 

Overall, I enjoyed Guatemala and would certainly consider it for another visit.  The problem would be deciding what part of the country to see next time because I enjoyed it all.