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| Overlooking the amazingly coloured pools at Semuc Champay, complete with war paint from the caving endeavors! |
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"Can someone please explain
what this is doing here?!?" |
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| Antigua by night |
A collectivo took us back to Antigua – unfortunately we had
no way of avoiding the return trip. After Tony came to terms with having a
salad on his plate (well, it was called a salad, despite being covered in
chicken and cheese…) and a good night’s sleep, our real onward travels began.
Another collectivo (seemed to be the preferred Guatemalan choice of transport),
crammed with our knees around our ears, and 9 painful hours later and we’d made
it to Lanquin. Couldn’t face the onward journey to right outside the National
Park straight away, so settled down in our ‘private room’ (complete with
curtain instead of a door, accessed via a sheer ladder, sitting on top of
someone else’s proper private room!).
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| So you thought we were joking about candles... |
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| Haviana's pimped up and ready to rock! |
The next day we toured Semuc Champay, first stop the caves
right outside the National Park. Now, in our travels we’ve done a fair few
caves, but walking in holding candles was a first! Various scrambles, swimming
with 3 limbs, ladders and waterfall ascents later, we arrived at the plunge
pool and put our necks on the line taking the 2m jump. Doesn’t sound much,
because it isn’t, but in almost total darkness takes a bit of guts…
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The scene of the rope bridge incident,
and the cold cold river... |
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| Fortunately no flopping from this height, but a sore behind! |
After retracing our steps (not mentioning Tony’s close shave
in zigging when he should have zagged – Annaliza’s shouts finally got him back
on track!), it was time to warm up. Or so we thought. First up was a rope swing
into the water – after giggling at the first few poor attempts and bad
landings, Tony puffed his chest out and grabbed the rope. You guessed it –
sliding off a few seconds too early resulted in a unique face flop, and
humiliation in front of the group…
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| The lovely pools #2 |
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The lovely pools at
Semuc Champay |
An hour or so of relaxing tubing followed – well, it was
supposed to be relaxing, and would probably have been if it hadn’t been for the
sub-zero water temperatures (maybe a slight embellishment…). Sitting on a tiny
rubber tube and trying to keep as much of your body out of the water is more
challenging than it sounds! We’d just about dried off, then came the next water
jump – off the bridge into the river. Tony fared marginally better this time,
with a more normal entry (although still hefty impact on the rear end)…
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| Annaliza showing good form on entry |
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| What a spot for a bit of meditation |
After a quick lunch it was on to the main event, the pools
of Semuc Champay. First we had a slippery hike to the mirador, then followed
our guide down the various picture perfect aquamarine pools. The adrenaline
wasn’t over – methods of entry were jumps, slides and more jumps. Tony thought
he’d regained credibility within the group only to be asked by a lovely
American lass “does your belly hurt after that flop?”. Not his day…
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| Thanksgiving meal Guat style |
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A crowded and bumpy ride
to and from the NP |
Key Learnings:
1. Guatemala is a strange place to have your first
Thanksgiving meal, but the buffet served at El Retiro definitely made us look
forward to the next.
2. To a certain Lanquin tour guides eye, Tony looks
like Osama Bin Laden… Not too sure that’s true, but it did assist the laughter
coming in Tony’s direction the whole day!
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