Lanquin and Semuc Champey

The way from the little finca to Lanquin takes us two days, for roughly 200 kilometers. Why? Well, the first leg of the journey, to Huehuetenango is easy. The camioneta whips over the road at the usual neckbreak speed, and stops on the bus terminal (actually, rather a terminalito), where the usual ajudantes ushes us in about two minutes into the next bus. This time a microbus, which means considerably less comfortable and more crowdiness than in a camioneta.

After a few hours of suffering, we stop in Uspantan, and thank goodness we have a bit more time to changes buses. We even manage to find the bathroom, and a hotdog from one of the numerous little stalls close by.

After about half an hour we pass by a sign that says "Cobán: 60 km". Wait.. why does the driver then say that we have 3 hours of driving still ahead of us? Just a few corners later the first landslide helps to explain. Not that it would completely block the road, but at least one of the 1.5 lanes. Our driver makes his vehicle crawl over the gravelly mess that used to be a road, and soon the way gets even worse. All remains of asphalt are gone, there aren't any speedbumps any more, but crevices washed by spontaneous mountain streams instead. 

By now I'm awestruck at the prowess of our driver, and keep thinking "Well, if I was driving, it would take us about 6 hours." I might add that the microbus is a really old car, of course. Only a fool would drive on this road with a new car, or new shock absorbers. We are glad when we arrive in Cobán, just before it gets dark, and manage to find a cheap hotel, and a hot dinner.

The last bit of the way to Lanquin on the next morning isn't any better, but it's not able to startle us as much as the first bit.

The turquoise-blue rock pools of Semuc Champey, the "hiding river".

We spend our first day in Lanquin just lazing in the Hostel, El Retiro. Our room is comfy, we have a hamock right at our veranda, there is a well-equipped bookshelf in the restaurant, a river that flows right next to our chalet, and dinner is a self-service buffet with lots of fresh vegetables and vegetarian food (which is a nice change after having chicken with rice and beans for a long time..)

Not the worst place to stay for a few days.

Hamocks are also provided.

Unfortunately, however, the weather takes a turn towards the nasty on the next day, as does my digestion. Hannah still enjoys the food, while I restrict myself to camomille tea and crackers for some days..

Finally, on the fourth day, both my stomach and St. Pete are in a better mood. So we finally make the excursion for which we came here:

To the natural rock pools of Semuc Champey.

Header or front flip?

Walk over the pools.

Semuc Champey means in Q'eqchi' "where the river hides under the ground, and that's exactly what it does here. All the rock pools have formed in some wonderous way as a natural bridge over the rushing stream.

That's the spot where the river goes into hiding.

As usual, they also have a mirador. The one-hour climb up the muddy track is definitely worth it, the view over the cloud forest and down onto the pools is breathtaking.

After a longer-than-anticipated climb, we get to enjoy the full view.

A little procession in Lanquin downtown on our way back.

Our stay here was a bit longer than expected, but it was definitely worth it. On the day of our departure, it rains again. More scary roads ahead of us, yay! We look forward to the tropical Rio Dulce, and the Caribbean town of Livingston.

Oh yeah, it was also raining when we left.