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Guatemala & Belize

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Where the river hides under rocks

Semuc Champey

We have mentioned this before, but we repeat: The roads in Guatemala are often terrible. Especially in the north. So naturally on yet another long and strenuous trip with a minivan we end up with a flat tire. But it’s a quite busy road and other minivan drivers come to our assistance. The spare tire is on and we can continue. When we reach the mountain town of Lanquin it’s pitch black, but we’re not yet at our final destination. Another hour in a 4wd pickup and we arrive at Pachamaya Eco Lodge and the gate to Semuc Champey.

“Semuc Champey” in the local maya language means “Where the river hides under rocks”. Which it does, shown in the video clip above. The entire river is swallowed by a hole in the limestone ground and emerges again some 300 meters further downstream. Between these points streams have created a series of natural pools with crystal clear water, very popular with swimmers. We will definitely join them, but first we climb a series of stairs a couple of hundred meters up the steep hillside to a mirador high above the river.

Our “eco” lodge is very primitive, there’s no hot water and we don’t even have electricity. There’s supposedly some fault with the transmission from the solar panels and nobody seems to be able to fix it. This lodge is primarily a backpacker hostel where kids hang out all day, reading books, playing cards and smoking weed. We are not so keen to join in on any of those activities, we want to move on, so we do.

We catch yet another minivan for yet another long and tiresome trip. Further north, always north, to the lake city of Flores, a town that could easily be mistaken for a mediterranean fishing village.