One of the highlights of our trip in Guatemala, or maybe the highlight was our trip to "Semuc Champey". After a nerve-wracking bus ride to Lanquin, partly because the bus driver was driving too fast, and partly because the roads were very bumpy, we continued from there with the van. Together with two Americans, we stood at the back of the van, with fruits and vegetables between our feet, and drove through the rocky and bumpy paths for 30 minutes through the jungle to our hostel. Julio enjoyed the adventure ride, I was relieved when we arrived safely... :)
The exhausting ride to the most remote hostel ever was worth it. Breathtaking view of the jungle landscape and the atmosphere in the hostel was very open and warm from the beginning. Especially after the days in noisy cities, we could finally breathe again here. For me, the hostel was a real paradise, alone because of the offered yoga!!! During the half-hour relaxation, we were able to listen to the rain and the sounds of the jungle...
The next day we went to Semuc Champey National Park with Lisa, another German, and Christina, an American who works in Guatemala. We hiked part of the way in tropical humidity, until a van kindly drove us to the entrance of Semuc Champey. I didn't want to look down when driving over that bridge:
From there we climbed up to the viewpoint. Due to the rain, the path was very slippery, so we had to take it easy. But it was worth it.
Swimming in the pools was an absolute highlight... :)
After that, we joined the tour from the hostel and let ourselves drift with tubes from the National Park back to the hostel. The one-hour ride was not only adventurous because of the sometimes strong current and maybe not quite so dangerous... but also because of the thunderstorm that was right above us...
It was a good decision that we went to the park on our own and only took part in the "tubing part" of the tour. We missed the cave tour, but we had more time to relax in the pools and not rush from one place to another.
