Semuc Champey

Fr, 28.2 - Mo, 2.3

After a long journey - 4 buses and a boat - I arrived in the village of Lanquin on Friday, which is particularly known for the natural limestone pools called Semuc Champey, located 10 km away. Due to bad weather, I stayed in the village on Friday and Saturday and hiked to the nearby viewpoint. On Saturday, I moved to a hostel that is 3 km away from Semuc Champey. The journey - standing at the back of a SUV on an unpaved road - was already exciting. In the evening, we sat together around a campfire before I settled into my hammock.

On Sunday, I leisurely walked to Semuc Champey and then went straight up to the first viewpoint - I worked up a good sweat in about 25 degrees Celsius and high humidity. Afterwards, I visited a cave nearby. Before the cave tour, I had time to try out the swing by the river. The first time, I didn't land so smoothly in the water and got a pretty big bruise on my thigh, the second time worked better. There were five of us + 1 guide on the cave tour, each of us got a candle and we started the approximately one-hour tour. The water was so high in some places that we had to swim through the cave. Once, I was able to climb up a small waterfall, jump 3 meters into the dark water, and slide down a waterfall slide - the tour was really fun! In the evening, I learned a new game: Splendor (but it didn't impress me much)

On Monday, I walked to Semuc Champey again with 3 Germans and a Norwegian, the bad weather was finally over. We hiked to the second viewpoint and then enjoyed the refreshing pools. The river flows through a cave under the pools and comes out again after 300 meters. To get back to the hostel, we chose the comfortable option of tubing - 3 km downstream in a tube. It was quite relaxed at the beginning, but before we reached the rapids, we had to quickly finish our beers, then it got a bit wild. I survived my third night in the hammock quite well, and now it's on to the Caribbean coast.