Semuc Champey

Semuc Champey is easily one of the four or five most beautiful places I've been to in my life. My expectations were high after seeing the photos that my friend Mark who I met in Belize showed me and I was not let down. Originally I was somewhat paranoid about Guatemala because of everything that's written and said about the dangerous conditions down here, so I was planning on spending one day to see Tikal and another day to hustle South to Honduras. Everything I've heard from travelers who have been here recently though is that it's perfectly safe and it's an absolutely gorgeous country. That description has turned out to be far more accurate. After talking to Mark about Guatemala I changed my entire itinerary for the first part of my trip so that I could spend more time in the country, and after four days here I wish I had planned for more. Tikal, Antigua, and Volcan Pacaya were all outstanding and were well worth the time I budgeted for them. Budgeting time for Semuc Champey was a risk because I had to burn a day to get here and a second day to see it, but the experience was well, well worth it.

This morning I took a bus three hours through winding dirt roads in the mountains to a tiny village called Lanquin. From Lanquin I was planning on catching a cheap bus or pickup truck the remaining six miles to Semuc Champey, but after waiting on a street corner for a half-hour, I decided I had better get walking. A Guatemalan man who lives near Semuc Champey shared my predicament and for several miles I walked with my new Spanish speaking friend, Secondino.

The people in Guatemala really are so friendly. Secondino didn't speak a word of English, but using my very limited Spanish we were able to communicate. We joked around a little bit and Secondino showed me several “mascortos” (shortcuts) through tiny jungle paths, which saved me quite a bit of walking. I hope that when people stereotype Guatemala as a dangerous country they don't include the people here in their stereotype. Everyone I've met in Guatemala is at least as friendly as the people I know from back home. Everyone has been very welcoming and is excited to get to know foriegners and even help out a little bit with Spanish. Several times while in the country a local has noticed me flipping through my guide book and has come up to see if he can help me find what I'm looking for. I think that, as is unfortunately the case with many cultures and ethnic groups, a very small minority of troublemakers give the entire population of Guatemala a bad reputation. I'm sure that ninety-nine people out of a hundred here are as friendly and genuine as people come.

After a six mile walk that was pleasant because of the views but tiring because it was up and down mountainous dirt roads in my flip-flops, I finally arrived at Semuc Champey. There are only a few places I know of in the world where people say the water is “so clear that you can see to the bottom”, and when you get there it actually is. A few of those places I can think of are Koenig See in Germany, Kwang Xi Falls in Laos, and Ko Tao in the Gulf of Thailand. Now I can add Semuc Champey to the list. Semuc Champey is a series of sparkling turquoise waterfalls and pools cascading down the middle of a massive jungle-covered canyon. The fact that it's so hard to get to does great things for this place, because otherwise it would be absolutely swarming with tourists and anyone else who found out about it. As it is, I enjoyed one of the most beautiful sights in the world with fifteen or twenty other people who made the trek from Coban this morning.

After a refreshing swim through a couple of crystal-clear pools at the base of the canyon, I hiked about a mile up a trail to see a classic view of the natural wonder. The view from the top of the canyon really was incredible. The narrow green canyon opens up at the beginning of the falls and tapers outwards to reveal the gorgeous, turquoise pools. After enjoying the view and chatting with some other travelers for a few minutes, I headed down the canyon and made conversation with a Guatemalan tour guide.

To avoid having to walk back to Lanquin or possibly being stranded and having to return to Coban tomorrow morning, I arranged with the tour guide to pay to ride their van back at the end of the day. It worked out well for everyone because the tour guide got an extra fifty quetzales from me and I effectively became part of a tour that would otherwise have cost two hundred seventy five quetzales.

After some more diving and swimming in the pools, I followed my new tour group along the pools to a spot where a rope ladder was draped over the side of a thirty foot waterfall. One by one each of the travelers climbed over the edge of the waterfall and onto the precariously hanging ladder. This was one of those times when I looked at what was going on and thought to myself, “this would never fly in the United States”. In the US a tourist will scratch his arm or bump his knee and sue the travel agency for thousands of dollars. Then he'll go after the National Park Service and the individual travel guide who led him over the side of the ladder. So the result is that travel agencies in the US are limited to what is deemed acceptable by the legal system, and even then they'll have their clients sign a pile of liability waivers before they can do anything. The great thing about countries like Guatemala is that the legal system is so backwards that travel agencies are free to do whatever they feel is adventurous.

I climbed carefully down the ladder and at the bottom a giant cave opened up behind the waterfall. Inside the cave were dark pools filled by showers of water dripping down from the stalagtites above. Our guide threw a rope down a slope leading further into the wet cave and we each took turns sliding underneath a low ceiling of stalagtites and down the side of the dripping cave wall. From the bottom this cave bore a serious resemblance to The Penguin's cave in the movie, “Batman Returns”. A giant underground river raged past me and underneath the massive cavern of grey mineral formations. I could picture The Penguin and all his clown friends standing on the other side of the river and peering right back at me. Danny DeVito would feel right at home here.

Before heading back to Coban we stopped at a place called “Grutas de Lanquin” (Lanquin Caves). For an hour or so we wandered through a second, larger set of caves. Our guide told us that the Mayans used the Grutas de Lanquin for animal sacrifices. The human sacrifices were apparently done elsewhere. The most entertaining part of the Grutas de Lanquin was the different natural formations resembling animals and the accompanying signs placed by locals to mark them. The formations resembling a soaring eagle, a toad, and a hanging, dead sheep were interesting, but my favorite was “El Mono”, a natural rock formation resembling the wiley-eyed face of a mischevious monkey.