Semuc Champey - The Jewel of Guatemala

After a few more days chilling out in Flores after the trek we were ready for a change of scene from ruins and jungles, so we made the long and winding (typical for Guatemala) journey to Semuc Champey. According to reviews and by recommendation from Jenner who'd been there a few years ago (thanks Jenner!), it was a definite must-see.

Semuc Champey is located pretty much in the middle of Guatemala and isn't exactly the easiest place to get to. We got a minivan as far as a small town called Lanquin, which is basically the end of the line for non off-road vehicles. We then transferred from a packed minivan to standing in the back of a packed ute, all piled in on top of each other and our bags. Holding on for dear life we then made the 30min or so drive over some more steep, winding and very bumpy dirt roads to Utopia, the promisingly named eco-lodge hostel we hoped to stay at for a few days. Thankfully it turned out to be a beautiful place in a stunning setting, and luckily they had a room for us. The main building of the lodge was a huge, open wooden structure, reminiscent of a tree house. The common/dining area was a massive open space with wooden swinging seats at the bar, big BBQ tables and amazing views out over the surrounding mountains and the Cahabon river below. Upstairs was a big open loft space with hammocks, bunks for the dorm, and little rooms, or 'private nooks' as they were called, under the eaves. There were also little cabanas in the garden below. As it was such an isolated place, all meals were eaten at the hostel with dinner being a communal affair. There were actually some pretty good meals produced too, all vegetarian. There's one or two places much closer to the entrance to Semuc Champey, but we were very happy with our choice.

The open-air loft dorm 

Getting to Semuc Champey National Park involved another ride standing in the back of a ute, driving over yet more steep and winding dirt roads. Just short of the entrance, however, we stopped at the first activity of the day - exploring a cave by candlelight. As with many things we've done on our travels, we don't always know exactly what's in store - which is sometimes for the better. We had read many reviews though and were prepared with sturdy waterproof sandals, so we didn't have to resort to tying jandals onto our feet with string as some people had reportedly done. There were about 10 of us in our group, and after being instructed to disrobe as we'd be climbing and swimming through multiple underground chambers, our guide led us to the entrance of the cave where he handed out candles to everyone. Then we ventured into the abyss. Soon the only feeble, wavering light was from our flickering candles which, of course, frequently went out. Parts of the cave were easy to manoeuvre through, but many times we had to swim through surprisingly deep water with one hand held above our heads to keep the candle alight. There were also a few rather more challenging parts where we had to scale a sheer, slippery wet rock wall by rope/ladder, and fall blindly through a tight hole to water below. If you're at all claustrophobic this is probably not for you, but we all had a great time. It was like being a kid and discovering a whole new world, playing around in this underground lair. I have no idea how long we were in there (maybe an hour or so), but it was so much fun, even when our candles went out and we couldn't see a thing.

Bit of a tight squeeze down this one!

When we finally emerged into the daylight again, we were taken to a rope swing where the locals effortlessly demonstrated launching themselves into the river below. Only 3 or 4 of our group were keen to follow suit, and each and every time it ended very painfully - landing very hard and awkwardly in the water and coming up sore and winded, the locals were having a great laugh as it obviously always happens. Cheeky bastards. When no-one else was willing to risk further pain and injury, we crossed the bridge to enter Semuc Champey National Park.

In order to get the best view of Semuc Champey we had to make the steep climb to a lookout. After about 20-30mins, panting and drenched in sweat we emerged onto a wooden platform and were rewarded with an incredible view of the most amazingly turquoise blue pools below. It was pretty damn impressive and worth the walk. We had a break and some lunch before we could wait no longer, and headed down to cool off in the beautifully clear water. Probably because it's such a mission to get there, Semuc Champey isn't over-run with tourists which was a welcome change. We were free to swim about in the various pools, sliding down natural rock slides and jumping into the refreshing water. We could have stayed there for ages, but we were too soon told it was time to leave. 

But our adventure wasn't quite over yet. Most of us were going to tube back down the river to the hostel rather than endure another dusty, bumpy ute ride, but a few of us decided to add to the excitement by jumping off the 12m high bridge first. From then on it was a fairly sedate float down the river, punctuated by the odd 'rapid' and scraping our asses on rocks in the shallows. One guy got a flat tube and unfortunately Kurt lost his sunnies going over in a rapid. Apart from that it was a pretty awesome day.

The final thing we did while staying at Utopia was a chocolate making course. They have a shitload of cacao trees growing on their property, so the owners (an American woman and her son) decided to capitalise on that by running daily courses. They showed us the plant growing in various stages of ripeness in the garden and we cracked some open to taste the nibs raw - they're covered in a slimy white substance and are quite sweet. We then spent the rest of the time in the kitchen where we were shown how to roast, shell and grind the nibs down into a paste using everyday household applicances and ingredients. We finished off by making our own chocolates which, while still quite bitter, were pretty damn tasty. 

So while it was a bit of a mission to get there, Semuc Champey was a real highlight for us. Some things are just worth making the effort for.

The Magnificent Mayan Ruins of Tikal and El Mirador

Flores is a tiny town on an equally tiny island, connected to land by a causeway. It's a cute little place in the north of Guatemala, and has lots of colonial red-roofed buildings and narrow cobblestone streets. It's a nice peaceful place to relax for a few days and visit the nearby Mayan ruins of Tikal, and tackle the epic jungle trek to El Mirador. 

                             

Tikal is the main Mayan archaeological site in Guatemala, and is about an hour's drive from Flores. A lot of people choose to visit Tikal for sunrise, in the hope of getting spectacular views as the day dawns. We chose this option which meant getting up at the ridiculous hour of about 3am (maybe even 2:30am) to do the rounds of picking everyone from up their various hostels, driving the hour or so to the park, and then walking in the dark to the best vantage point. Temple IV is the tallest structure at Tikal, standing 70m tall, so we climbed the couple of hundred steps to reach the viewing point. Unfortunately for us the weather wasn't clear enough for a spectacular sunrise, but it was still a pretty amazing view looking out over a vast expanse of jungle and other structures rising out of the tree-tops. We even spotted some toucans! 

Tikal is a pretty massive site, most of which is still undiscovered (like most ruins), so you can spend hours walking around. The cool thing about Tikal (although probably not so cool for conserving it) is that you can climb up a lot of the structures to get a better view of the layout. And even though we've now been to a lot of Mayan ruins, each one is slightly different. One thing we'd never seen before, and I don't mind if I never see again, was a tarantula. Our guide knew a spot where he regularly annoyed one into emerging from it's underground hole, and lucky for us, the hairy critter was obliging. He then proceeded to let it crawl all over him, and then of course people in the group wanted to partake and try and outdo each other. Not for me, thanks. So, although sunrise wasn't a great success it was still another impressive ruin.

However, Tikal wasn't the only Mayan ruin nearby. There's another one which is the Grandaddy of lost Mayan cities in the Guatemalan jungle - El Mirador (The Lookout). It is enormous - some say it's the largest Mayan city in existence - covering about 61 square kilometers, and it's a hidden treasure, still largely unexcavated and covered by vegetation in the virgin rainforest. There are no roads or rivers that lead there, so you have two choices: hike (a six day round trip journey), or, for the obscenely rich and lazy, hire a helicopter to fly you in. Obviously, we chose the former. In actual fact, we hadn't even planned on doing the hike until the Aussie Matt's said they were trying to get a group together. We said we'd join in if they could find enough other people and sort out the guide. And so that was how we found ourselves setting off a day or two later, completely oblivious of what lay ahead. 

At about 4am six of us were ready and waiting for someone to meet us and get us to where the hike started. However, we were soon to become a group of seven as Dieter, a crazy little Guatemalan guy, made the extremely last minute decision to get up and join us. Who does that at 4am? What an insane legend. After a very long, dusty and uncomfortable chicken bus ride, we finally arrived at the little village of Carmelita which is the closest access point you can reach by vehicle. It was here we were introduced to our guide and two others (our cook and the guy who looked after the pack animals), and we set off into the wildnerness.

Carmelita - the starting point of our trek

Luckily we weren't there in the rainy season, however it did mean we were walking over very hard and uneven ground where the mud had dried and cracked into ruts that were easy to stumble over/into. It was also disgustingly hot. Thankfully our guide had been doing this trek for years, because without him we would have been screwed. It's not the kind of trek you can do independently, no matter how good you think you are. You will get lost, and you will die. 

There are three main complexes in El Mirador - El Tigre, La Danta and Los Monos. They are all constructed over several levels and each has a group of three temple pyramids on top. La Danta is actually one of the biggest pyramids in the world by volume. Over the five days of our hike we visited each of these complexes and they were all quite different. We got up at 4am to get to the top of some of them by sunrise, and saw the equally spectacular views atop some at sunset. Trudging through the humid jungle at ground level, it was an amazing feeling to emerge well above the tree-tops and have a perfectly unimpeded 360 degree view of the surrounding rainforest. We could even see the tops of the other pyramids rising above the trees in the distance. A stunning sight, although it made us realise just how far we had to walk!

Each day we would arrive at camp, where our hammocks and tent would be set up  and our food cooked for us. One of the benefits of having a guide and crew to do all the hard work when we were all buggered from another long day of hiking. When we started out we were all mentally prepared for 6 days of hiking and the basic sleeping conditions. However, on the fifth day we got up at 4am and were eating breakfast when our guide broke the news to us - we had run out of food. Well how the fuck did that happen? It's not like we had a free for all at mealtimes - they cooked the food and served it up, and if there was any left they gave us more. Surely they'd done this enough times to know how much food was needed? We were told that they'd contacted someone back in Carmelita who would bring a mule with more food and meet us along the way to the next camp. However, when we arrived at said camp at lunchtime, there was no food waiting for us. Apparently we still had enough supplies to have sandwiches, but not exactly enough to fill us up after 8 hours of walking already. And to make matters worse we'd seen the cook sneakily eating while she was trailing behind us on one of the horses. No food, huh? So, in the end we were left with no choice but to push on to the finish, back to Carmelita. We were already pretty tired so the final 4 or 5 hours were a real struggle to say the least. Having to walk 11 hours (about 60kms) in one day was a fucking mission. Oh, and we did eventually cross paths with our food coming to meet us. Too bloody late, but nice try. When we got back we were told, through the Spanish speaking Dutch girl who'd sorted things out, that our guide and the others felt so bad about the fuck-up that they cooked us food and were even talking about giving us some money back. They also said we could stay the night in the village and head back to Flores in the morning. But we all just wanted to get back straight away so we could have a shower and eat some good food and sleep in a proper bed. So we ended up all piling in the back of a police ute and barrelling back to town in a fraction of the time it took on the chicken bus. A rather uncomfortable, but pretty exhilarating and hair-raising way to end the journey!

Goodbye Mexico, Hello Central America!

After 3 weeks of being pretty cut off from the world in Cuba (there are only a few government-run internet cafes, and even then we couldn't access Facebook, hotmail or most news websites) we arrived back in Cancún. We only stayed a day before hightailing it out of there again, this time to a little place further down the coast called Tulum.

Tulum is a very small town with the main drag located right on the highway. But people flock here for the stunning beaches and probably the most spectacularly located Mayan ruin in the country. Although it's quite compact compared to some of the larger, more sprawling archaeological sites, this is by no means a drawback. Especially when you see the location, which is quite simply breathtaking at times. This group of Mayans sure knew how to pick a spot as it shits on the more famous sites like Chichen Itza. Location, location, location. Another feature makes the Tulum ruins stand out though - it was one of the few protected by a wall. And not just any old wall, but a big fat fuck-off wall 5m high, and 7m thick. That oughta do the trick. We spent a couple of hours wandering around in the blazing heat, but it was worth it to see the parts of the ruin that are perched on the rugged limestone cliffs, towering over the white sand beaches and turquoise waters of the Caribbean below. 

A short collectivo ride away at a nearby beach called Akumal, we had a great time snorkelling around and spotting the green sea turtles who were just casually swimming and doing their thing despite us humans following them around like a bad smell. There were other cool fish and even a couple of rays, so we came away pretty happy after that swim. 

After that we walked for about 30mins or so to a lagoon Matt and Matt, a couple of Aussie guys, told us they'd snuck into. It was a proper tourist attraction you had to pay to get into, but of course us backpackers will do anything to avoid paying. You just have to be able to handle a few scrapes if necessary and then carry off the casual "of course I've paid, I'm allowed to be here" look. Easy peasy, and after scaling a concrete wall we were in. Feel free to judge and berate us from afar if you must, but we've been ripped off so many times this fare evasion tactic didn't weigh on our minds or morals at all. Once in we enjoyed more snorkelling, this time in more brackish water. There wasn't a massive amount of fish, but the underwater terrain - ravines, valleys and caves - was interesting. All in all, a day well spent.

After 4 days in Tulum we figured it was time to venture down into Central America. We'd initially planned to cross over into Belize and jump a boat out to Caye Caulker, but after some investigation we discovered it was going to be way too expensive just to do some snorkelling. There's supposedly some good diving out there, like the Blue Hole, but as we didn't have our PADI tickets yet it wasn't worth the time and money for us. So we chose to bypass Belize altogether, as the general consensus is that the Caye's are the only place worth visiting. So we decided to mission it all the way to Flores, Guatemala instead. 

The Aussie Matt's were doing the same thing, so we all got a night bus to Chetumal, which is on the border of Belize. Arriving in the middle of the night, we had about 4 hours to wait until we could get a bus to take us across the border and all the way through Belize into Guatemala. Of course we had to get past the corrupt Mexican border officials first. We'd read up online so we knew for a fact we didn't have to pay an exit fee, but of course that didn't mean jack-shit. No amount of discussion/arguing would change the stony-faced bastard's mind, so we were left with no choice but to pay. And even then there seemed to be no set fee, but of course we only had a US$50 note which he gladly palmed. Others paid US$20 and I even saw someone slip a measly 50 pesos (US$4) into their passport which was accepted. Everyone has to grease the wheels of corruption, but it left a bad taste in our mouths for a country we'd loved.

After that we weren't sure what to expect from the Belizean border, but we entered without a drama and went all the way down to Belize City where some people got off. We'd heard it was a shithole of a city, and driving through it certainly seemed that way. It was weird to hear everyone speaking English though, in that laid-back, lilting Caribbean accent. So unexpected after being in Spanish speaking countries for almost 18 months. That only lasted 5 minutes though and then we were on the last leg of the journey. One more border crossing, and this time we got it on both sides. Leaving Belize we were charged $17 each, even though we'd only spent a few hours traversing the bloody country! Thankfully the Guatemalan's weren't so outrageous, and we only had to fork out $3 or $4 each. Still, it was a long and expensive day travelling through these three countries, so we were grateful to finally arrive in Flores. And thus began our Guatemalan adventure.