Beautiful limestone pools and a crazy river. Semuc Champey (Guatemala) in one sentence

Almost Christmas people!

Hope you are all having some nice days ahead of you. But first, let me take you to a lovely little place called Semuc Champey in Guatemala.

Semuc Champey is a natural monument that I can best describe as a natural limestone bridge consisting out of pools of water that is above the spectacular Cahabón River. This river runs under it through a tunnel/cave.

On the right you can see the river coming out of the tunnel

My girlfriend and I visited Semuc when we were backpacking through Guatemala last summer. We just visited Flores/Tikal and from there we took a shuttle to the Q'eqchi' Maya town of Lanquín. I guess for most backpackers Lanquín is the place to stay if you want to pay a visit to Semuc Champey. Semuc is like 11 kilometers away from Lanquín and of course you can get accommodation closer to Semuc, but because Semuc is even more remote there is not a lot to do there. I’m not saying there is a lot to do in Lanquín, but definitely more than in any other place around Semuc I guess.

Most backpackers that visit Lanquín go to the Zephyr Lodge hostel. It’s a good looking hostel up on a hill with an infinity pool and some good parties. We intended to go there as well (everyone you meet recommends it) but you need to book in advance. We tried it a week in advance but still it was already fully booked. After looking up some alternatives we booked at Vista Verde hostel.

The shuttle picked us up in Flores and the trip to Lanquín took us like 10 hours or so. It’s not that far but the road is pretty bad the last one and a half hour of the trip. It’s a mountain dirt road and we had the pleasure to cross paths with some construction workers that were busy doing I don’t know. Think they were widening the road or something like that. Result was waiting almost an hour watching them demolish a mountain and after that being thrown around in the shuttle because the driver had to navigate over/through enormous rocks =) Anyway we made it and arrived in Lanquín when it was already dark. Someone was already waiting for us and told us to jump in the back of his pick-up and took us to the hostel.

Vista Verde is a new hostel and the funny thing is that it is built on the opposite hill of the one that the Zephyr Lodge is built on. So you can actually see them hanging around the pool. Anyway they are in the start-up phase but are already doing a good job. Rooms are proper, food is good and people are friendly. Because it was holiday for them as well, these kids were there helping out at the hostel and they were very eager to talk to you. Learning more English and teaching some Spanish in return. When we were there they were also busy constructing their own infinity pool, I guess it will be ready by now. Enough about the accommodation, let’s talk some more about Semuc.

From the hostel you can book a trip to Semuc. You can either take the full tour or just ride along and only take transportation. The trip consist out of a visit to a cave first, then a rope swing in the river. Next a viewpoint and you will end the trip at the pools for a nice refreshing dive in the azure waters. Since my girlfriend is not very fond of caves, we only booked transportation. They loaded us on the back of the pick-ups (couldn't help it to feel a bit like livestock at that point) and we were on our way to Semuc. After a little stop in town where everyone bought some Crocs for the hike… (hike can be slippery but still that cannot be an excuse for buying Crocs), it was downhill all the way to the river.

Livestock on route to Semuc

We were dropped off at a bridge from where it was just a short walk uphill to the entrance. The other people from the trip went to the cave. In Semuc we walked around a bit, swam a bit and visited the lookout point high above Semuc. Because we were there in the weekend it was a bit crowded with local people. Although not so good for the photos, it did create a certain cozy vibe. The locals seem to really love this place. Although most of them can’t swim they love to just paddle and sit in the cool water.

Lots of waterfalls to be found

At both ends of the so to speak ‘limestone bridge’ you can watch the Cahabón River going in and coming out of the cave. The river is really vigorous and violent. One you definitely do not want to end up in. Can’t imagine one would survive.

Standing above the entrance of the tunnel

Other side of the tunnel

I think we made a good choice not taking the full excursion. Although they certainly had some fun, they arrived quite late at the pools (like 3 o’clock). We went there immediately after arriving and unfolded our towel around noon. So when we were swimming in the pools, we still had the sun shining upon us. Because Semuc is surrounded by pretty high mountains, by the time the group from the excursion arrived, the sun was already behind those mountains. Since the water is pretty cold (it's coming from the mountains) it’s nice to have the sun there whilst swimming!

Another good thing about not doing the excursion is that we were up at the look-out point all by ourselves. We stayed there for a while and one group came by, it was crazy crowded. Everyone was standing on the platform taking pictures. The only thing I could think of was: hope it doesn’t collapse or anything. After they had their 15 minutes of fame they left and we had the place all for ourselves again. Nice right.

After relaxing the entire afternoon we went back to Lanquín for a well-deserved beer and a good plate of food at the hostel. Summary: although the place is pretty remote and it takes some time to get there, definitely worth it. I haven’t seen anything like it before and it’s a very nice place to chill, escape the heat and take some nice pictures.

Hope you enjoyed this one. Feel free to follow me and/or upvote my work.
I’m wishing all of you a very merry Christmas!

Cheers Stephan

If you’re interested in any of my previous work, feel free to check it out:

• The city of Marrakech and the mighty Ouzoud waterfalls
• Visiting the beautiful city of Florence, Italy
• Diving in Lake Atitlan Guatemala
• Snowboarding in the Alpes (GoPro footage!)

!steemitworldmap 15.533397 lat -89.958635 long Semuc Champey d3scr