From what I have seen thus far in Guatemala, there seem to be only a couple of decent roads. The main route through the country from South to North seems like a fairly decent double lane road and then about the last 100km coming into Flores seems OK. Apart from these 2 roads the rest of the Tarmac and dirt in this country is challenging to say the least! Driving a Landy here would be great fun. In South Africa we pay to drive on roads like these, here you get to do it as a matter of course.
The trip from Panajachel (Atitlan) to Semuc Champey will go down in my list of most interesting journeys taken so far. 11 hours in a large mini-bus traversing a crazy high mountain pass, dodging kamikaze truck drivers, covering insanely rough dirt roads and dodging insane dogs that use the roads as living space, definitely puts hairs on your chest. Now, for some reason in this country, speed bumps are the big thing. I'm not talking about small rumble strips. No, we are talking spleen-splitting, cranial-crushing, nose-bleed inducing road mounds of hell designed to smash any suspension when negotiated at a speed faster than 2 miles per hour. Of course the bus drivers only brake at the last second so include rib crushing as you are flung forward against the seat or rail in the bus. Try this for 11 hours and see what your ribs look like! In one town alone I counted 31 speed bumps, I kid you not!!
However, this all becomes irrelevant when you arrive in Lanquin which is the jumping off point for Semuc. The lodge on the banks of the river is sublime, surrounded by mist covered hills holding coffee plants as far as the eye can see. Humming birds flit around doing their daily business while Hawks and vultures cruise the thermals above you. This place is so chilled, people get stuck here for months.
Probably the thing I love most about traveling in 3rd world countries is that all the adventure related activities are really exciting and fun. Safety is always an after thought so you get to do crazy, unregulated stuff. Zip lines look old and tatty, rope swings are frayed and about to break, rock and mountain paths are slippery with no protection and death inducing falls just beckoning. I love this stuff, it is so cool!! So I decide to take the day tour from the lodge, a full day of exploring the large water cave complex, tubing down the river, big swing into the water, a bridge jump into the river and then ending the day in the river pools this place is famous for. Forrest and water, there is a theme here.
Into the caves we go! We all clutch a lighted candle and head into the water, a river runs through the cave. Some parts require you to swim, holding your candle above the water. I discovered my head torch works under-water, so cool. First off we climb up a rope through a waterfall, getting hammered by water as we climb. 2 girls lose their bikini tops, very funny! A little later we get to the pool jump. Climb up a 3m slippery as hell rock face and then launch yourself into the darkness and hit the pool below, preferably missing the rocks on the right which you can't see anyway. What the heck, off I go into the air hoping to miss the rocks. Of course what the local hobbit community forget is that we are tall and jumping into a shallow pool means we hit the bottom, hard!! Thanks goodness my knees were bent otherwise I would have a spinal compression fracture.....
Next up, into the hole of hell. Great idea to push the tourists into a small, dark hole where the river rushes into, tell them you only drop 1m and then swim to the side, all in the dark. I go through, hit the dark pool, disappear into the deep pool and come back up straight into the water gushing down, breathing tons of water. I'm getting bored of these near drowning experiences! Finally we get to he end of the caves and are given our face war paint to commemorate the fun.
Tubing goes well and we are followed by kids trying to sell us beer. My name is Hector, you wanna buy a beer, you can pay later?? My name is Chris, you wanna buy a beer, you pay later, remember my name! And so it goes on, they have their own tubes and follow us down the river, instant delivery service, so cool!
Bridge jump time. The bridge is about 11m high spanning a decent part of the river. I ask 3 times, is the river deep enough, are you sure?? Yes it is deep enough, just watch for the rocks on the left. The thing about guys who jump from decent heights into water, a certain part of our anatomy is at risk of getting bashed by the water on impact. 3 of us jumped, 3 of us were speaking in a higher octave for a while until things settled back in place. Man it hurt!!!
After all the excitement we get to chill in the pools and recover from the aches and pains, a really great place to hang out. No beer sellers here though, bummer. Oh, the river swing, suffice to say I have a bruised face, rib cage and left shoulder from hitting the river face first in a leap than can best be described as a brick hitting a body of water at high speed, ouch!
Love this place.....
Hasta Luego
Andrew
The trip from Panajachel (Atitlan) to Semuc Champey will go down in my list of most interesting journeys taken so far. 11 hours in a large mini-bus traversing a crazy high mountain pass, dodging kamikaze truck drivers, covering insanely rough dirt roads and dodging insane dogs that use the roads as living space, definitely puts hairs on your chest. Now, for some reason in this country, speed bumps are the big thing. I'm not talking about small rumble strips. No, we are talking spleen-splitting, cranial-crushing, nose-bleed inducing road mounds of hell designed to smash any suspension when negotiated at a speed faster than 2 miles per hour. Of course the bus drivers only brake at the last second so include rib crushing as you are flung forward against the seat or rail in the bus. Try this for 11 hours and see what your ribs look like! In one town alone I counted 31 speed bumps, I kid you not!!
However, this all becomes irrelevant when you arrive in Lanquin which is the jumping off point for Semuc. The lodge on the banks of the river is sublime, surrounded by mist covered hills holding coffee plants as far as the eye can see. Humming birds flit around doing their daily business while Hawks and vultures cruise the thermals above you. This place is so chilled, people get stuck here for months.
Lodge Restaurant
View from the deck
Casa Forrest
Probably the thing I love most about traveling in 3rd world countries is that all the adventure related activities are really exciting and fun. Safety is always an after thought so you get to do crazy, unregulated stuff. Zip lines look old and tatty, rope swings are frayed and about to break, rock and mountain paths are slippery with no protection and death inducing falls just beckoning. I love this stuff, it is so cool!! So I decide to take the day tour from the lodge, a full day of exploring the large water cave complex, tubing down the river, big swing into the water, a bridge jump into the river and then ending the day in the river pools this place is famous for. Forrest and water, there is a theme here.
Into the caves we go! We all clutch a lighted candle and head into the water, a river runs through the cave. Some parts require you to swim, holding your candle above the water. I discovered my head torch works under-water, so cool. First off we climb up a rope through a waterfall, getting hammered by water as we climb. 2 girls lose their bikini tops, very funny! A little later we get to the pool jump. Climb up a 3m slippery as hell rock face and then launch yourself into the darkness and hit the pool below, preferably missing the rocks on the right which you can't see anyway. What the heck, off I go into the air hoping to miss the rocks. Of course what the local hobbit community forget is that we are tall and jumping into a shallow pool means we hit the bottom, hard!! Thanks goodness my knees were bent otherwise I would have a spinal compression fracture.....
Next up, into the hole of hell. Great idea to push the tourists into a small, dark hole where the river rushes into, tell them you only drop 1m and then swim to the side, all in the dark. I go through, hit the dark pool, disappear into the deep pool and come back up straight into the water gushing down, breathing tons of water. I'm getting bored of these near drowning experiences! Finally we get to he end of the caves and are given our face war paint to commemorate the fun.
Lord of the flies
Tubing goes well and we are followed by kids trying to sell us beer. My name is Hector, you wanna buy a beer, you can pay later?? My name is Chris, you wanna buy a beer, you pay later, remember my name! And so it goes on, they have their own tubes and follow us down the river, instant delivery service, so cool!
Bridge jump time. The bridge is about 11m high spanning a decent part of the river. I ask 3 times, is the river deep enough, are you sure?? Yes it is deep enough, just watch for the rocks on the left. The thing about guys who jump from decent heights into water, a certain part of our anatomy is at risk of getting bashed by the water on impact. 3 of us jumped, 3 of us were speaking in a higher octave for a while until things settled back in place. Man it hurt!!!
The bridge of pain
After all the excitement we get to chill in the pools and recover from the aches and pains, a really great place to hang out. No beer sellers here though, bummer. Oh, the river swing, suffice to say I have a bruised face, rib cage and left shoulder from hitting the river face first in a leap than can best be described as a brick hitting a body of water at high speed, ouch!
Love this place.....
Hasta Luego
Andrew
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