Semuc Champey

I've said it before & I'll say it again:

Some of the most worthwhile destinations are hard to reach.

I don't know of an easy way to access Semuc Champey.  As of this writing, all passage is overland through mountainous jungle (jungly mountains?).  Plenty of vans & buses travel north from Guatemala City or Antigua. We were already far north in Guatemala, near Tikal, when headed to Semuc Champey.  In north-eastern Guatemala there exists a triangulation of stops on many tourist agendas: Semuc, Tikal, & Rio Dulce.  You can travel overland the whole way & make something of a loop.  If you have plenty of open-ended time-- do that!  Our time was limited so we had flown to Tikal.  We opted to skip Rio Dulce on this trip & instead take a van southwest to Semuc before traveling further south to Antigua and Atitlan.

The nearest town to Semuc Champey is Lanquin.  I stopped to use a bathroom in Lanquin & was not impressed.  The real draw of this area is the limestone pools of Semuc.  If you stay in Lanquin you have to take the torturous trip down the mountain for every visit.  It takes minimum a half an hour, but I think an hour is probably a more accurate estimate.  Stay in Semuc.  Go down the valley, and return from it, once.  Sure, there are fewer food options.  Foodies don't travel to Semuc.  They're in Antigua.

For all of my whinging about roads, the journey is a lot of fun.  We rushed through fields of cardamon, past farms, through impossibly tall mountains (did they throw a few Himalayas in Guatemala?), before reaching the valley basin.  There are only a few hotel options in Semuc Champey.  They're all pretty basic.  You're pretty much camping.  How much do you want to experience this?

I really did.  We found a little hostal run by "100% Guate-Maya!"  I loved it.  That meant the hostal was owned & operated by local Guatemalans who were Indigenous to the region.  They made a mean cinnamon-cardamom hot chocolate.

The hostal was super basic.  Our room had no windows and the generator shut off all electricity at 10 pm.  There was a communal bathroom & I just discovered that it had been a mistake to brush my teeth with tap water.  I think we paid about $8 a night to stay here.

It was across the street from the Lanquin River & a rope swing.

 The following morning we signed up for a tour to explore the Lanquin caves.  Our guide spoke a local Mayan dialect and a little bit of Spanish.  I got to play translator!  He gave each of us wax candles to light our way through the caves.  The water was cold, but I absolutely wanted to experience Semuc Champey.  The caves released us here:

Semuc Champey is a little hard to believe.  Like Atitlan & Tikal, this place is considered sacred.  All of Guatemala is sacred.  There is a deep, whole, mystical sense of spirit.  Kevin & I waded wide-eyed into cold, clear water.  We hiked up and down the surrounding mountains.  We never saw the same sight twice.