Semuc Champey, Guatemala
Trip Start
Oct 06, 2006
1
40
76
Trip End
Sep 14, 2008
Semuc Champey,
Guatemala
Monday, October 1, 2007
After a few days of relaxation on the beach I made my way to Semuc Champey in the center of Guatemala, close to the city of Coban. Sorry my excitement but WOW, WOW, WOW! Incredible! That place could easily be one of the most beautiful things I have seen.
The ride between Coban to Semuc Champey has been a hair-raising mini-bus ride over gravel mountain roads for more then 2.5 hours. Half way along the way the "ayudante" (the gentlemen who collects the fare and helps with people's luggage in the buses) leans out one of the exit doors looking a bit nervous for the last 10 minutes or so. I get a bit concerned myself while all of a sudden the bus just stops and we get off to have the tire replaced. The tire had a nice big cut in it and was about to explode, luckily we didn't experience that. The bad news though was that the replacement tire wasn't any better and basically, I'm not kidding you, didn't have any profile at all, whatsoever. After talking to some people I find out that the day before that same replacement tire was on the bus and was changed out with the tire that was about the blow up
Semuc Champey
. Great! Anyways, I made it to Semuc Champey in one piece and it was totally worth it. Semuc Champey means "agua sagrada que se esconde en la piedra" ("sacred water that hides in the stone") in the Mayan language, I believe. Basically it's a river that goes into / underneath a huge rock and comes out as a waterfall on the other side while on top of the rock sets of pools have been formed with crystalline, turquoise water that cascades from one pool into the other. Hard to describe this place in words as well as show you in pictures but take a look and you will get an idea.
Right next to Semuc Champey are the "Cuevas de K´an Ba" which are well worth a trip as well. With candles in one hand we swam through the river that flows through the caves and we climbed up and slid down waterfalls in complete darkness while bats were flying around us. Really an amazing experience as well.
