Trip in Guatemala - October 2007

Somewhere between the departments of Quiché (Chichicastenango), El Peten (Tikal) and Quetzaltenango lies Alta Verapaz and its major city, Coban. And 3 hours away from Coban you will find Lanquin, a small village in the jungle. And at another 30 minutes is the entrance of the Semuc Champey national park.

Where from: Quetzaltenango through Coban and Lanquin
How: touriste shuttle from Quetzaltenango to Coban, mini van to Lanquin, taxi to Semuc Champey. Time: 13 hours !

• The (never ending) trip

Going from Quetzaltenango to Coban can be done two ways. First by taking the Pan American highway back to Guatemala City and then heading north, but can be very long (especially knowing that there is a lot of construction work between Quetzal and Los Encuentros). Second, by taking the Pan Am north to Huehuetenango and then forking right to the mountains. This is a straight road that has just been redone - we heard. If you do option 2 by yourself, you might need two days to reach Coban, and might have to change buses a few times. So we grab a morning (expensive !!) tourist shuttle and take off. The road is beautiful, and we are only 3 in the mini van. 5 hours drive in the mountains, crossing beautiful passes and small villages, we stop in the middle of nowhere to get lunch. Not a tourist. That’s where we learn from our driver that we reached the end of the supposedly new road, and that the next 3 hours will be on a dirt road. It starts raining, the van is not equipped for this (not 4 wheels drive, no all-terrain tires, …) and I feel under my buttock the rear-end of the car skidding left and right - over the ravine.

The cold sweat dries when we eventually reach Coban, under a biblical rain. It’s already 4pm and we wonder if we should continue to Lanquin or stay in Coban. It’s raining so between being in a guesthouse room and in a van moving forward, we opt for the van. It’s 5pm, so already dark …. We reach the bus station for Lanquin, soaked, say nothing when we get ripped off about the price because this van is the last one of the day, and hop on.3 hours drive, with no visibility because of the rain, in the middle of the jungle on a 9 ft large dirt road - and we arrive in Lanquin. We feel we are light-years away from civilisation ….. Still under a pouring rain, we jump out of the van, get our backpacks and jump in a taxi that is waiting for us to bring us to Semuc Champey. Another 30mn drive on a rutted dirt road at 5mph, we pass wadis and even a fallen tree blocking the road and farmers cutting it with machetes. We eventually arrive at destination, after more than 13 hours including 4 hours of dirt road … ! 

• Semuc Champey

Sleeping in Semuc Champey

Sleeping in Semuc Champey is a good alternative to Lanquin and Coban, because first you wake up 50 yards from the park, and second you avoid the 3 hours drive from Coban. Therefore you can enjoy the park free of tourists - even though only the really adventurous will get this far.

We found a fantastic place above the river, the hotel El Portal de Semuc Champey. The hotel is composed of 3 cottages spread out in a beautiful garden. A common area is wide open to the jungle, and the cottages don’t have windows (but mosquito nets). You live and sleep by the noises of the jungle, its animals, its bats, and the below river. With all the rain from the day, the river is actually more sounding like a torrent.

The park, jungle and natural pools

So the next morning, we wake up at 7am (late compared to the other days), bask on the cottage’s hammock listening to the jungle noises and get ready to go. The park is literally 5mn walk from the guesthouse. It’s basically a few paths that leave from the entrance of the park to the natural pools, either close to the bed of the river (30/40 mn) or by the hills (50/60 mn). “Hills” might not really reflect the 2,000 feet abrupt jungle-covered humid cliffs that overhang the river and the pools. We decide to take the Mirador path, which climbs up the cliffs to a view point and then down again to the pools. We quickly understand our mistake: we are in a 95% humidity environment, 2,000 feet of difference in altitude in 45mn, steep wooden slippery stairs and stairs and stairs, … After 5mn, we are both soaked of sweat. We finally arrive at a plateau and quickly reach the Mirador: a wooden overhung platform dominating the jungle, rivers and pools. A little frightening, as we are overlooking 600 yards of emptiness. The view, however, is spectacular.

We climb-down for about 20mn, again on steep slippery wooden stairs, to finally reach the pools and the river. The natural pools of Semuc Champey are formed by an underground torrent, who dives in the earth upstream of the pools and reappears downstream.

As it rained so much the day before, the torrent is wild and raging, plunging ferociously under the quiet turquoise waters of the pools. We stay there for an hour, bath a little and walk around in the magnificent site.

Lanquin and its cermonial caves

We meet two Israelis, Adi and Shai (jewel and gift in Hebrew), travelling for a year in South America. They bought an old but stunning 4×4 Pajero in California and travel with it. They offer to drive us back to Lanquin to see the caves of Lanquin and Coban afterwards. We accept the “gift” and travel in a “jewel” (compared to the not 4×4 mini van … !). We pick up our bags and get a quick something to eat at the guesthouse, and leave for Lanquin.Lanquin is also know for its huge caves, a tangle of rooms under a 60 ft ceiling full of thousand years old stalactites and stalagmites. You need 30 mn to get to the last room, where an enormous column, born from a stalactite meeting its stalagmite, sit enthroned in the center. It must be 15 to 20 ft in diameter and maybe 35 ft high. The caves were used by local tribes for their religious ceremonies.We eventually head back to Coban, in our luxury (at least it seems so, compared to the chicken buses) 4×4, and find a hotel for the night. Not a lot to do, but a lot of life in the streets. We get a small dinner, and then some beers with Adi and Shai. Old packpacker stories, about Asia, Middle East, South America, Israel, … Adi and Shai arrive from Tikal - we didn’t know so far if we would do it, because of the trip and the tourists, but they convince us that we should go (mainly with one argument: they saw almost no tourists !). Three options to get there from Coban: tourist shuttle (expensive), local bus direct to Flores, chicken bus with 3 switches. We opt for the local direct, but nobody is able to tell us exactly when and where it leaves, beside from “early near the market”. So we will try our luck then and there …

Where to next: Flores and Tikal

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