Lanquin-Semuc Champey
Leaving Coban behind, we embarked on a particularly dilapidated minibus for a remarkably loud and shaky ride on a largely unpaved road to the town of Lanquin, gateway to some of the more remote natural wonders of Guatemala. We settled into a surprisingly inviting hippie resort called El Retiro, complete with thatched roof bungalows, an all-you-can-eat buffet, hammocks, and a sauna down by the river, and headed out towards Semuc Champey and the caves.
Semuc Champey is a nature park located in the mountains, a fun and rocky 11 km pick up ride away from Lanquin. A river cuts trough the mountains, running bright blue between high walls, diving underground as a raging torrent, forming pools and cascades as it erodes the limestone bridge above, and reappearing a little further as a peaceful river down a waterfall. You can walk up the hillside to a lookout point and enjoy the view of the pools, before heading down yourself to take a dive in the transparent blue-green waters. We'll let the pictures speak...
While in the area, we also visited the Grutas de Lanquin, and, a little further away near the ruins of Cancuen, the Cuevas de la Candelaria (the largest ones in Central America). Underground rivers, stalagtites and stalagmites, ancient and contemporary Mayan altars, and plenty of strange rock formations that are supposed to look like anything from a toad to the Virgin Mary... Impressive places.
The problem with the little bit of hippie heaven, however, is that there is no way to get money up there. Lanquin is in fact a town, and it does have a bank, but no machine to take money out. We were forced to keep our stay short and sweet, we and headed back to Coban to get some Quetzals (the paper ones this time) before continuing our run for ruins...
