Jaunted

Luckily, the beauty of Semuc compensated for the difficulty getting there. In total, our trip to the natural reserve required us to ride a: ferry, van, bus, and pickup truck. Getting from there to our next destination, Belize, added tuk tuk (Guatemalan taxi the size of golf carts) and propeller airplane to our modes of transportation.

At 7 a.m. the day of our trip to Semuc, we left San Pedro La Laguna on the banks of Lake Atitlan. The ferry dropped us in Panajachel, the port town that serves as Atitlan's hub. Along with our German sidekick, Wolfgang, who joined us on the bus to Antigua, we scheduled a 9 a.m. shuttle to Coban, seven hours north and the closest major town to Semuc. On the bus, we met Lutz and Ingo, two other German guys who became our travel companions for the next few days.

In the shuttle, a young Dutch woman told us she recently visited Semuc. "It's difficult to get to but worth it," she said.

Difficult was an understatement. After traveling for a full day (including a stop in Guatemala City to switch to a local bus) we arrived in Coban. No shuttles depart from Coban to Semuc after dark, so we needed to stay. Until Coban, our stops were limited to places of extreme wealth and tourism -- Antigua and Lake Atitlan -- where the aesthetics of the natural landscape and culture amaze travelers.

Coban's appeal is solely its proximity to Semuc Champey. We arrived at night, and the city felt dirty and abandoned. We found a communal hostel, for $3 per person, with our three German companions. A caged Tucan in the central courtyard granted the place its only charm saving it from a feeling of complete desperation. Dirty sheets lined the beds and feces overflowed two of the three toilets.

Coban is always rainy and cold, the guidebook correctly told us. We found a clean restaurant and a pub with the Germans and numbed the dreariness of our stopover city with some much-needed Gallo.

The next morning, we reserved a shuttle to Semuc Champey and left at 9 a.m. After two hours of winding roads on mountain cliff sides, we arrived at Lanquin, the closest town to Semuc. From there, our driver instructed us to find a pickup truck. Only narrow, four-wheel drive vehicles can make it through the final stretch. We hopped into the bed of a willing driver's truck.

As we traveled, the winding dirt road narrowed and the foliage became denser. After traveling the 10 km dirt stretch, we reached Las Marias, a hostel about a 15-minute walk from the reserve.

On the porch leading to the main desk, we met several other German travelers (a running theme on this trip) who offered to walk us up the road to the park. We ate lunch, set up camp, and set off for Semuc.

Down the dirt road, past several cocoa fields, we reached Semuc Champey National Park, paid the 10 quetzales to enter, and walked deep into the reserve, until we reached water. Several turquoise ponds lead like melted steps to the main attraction. The rushing rapids of the Rio Cahabon dive under a natural limestone bridge and come out as a waterfall after 1,000 feet underground.

Atop the bridge, travelers lounged in the placid pools that formed from the river's runoff falls, taking in the steep mountains on either side, soaking their sore muscles, and letting the friendly little fish nibble their toes.

An unspoken consensus deep in the woods -- "It's difficult to get to but worth it."

Where: Guatemala

Tags: Budget Travel / Drug Culture / Jaunted Field Trips / Volunteer Travel / Guatemala Field Trip

by ced138