Semuc Champey

Thursday, February 7, 2013

Surprisingly, I slept pretty good all night. I survived the cockroach and the dampness of our dorm to see another day! Niki and I headed to the pavilion for a quick breakfast and grabbed our sack lunches from the bar.

Our tour group met at the main office and headed toward the road for transportation. We were headed for Semuc Champey, a kind of natural park area with waterfalls, a river and caves. Our transportation pulled up and it was a pickup truck with bars around te bed, like how you would see cattle being transported. "I guess this is us," I said to myself as we piled in the back, "only in Central America, only in Central America."

We stood shoulder to shoulder a held a tight grip, as our truck made its way down the rough, bumpy and slow road. I had sparked up conversation with an Australian couple by the names of Lee and Paul, who had been on the road for nine months, starting around Thailand. They told me of their stories and the family they had visited with in Copán. The home was outside of town and they had walked about 30-40 kilos (66-88lbs) of corn, beans, etc UPHILL to donate to the single mom and her six children. I was so inspired by their stories and kindness, that the truck ride flew by. I had also chatted with a couple from New Zealand who educated me on the production of coffee. Katherine, from Tennessee, was another sweet girl that Niki had been chatting with on the other side of the truck who I met briefly at a quick stop.

Our truck came to a stop at an old metal bridge stretched across the most beautiful river I've seen in my life....hands down. Green trees and ferns lined a quick moving and totally turquoise river that we walked up and beside to get to a small building. Niki walked ahead as I snapped photo after photo of the scenery I had been waiting for all trip! When I booked this trip back in September, one of the main things I knew I wanted to do was see waterfalls and beautiful nature scenes in the middle of the jungle, and here we were! Waterfalls trickled down the side of the hill to my right, under our walkway and into the giant blue river to my left. It felt like a scene from Fern Gulley or Avatar.

When we arrived to the caves, we climbed out, stripped down to our swimwear and locked up our belongings. Our guide Carlos, or as he addressed himself, "Carlos Santana", handed us each a candlestick. The white wax, homemade candle in my hand, was what I'd be using for the next hour to light my way through the water filled cave.

Carlos began our adventure at the mouth of the cave, by cracking open a plant pod about the size of a small egg and smearing bright orange pigment onto our faces like Mayans did back in the day. We looked like 'The Lost Boys' from Neverland following Peter Pan into the dark cave.

Daylight quickly disappeared behind is as we walked our way into waist deep water and echoed with excitement. Carlos prepared us that we would have to duck, climb and even swim our way through parts of the cave.

I couldn't remove the smile from my face if I tried, because that feeling of swimming through a dark cave with only a candle held above the water to light my way, was so exciting! All I could think about was how lucky and fortunate I was to experience something so cool!

Niki and I in the caves

We ended our trek into the cave at a large water hole where Carlos gave us the option to climb up a tall ledge and jump in. Being a total natural and a bit of a cave monkey, Carlos ran up and down the ledge like it was nothing and ensured us that it was safe....but to make sure you jump in Riiiiiiiiight there because to the left is a large rock and there's another....the rest of the directions were yada yada yada, because there was no way in hell I was about to strategically jump off a 12-15 ft rock ledge, into a dark cave pool when I knew how far it was to even the smallest of doctors offices. Haha. I was feeling adventurous enough with a candlestick in my hand and damp cave walls around me. A plunge into the pool wasn't required to make this a spelunking of a lifetime :)

During the time it took to watch some people participate, was when I met Miss Georgia Cole. Eighteen years old and fearless, I watched Georgia climb up the ledge and pick her jumping place. She cheered as she splashed into the water and popped up from under the water with a huge smile on her face. Georgia was also from Australia and was traveling with Lee and Paul. I was sure to snap some pics of them because I had my waterproof camera with me and planned on friending them on Facebook. Little did I know though, that I would actually be finishing my trip out with this Aussie gal.

Georgia, Paul & Lee

After the jumps, we turned back in the direction we came from and started back. On our way out of the caves, we came to the waterfall we had climbed up and lined up to go back down. This time though, rather than using the ladder, we would be using a chute that the water had eroded and formed to basically slide through and plop into the waterfall base. It wasn't a far fall at all, maybe only the length of a human, but there was again, no way in hell I could do it. I knew that I would fit, because some bigger guys went ahead of me, but my doubt and refusal to go was confirmed by my cousin voicing exactly what was going through my head. "Oh (insert F-word here) No am I doing that!" Niki said as she stole the thoughts from my mind. Apparently my cousin is just as claustrophobic as I am, which made me feel better that I wouldn't be the only one going the ladder route. Another girl hesitated just as bad as us but went down the chute anyway. A quick detour up and down a ladder landed Niki and I right back with the group where the girl told us that we made the right decision. She said it wasn't unbearable, but that it was a little scary for sure.

We swam and climbed our way back out the cave with just enough candle to see and not burn our fingertips. It was cool to see daylight again as we headed toward the river for some tubing. I ditched my sandals by our stuff now that I knew we were done with rocky walking and grabbed an inner tube. I chatted more with Georgia to get to know each other as we walked up stream. We stopped at a giant swing where some people swung way out over the water and jumped quite a few feet down and into the current. Niki was one of those people, and made us laugh as the last sound we heard before her splash was her shriek! Haha.

Niki on the giant swing

Once we had walked for a couple minutes, over rough rocks and a few feet of ants, we approached the riverside and got into our tubes. The water was very cold, but fresh as we floated back down towards the hut where we began.

After tubing, we set back toward the trucks direction, but crossed the bridge instead. This was the big bridge that our guide book said people get to jump off for thrills. Carlos stopped and a few people jumped off into the water and then we continued on our way. We stopped at a little picnic area at the Semuc Champey entrance and ate our lunches. The hostel had made us a lunch based on our orders and I had chosen a PB&J, a banana and some cookies.

It was a perfect time to stop for lunch, because we were all hungry from our cave adventure and had a large hike ahead of us that I had just learned about. Our next part of our adventurous day was to hike about thirty or forty minutes to a lookout point. By this point, you know my opinion on hiking upward, but I kind of had no choice. It was nice to be in a group though where I heard other people say they weren't too fond of it either.

As we climbed, I was impressed with myself that I wasn't as tired as what I thought I would. Looked like the walking and hills we had encountered throughout this trip had strengthened me. We all huffed and puffed our way up the hill in hope that the view from the top would be worth the climb. What made this hike easier than the ones in the past, was that it was flights of stairs made of wood or carved into the hillside, so walking was easier and you could use your arms to pull yourself up at times. As we neared the top, Carlos told us a couple more flights and we were done with the up part of it. His signal had come a lot earlier than I predicted and I was glad to have that surprise.

Our uphill climb now became a small series of down hills and side to sides for about five minutes until we reached a wooden lookout platform. What breath I had left from the hike and climbing, was taken away by the beauty in front of me!

Looking out and over the railing was a vast amount of green falling in every direction. We were atop a giant, green covered gorge with a series of natural pools, waterfalls and streams at the bottom. If you have ever seen Avatar or Jurassic Park, that is the best way I can describe it. It was like the parts in the movies where there is no script, but instead, beautiful harmonious music playing as the camera pans the landscape of waterfalls, plants, streams, cliffs and blue skies. I had never seen something so beautiful in my entire life. That is my attempt at putting into words what I saw that day, even though it will never do justice with just words or photos.

View from the lookout

We snapped photos and video as a group, soaked in our last minutes on the lookout and began the hike to the bottom so that we could swim in the little pools we saw at the bottom.

We were so thankful that we didn't have to climb back the way we came from, but instead down the hill directly for the pools. The skin on my tired knees shook as we descended the mountain.

When we reached the bottom, I was just as amazed looking up as I had been looking down. The water was just as turquoise looking and even more clear. We swam in the pools for what seemed like over an hour, taking photos both above and underwater. This is where we really had a blast with Georgia and Lee and Paul. I felt like that little kid at the pool that the parent was going to yell at, "It's time to get out," while I begged for just five more minutes.

The time had finally come to get out of the water and walk back to the truck. We piled in the same "cattle truck" and bumped and rattled our way back to the hostel. I reflected on our day at Semuc Champey and how much fun I'd had.

By the time we got back to the hostel, it was four thirty. Lee and I headed to the riverbank where we camped out on the patio furniture on the dock-like platform on shore. They ordered lunch and I got a water and we just enjoyed the rest of the evening. Katherine, Niki, Georgia and Lee's husband Paul joined our pow-wow not long after we sat down and we just relaxed. I made sure to sign up for the buffet again which would be serving steak!

I kind of conversation hopped for the rest of the night and caught myself talking to another Australian couple, Marc and Solange for the rest of the night, listening to stories about Japan and traveling through Europe in a camper van.

Dinner was great, just like the night before, and I was happy to call it a night by about ten. I was greeted in the dorm room by two more cockroaches, which this time didn't bother me as much because I was so exhausted. Tomorrow would be a more chill day and I didn't have to wake up to an alarm so I looked forward to falling asleep and staying that way! Goodnight Lanquín/Semuc Champey and thank you for stealing my heart!