Lanquin
Lanquin is the nearest town to the tourist destination of Semuc Champey. A series of picturesque limestone pools that you are able to bathe in. In the same area there is also the opportunity for Caving and tubing. We did all of them, and they were great... if a little cold.
Also they say they take card - but really it's cash only.
In the morning we packed up our things, had breakfast at the hostel in Coban and then headed to the collectivo bus station for Lanquin. We had found that all the shuttles to Lanquin (our next stop) came via Antigua. this meant they all came either in the very early morning (at 5am), or in the afternoon (around 1pm). We didn't want to wait around and we wanted to get to Lanquin when we were ready so we decided to take the public bus.
This is sometimes advised against because it is supposedly less safe, however I certainly felt fine on the public bus with the added advantages that you aren't ferried between tourist traps and scams by the shuttle services, and therefore it is a lot cheaper. Our bus to Lanquin cost us 25Q each, whereas the shuttle would have been closer to 100Q and would have probably taken longer due to the picking up of different passengers. Sometimes you spend an hour driving round the town doing pick up trips and it's possibly the last thing you want when you know you have a big journey ahead.
We were slightly worried about our bags as they were put on the roof of the bus however we had all our electronics and valuables with us so we didn't need to worry. The bags were fine when we arrived and also dry despite the rain. They always put a tarp over the bags to keep them dry. The drive to Lanquin is one of the more adventurous. About eleven kilometres from Lanquin the road turns in to little more than a rocky track and progress goes from super quick to very slow. The last eleven kilometres literally takes about an hour. It's also pretty bumpy though the public bus is slightly larger and I believe that helps absorb some of the bumps. To add to the bumpy ride we were also treated to the locals at their best. To pass the time on the buses they like to do what any other person would do on a bus with no toilet. Drink loads of beer! We're not entirely sure how they do it, but we believe people from Latin America must have the largest bladders on earth. We have definitely witnessed people on eight hour bus rides not even thinking about needing the toilet. And they've been drinking too! One of our highlights of the bus ride was when one of the passengers stopped the bus (We thought to get off) and went to the nearest shop to stock up on more beers. He stopped the whole bus for five minutes!
When we got to Lanquin we were just about holding our insides together. From Lanquin we knew it was another pick-up truck to our hostel called Utopia which is an eco-lodge in between Lanquin and Semuc Champey. We'd messaged them to tell them we would be arriving around two-ish so they could send a pick-up truck for us but we weren't too sure past that what was meant to be happening. When we got off the bus we were immediately confronted by about four people offering transport and it was suddenly very hard to work out which one we should go for. I asked for the Utopia "gratis" shuttle, meaning free to hopefully weed out the pretenders and soon we were in a pick-up truck and things looked promising.
After about 2 minutes of going round in circles we started to think the driver was having us on. He was shouting out the window, having a chat to people and then eventually pulled up outside a house and got out shouting something in Spanish. Kate and I felt a little uneasy at this point and I had images in my head of us being taken to the middle of nowhere and mugged so I got out to see what was up. The driver was coming back with a friend and I looked down to see that he actually had a pocket knife in his hand (not opened at this point).... oh dear. Todo bien? I asked. Si, si all good and he walked straight passed me to start cutting something off the back off the car. I still wasn't sure what was going on but he hadn't knifed me at the first opportunity which was a good sign. After that we took off again, again round in circles shouting "Semuc Champey". After a while the back of the pick-up was full and we were eventually off. It turned out this was a very normal thing to happen. The way to get around in these parts is pretty much walk, or get a pick-up so if anyone is driving anywhere they usually offer around the whole village at least twice before starting the journey. They usually do this with the hope of getting some money but that definitely didn't always seem to be the case.
We'd been driving for about three minutes when the guy who'd got in to the passenger seat turned around and introduced himself in very good English. He was from Guatemala and worked at Utopia (which also made us feel better), he'd just got back from holiday in the UK and was heading back to Utopia for his first day back. We chatted about the UK for a bit and he told us a bit more about Utopia before we all started to concentrate on not flying around the car too much as we tackled some seriously rough roads. I had no idea how the people standing in the back were coping.
Eventually we pulled up at Utopia and we unloaded our stuff and were welcomed in.
Our experience of the briefing at Utopia was mostly one of horror as the gentlemen briefing us told us of all the things that may bite or sting us in the area. Tarantulas, scorpions, snakes, wild dogs, mosquitoes, the list just went on and Kate was looking unhappier by the second. Most of these things had probably been around the whole time but being told that they definitely were and most of them were spotted almost frequently was a little bit too much... and then I went and set up the tent. We set up our tent on a piece of thin ground overlooking the river, there wasn't much room and there was one tent there already and you might be able to fit four in total. After the tent was up we decided to have something to eat.
We had the pizza which we were very excited about as we were absolutely starving and were hoping it would nicely settle our tummies. Unfortunately the cheese they use is nothing short of odd, and the base was rock solid so it definitely didn't help too much. We did finish it though! After that we went and used the wifi, which you need to walk up a hill to get to and often the signal is so bad you can only just send an email. It started raining at this point and the internet didn't work at all. We came back to the common area and had a couple of drinks and also talked to a few people about their tips for Belize before we headed to bed. It had been raining torrentially for almost an hour by this point and I was half worried we'd find the tent had been washed away, however it was still standing and though some of the pegs had moved a little it was still standing strong. It stopped raining just as we got to the tent and then the humidity really kicked in, I decided to leave the tent door open for a little ventilation and then we were out like lights.
Day 2
In the morning we didn't need to be up too early as the tour to Semuc Champey didn't leave til 10am. We had the breakfast of omelette and fruit. Again it came with the strange cheese so wasn't great. We left of the tour with about eight other people. The pick-up to Semuc Champey was probably one of my highlights of the day. We got a chance to find out what it was like standing in the back of the pick-up and holding on for dear life. As the pick-up flew along the rough roads we had to duck and dodge as trees and other plants tried to take our heads off. It reminded me of games on the Wii or Crash Bandicoot; It was great!
First up on the tour were the K'anba caves which was a two hour tour, by candle light, through some very wet caves. I didn't have any shoes suitable so after advice from some people at the hostel I went for the socks-over-flip-flop look. It looked great, felt great and is clearly going to be the next big thing!
The caves were pretty exciting, if a little crowded, and having the candle added that extra bit of adventure, though they didn't really shed too much light. We were going up ladders and round waterfalls and then plunging in to some deep water barely keeping the candle alight. There were a few big jumps you could do and what I can only describe as a foetal slide where you need to stay in the foetal position to avoid hitting your head. Most of the big things you can miss out if you're not up for it which is a good thing, the only issue was the large queues that seemed to build up at times. By the end though everyone seemed to have disappeared, I'm not sure if they left before us or they took another route (hopefully they're not still in the cave!).
After the caves we did a rope swing which was just outside the caves which was fun if a little dangerous, then had some lunch which we had opted to have made at the hostel. It was a very unappetising bagel. We would have probably been better getting lunch at the BBQ place we stopped at!
Semuc Champey was up next. Semuc Champey is what everyone comes to see, it's a series of very pretty limestone pools that you can swim and dive in to. There's a viewpoint which we hiked up to first. It takes about an hour to get up and down and is pretty slippy in places. I did it in flip-flops but that definitely isn't advised. When we got to the top we had a great view of the pools which look beautiful with a Jurrasic Park-esque backdrop; The photos definitely don't convey the whole scene. We took a couple of photos and as we were competing with another tour group we decided to head back down first and get some good pictures of the pool before everyone else arrived.
The plan worked and we got some great pictures before starting the tour. This whole time Kate had been feeling awful as she was still having stomach cramps. We had to sit and rest for a bit before heading to join our group which was being shown around by a guide. Our guide showed us some of the fun bits of the pools. Places with natural water slides, or natural caves - where you could barely put your head up (and named the love cave), and showed us the safest ways to get between some of the pools. It was really cool though the slides gave me a bit of sore bum! That tour lasted about another hour and a half before we headed back to the caves to do our tubing tour!
Because Utopia is on the river it offers something it calls "Extreme Tubing". This is essentially tubing however it's good because you can do it all the way to the hostel. The river changes dramatically depending on rainfall and if the river is too low or too high the tubing won't happen. The river was on the high side for us and had been cancelled the two days previous but for us it was happening which I was very excited about. I was interested to see what was so extreme about the tubing and as we discovered the only real extreme was the water temperature. It was extremely cold!
We had another guide for the tubing and we locked our legs around the person in front and went in groups. It was Kate, me and our guide, who seemed to be in his early teens! You need the guide to help you navigate the river which can be pretty rough and dangerous if you go down the wrong bit. Our guide seemed to be having a lot of fun however making us go through the roughest bits and get cold water on us which always elicited a yelp, scream or cry for at least Kate of myself. By the end of the half an hour we were ready to get out for a warm shower. That's when we found out that the showers were all cold.
For dinner I had the set meal which was the vegeburger and fries which were actually really nice. We had that and played monopoly cards with some of the people we met on the tour. The game went on for ages and only finished when we all had to go an close our tabs for the stay - we're pretty sure we would of won if we'd kept playing! Then it was back to the tent for another nights sleep. We had to be up early as our pick-up to Lanquin was at 6:30 and we needed to get up, have breakfast and pack-up the tent before that!
Getting There
Getting to Lanquin is probably one of the more uncomfortable journeys you're going to make. We came from Coban which is an easier trip, but usually you'd probably come Flores or Antigua on the gringo trail. Shuttles would be about 180Q and it's advertised to take 8 hours from Antigua and 10 from Flores. The road is really bad especially the last 11km. Is it worth it. Everyone says yes. I would say yes, but only in (be)hindsight; My bum still hurts!Where we Stayed
We stayed at the Utopia Eco-Lodge which is about thirty to forty minutes from Lanquin; In a very bumpy pick-up truck in the direction of Semuc Champey. We camped for 100Q a night. And we also did the Semuc Champey and K'anba Caves (with Extreme Tubing) tour with them which we really enjoyed. There's no where to get food around there so you're stuck with their menu which is okay, it's 65Q for dinner. There also plenty of insects around so come prepared!Also they say they take card - but really it's cash only.
Journal
Getting ThereIn the morning we packed up our things, had breakfast at the hostel in Coban and then headed to the collectivo bus station for Lanquin. We had found that all the shuttles to Lanquin (our next stop) came via Antigua. this meant they all came either in the very early morning (at 5am), or in the afternoon (around 1pm). We didn't want to wait around and we wanted to get to Lanquin when we were ready so we decided to take the public bus.
This is sometimes advised against because it is supposedly less safe, however I certainly felt fine on the public bus with the added advantages that you aren't ferried between tourist traps and scams by the shuttle services, and therefore it is a lot cheaper. Our bus to Lanquin cost us 25Q each, whereas the shuttle would have been closer to 100Q and would have probably taken longer due to the picking up of different passengers. Sometimes you spend an hour driving round the town doing pick up trips and it's possibly the last thing you want when you know you have a big journey ahead.
We were slightly worried about our bags as they were put on the roof of the bus however we had all our electronics and valuables with us so we didn't need to worry. The bags were fine when we arrived and also dry despite the rain. They always put a tarp over the bags to keep them dry. The drive to Lanquin is one of the more adventurous. About eleven kilometres from Lanquin the road turns in to little more than a rocky track and progress goes from super quick to very slow. The last eleven kilometres literally takes about an hour. It's also pretty bumpy though the public bus is slightly larger and I believe that helps absorb some of the bumps. To add to the bumpy ride we were also treated to the locals at their best. To pass the time on the buses they like to do what any other person would do on a bus with no toilet. Drink loads of beer! We're not entirely sure how they do it, but we believe people from Latin America must have the largest bladders on earth. We have definitely witnessed people on eight hour bus rides not even thinking about needing the toilet. And they've been drinking too! One of our highlights of the bus ride was when one of the passengers stopped the bus (We thought to get off) and went to the nearest shop to stock up on more beers. He stopped the whole bus for five minutes!
 |
| The public bus was about 30Q each and came with entertainment in the form of drunk Guatemalans |
When we got to Lanquin we were just about holding our insides together. From Lanquin we knew it was another pick-up truck to our hostel called Utopia which is an eco-lodge in between Lanquin and Semuc Champey. We'd messaged them to tell them we would be arriving around two-ish so they could send a pick-up truck for us but we weren't too sure past that what was meant to be happening. When we got off the bus we were immediately confronted by about four people offering transport and it was suddenly very hard to work out which one we should go for. I asked for the Utopia "gratis" shuttle, meaning free to hopefully weed out the pretenders and soon we were in a pick-up truck and things looked promising.
After about 2 minutes of going round in circles we started to think the driver was having us on. He was shouting out the window, having a chat to people and then eventually pulled up outside a house and got out shouting something in Spanish. Kate and I felt a little uneasy at this point and I had images in my head of us being taken to the middle of nowhere and mugged so I got out to see what was up. The driver was coming back with a friend and I looked down to see that he actually had a pocket knife in his hand (not opened at this point).... oh dear. Todo bien? I asked. Si, si all good and he walked straight passed me to start cutting something off the back off the car. I still wasn't sure what was going on but he hadn't knifed me at the first opportunity which was a good sign. After that we took off again, again round in circles shouting "Semuc Champey". After a while the back of the pick-up was full and we were eventually off. It turned out this was a very normal thing to happen. The way to get around in these parts is pretty much walk, or get a pick-up so if anyone is driving anywhere they usually offer around the whole village at least twice before starting the journey. They usually do this with the hope of getting some money but that definitely didn't always seem to be the case.
We'd been driving for about three minutes when the guy who'd got in to the passenger seat turned around and introduced himself in very good English. He was from Guatemala and worked at Utopia (which also made us feel better), he'd just got back from holiday in the UK and was heading back to Utopia for his first day back. We chatted about the UK for a bit and he told us a bit more about Utopia before we all started to concentrate on not flying around the car too much as we tackled some seriously rough roads. I had no idea how the people standing in the back were coping.
Eventually we pulled up at Utopia and we unloaded our stuff and were welcomed in.
 |
| A very bumpy pick-up ride from Lanquin to the Utopia Eco-Lodge |
Our experience of the briefing at Utopia was mostly one of horror as the gentlemen briefing us told us of all the things that may bite or sting us in the area. Tarantulas, scorpions, snakes, wild dogs, mosquitoes, the list just went on and Kate was looking unhappier by the second. Most of these things had probably been around the whole time but being told that they definitely were and most of them were spotted almost frequently was a little bit too much... and then I went and set up the tent. We set up our tent on a piece of thin ground overlooking the river, there wasn't much room and there was one tent there already and you might be able to fit four in total. After the tent was up we decided to have something to eat.
We had the pizza which we were very excited about as we were absolutely starving and were hoping it would nicely settle our tummies. Unfortunately the cheese they use is nothing short of odd, and the base was rock solid so it definitely didn't help too much. We did finish it though! After that we went and used the wifi, which you need to walk up a hill to get to and often the signal is so bad you can only just send an email. It started raining at this point and the internet didn't work at all. We came back to the common area and had a couple of drinks and also talked to a few people about their tips for Belize before we headed to bed. It had been raining torrentially for almost an hour by this point and I was half worried we'd find the tent had been washed away, however it was still standing and though some of the pegs had moved a little it was still standing strong. It stopped raining just as we got to the tent and then the humidity really kicked in, I decided to leave the tent door open for a little ventilation and then we were out like lights.
Day 2
In the morning we didn't need to be up too early as the tour to Semuc Champey didn't leave til 10am. We had the breakfast of omelette and fruit. Again it came with the strange cheese so wasn't great. We left of the tour with about eight other people. The pick-up to Semuc Champey was probably one of my highlights of the day. We got a chance to find out what it was like standing in the back of the pick-up and holding on for dear life. As the pick-up flew along the rough roads we had to duck and dodge as trees and other plants tried to take our heads off. It reminded me of games on the Wii or Crash Bandicoot; It was great!
First up on the tour were the K'anba caves which was a two hour tour, by candle light, through some very wet caves. I didn't have any shoes suitable so after advice from some people at the hostel I went for the socks-over-flip-flop look. It looked great, felt great and is clearly going to be the next big thing!
The caves were pretty exciting, if a little crowded, and having the candle added that extra bit of adventure, though they didn't really shed too much light. We were going up ladders and round waterfalls and then plunging in to some deep water barely keeping the candle alight. There were a few big jumps you could do and what I can only describe as a foetal slide where you need to stay in the foetal position to avoid hitting your head. Most of the big things you can miss out if you're not up for it which is a good thing, the only issue was the large queues that seemed to build up at times. By the end though everyone seemed to have disappeared, I'm not sure if they left before us or they took another route (hopefully they're not still in the cave!).
After the caves we did a rope swing which was just outside the caves which was fun if a little dangerous, then had some lunch which we had opted to have made at the hostel. It was a very unappetising bagel. We would have probably been better getting lunch at the BBQ place we stopped at!
Semuc Champey was up next. Semuc Champey is what everyone comes to see, it's a series of very pretty limestone pools that you can swim and dive in to. There's a viewpoint which we hiked up to first. It takes about an hour to get up and down and is pretty slippy in places. I did it in flip-flops but that definitely isn't advised. When we got to the top we had a great view of the pools which look beautiful with a Jurrasic Park-esque backdrop; The photos definitely don't convey the whole scene. We took a couple of photos and as we were competing with another tour group we decided to head back down first and get some good pictures of the pool before everyone else arrived.
The plan worked and we got some great pictures before starting the tour. This whole time Kate had been feeling awful as she was still having stomach cramps. We had to sit and rest for a bit before heading to join our group which was being shown around by a guide. Our guide showed us some of the fun bits of the pools. Places with natural water slides, or natural caves - where you could barely put your head up (and named the love cave), and showed us the safest ways to get between some of the pools. It was really cool though the slides gave me a bit of sore bum! That tour lasted about another hour and a half before we headed back to the caves to do our tubing tour!
Because Utopia is on the river it offers something it calls "Extreme Tubing". This is essentially tubing however it's good because you can do it all the way to the hostel. The river changes dramatically depending on rainfall and if the river is too low or too high the tubing won't happen. The river was on the high side for us and had been cancelled the two days previous but for us it was happening which I was very excited about. I was interested to see what was so extreme about the tubing and as we discovered the only real extreme was the water temperature. It was extremely cold!
We had another guide for the tubing and we locked our legs around the person in front and went in groups. It was Kate, me and our guide, who seemed to be in his early teens! You need the guide to help you navigate the river which can be pretty rough and dangerous if you go down the wrong bit. Our guide seemed to be having a lot of fun however making us go through the roughest bits and get cold water on us which always elicited a yelp, scream or cry for at least Kate of myself. By the end of the half an hour we were ready to get out for a warm shower. That's when we found out that the showers were all cold.
For dinner I had the set meal which was the vegeburger and fries which were actually really nice. We had that and played monopoly cards with some of the people we met on the tour. The game went on for ages and only finished when we all had to go an close our tabs for the stay - we're pretty sure we would of won if we'd kept playing! Then it was back to the tent for another nights sleep. We had to be up early as our pick-up to Lanquin was at 6:30 and we needed to get up, have breakfast and pack-up the tent before that!
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