The hidden treasures of the jungle

It's been my last week in Guatemala this week and it's been a goody...

We left Rio Dulce in search of more water in the form of a natural limestone bridge with turquoise pools over a river in Semuc Champey.  We headed west along a very windy and bumpy 'road' in a 4X4 truck.  The journey which was long and very uncomfortable was made worse by my feeling a bit peeky.  We were bounced around like a pinball in a machine!  We finally arrived in Lanquin at 7pm only to find that our chosen accommodation was full so we faced another 30 minute truck ride along and equally bumpy 'road' to our second choice of hostel.  Feeling extremely battered and very tired, we booked a dorm room, which turned out to have one open side, put up our mosquito nets and fell into bed.

Our lovely dorm room with one open side!

A view of El Portal hostel.  Our dorm is on the
right, in the roof.

The next day we headed into the National Park of Semuc Champey to discover that it was well worth every bump in the road to get there.  Having purchased our $6 ticket at the entrance, we headed along the path that lead into the jungle and after about 5 minutes were greeted with a magnificent, beautiful sight.  The limestone bridge was huge and the pools were an inviting, mesmerizing shade of turquoise.  The hole place was perfect with unimaginable beauty.  Sadly, the hike up to the lookout was too much for me that day.  Having started the walk, I began to feel sick and dizzy so after a long rest on a rock, I admitted defeat and we turned around and slowly made our way back to the pools.  After a lay down on the bench and a drink of water, I felt better so we went for a dip in the water.  

Excited to be entering the park!

Enjoying the refreshing waters of the pools.

We spent the next couple of hours diving, swimming and floating in the cool water.  The limestone rocks gave create places for perching and watching the world go by.  The little fish happily nibbled away on our feet, giving for a relaxing, ticklish natural pedicure!  We took a swim down to the top of the bridge, where the river cascades over rocks before thundering under the bridge.  This was an ideal spot for an 'adventure' photo and we spent ages getting the right shot.  Both Amy and I are what we have titled as 'photo snobs'.  The definition of this would be that we are extremely fussy about our photos and are not happy until we get the photo exactly how we want it!  Needless to say that that usually means taking lots of shots.  Thank heavens for digital photography!

Enjoying a swim at one of the top pools.

The 'adventure' shot!

Taking it all in, with the river thundering along.

Having enjoyed the pools so much the previous day and having not made it up to the view point, we obviously headed back to Semuc for our second day.  The ticket man recognised us and said 'oh, back for your second visit!' which made us chuckle!  Luckily, I was feeling better and taking it slowly, we made it to the top of the view point.  The view was exactly like the postcard that we had bought in Antigua.  The pools shone crystal clear in the bight sunshine and the changing colours of the limestone created intricate patterns in the bottom of the pools.  We spent a while just staring at the view below us before making the descent back to the ever inviting water below.

I made it to the view point!

Semuc Champey steps gracefully
through the jungle valley.

Closer view of the pools.

Having refuelled back at the hotel, we returned for our afternoon of 'Amy and Helen's Big Adventures'!  We had decided that we needed to make our way down the pools and swim in as many as we could.  This involved a lot of careful walking, some skilful bottom shuffling, jumping, leaping and generally avoiding any misfooting as this would have resulted in potential injury, landing in the wrong water or embarrassment!  We chose the route down carefully, selecting waterfalls that didn't look too step or fast flowing and places where we could see that provided us with a platform at which to stop.  We both loved it so much that we did it twice!  On our return to the top, we noticed more pools that had swimming potential, so decided that we couldn't leave with a second run down the slalom of pools, falls and rocks.  In total, we ended up swimming in 14 different at Semuc Champey and we loved every single one of them!  I think that Semuc is possible the most beautiful 'river' scene that I have visited anywhere in the world.  Simply perfect!

Exploring the lower pools on the bridge.

One of the many water slides
we tackled!

Such lovely surroundings!

Feeling very contented with our two days of water adventure and exploration, we took another horrible, long and uncomfortable bus ride north to what is known as the jewel in the Guatemalan tourist crown - the Maya ruins of Tikal.

We had visited the smaller Maya ruins in Copan, Honduras, but these were on a much grander scale.  Tikal National Park is about 550 square kilometres and only 15% of the ruins are exposed.  The rest is still buried under jungle growth.  It really is like stepping into a world like time forgot, with ruins poking out the top of dense forest and trees growing up the side of limestone staircases.  The gigantic Maya temples dominate the landscape, like modern day skyscrapers.  We had a great guide, who told us about the ruins, pointed out howler monkeys, toucans and coati as well as telling us stories of how the Maya people used the trees and plants.

A temple peeks above the jungle.

Admiring the temples above the trees.

Howler monkeys hanging out in
the trees.

Climbing up some of the temples to explore and admire the views was great.  You felt incredibly small, standing next to these huge temples of stone.  It was fascinating to imagine the 150,000 Maya people living in this impressive city that was now covered with jungle.

Amy and I over looking the Central Acropolis.

Feeling very small on the stone steps!

After starting out so early this morning (the bus to Tikal was 5.20am!) this afternoon has been spent relaxing by the pool at our hotel.  It's terribly humid here so the need for a pool outweighed the cost of the hotel!! (Plus, the hotel that we stayed in last night was horrible so we had to switch!)  The hotel is on the shores of Lago Peten Itza, a picturesque little lake, great for watching sunsets.

Sunset over the lake from our hotel in El Remate.

I have loved Guatemala so much but today is our last day here.  Tomorrow we take another early bus to Belize, the last country that Amy and I will visit together and in fact the start of our last week travelling together.