Lanquin and Semuc Champey
The tiny town of Lanquin is set in a beautiful valley with a river flowing through it. It was several hours on a rough mountain road to get here, and several more out. The best thing about Lanquin is that it is close to the park Semuc Champey, which is supposedly the most beautiful spot in Guatemala. Not sure I'd give it that high of a rating, but maybe it was just the rain that dimmed my perception. There were 7 of us that went from the hostel in Flores to Lanquin, and we all ended up on the same tour of the park the next day.
The first part of the tour was a two hour trip through some caves. We did the whole thing by candlelight, which turned out to be really cool. The whole central part of Guatemala is made of limestone, and there are a lot of cavern systems. These ones were 11km long, and were only recently explored and mapped. After walking in through a small trickle of water, we were soon swimming through the caves and climbing up ladders, holding our candles up in one hand and awkwardly trying to breast stroke while occasionally kicking each other. We ended up climbing up waterfalls, jumping into frighteningly murky pools, and smashing our heads on the rocks multiple times (or maybe that was just me?). It was a great time, though, I really enjoyed it. 
After the caving, we set off on a surprisingly steep hike (tricky, when wearing a dress and no bathing suit underneath...) up to El Mirador, where we had a bird's eye view of the pools of Semuc Champey. We got to try a bunch of different plants along the walk, cacao, coffee, cardamon, and sugar cane. After hiking down from the view, we went for a swim in the pools. Our guide knew all the best places to slide down, dive off, and climb up. After clowning around in the water for an hour or so, we headed back to the hostel, day complete. 
On somewhat of a whim, I came out to the Caribbean coast with a Michigan couple I met on the way to Lanquin. ...But that's for a later post.
The first part of the tour was a two hour trip through some caves. We did the whole thing by candlelight, which turned out to be really cool. The whole central part of Guatemala is made of limestone, and there are a lot of cavern systems. These ones were 11km long, and were only recently explored and mapped. After walking in through a small trickle of water, we were soon swimming through the caves and climbing up ladders, holding our candles up in one hand and awkwardly trying to breast stroke while occasionally kicking each other. We ended up climbing up waterfalls, jumping into frighteningly murky pools, and smashing our heads on the rocks multiple times (or maybe that was just me?). It was a great time, though, I really enjoyed it. 
After the caving, we set off on a surprisingly steep hike (tricky, when wearing a dress and no bathing suit underneath...) up to El Mirador, where we had a bird's eye view of the pools of Semuc Champey. We got to try a bunch of different plants along the walk, cacao, coffee, cardamon, and sugar cane. After hiking down from the view, we went for a swim in the pools. Our guide knew all the best places to slide down, dive off, and climb up. After clowning around in the water for an hour or so, we headed back to the hostel, day complete. 
On somewhat of a whim, I came out to the Caribbean coast with a Michigan couple I met on the way to Lanquin. ...But that's for a later post.
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