11: Lanquin - Guatemala

Days 42-44 (24th-26th Nov): Bat Caves and Semuc Champey

Written 06/12/12

 

Hello from the mountains of Guatemala! (and a blog packed with photos, I just couldn't choose :P)

River crossing in the van and a typical town

 The journey here was eventful as we got a blown tyre an hour into the journey and had to change it on the side of the road for the 'spare' which was completely bald and had the wire from under the rubber coming through! :S On that tyre and 3 other very flat ones we did the 8 hour journey along the tiny mountain paths... lol. The people on the bus were nice though and we spoke to some friendly Canadian girls :) The things we saw were funny though, like a caged pickup truck jammed full of people they were hanging off the side! (Soon to be us in further adventures lol :P)







woman and children out the bus window 

Our Hostel

 

 

The views were spectacular over the valleys and peaks, we went past coffee and chocolate plantations and we watched as the jungle turned into pine forest, turn into just cloud and as we got higher. Lanquin is just a small village close to some natural wonders, but the hostel was lovely, set into the valley side, just lots of cabanas with a river running along at the bottom :) By the time we got there it was pretty dark so we didnt do a lot and went to sleep.

The next day, after a nice lunch in the village (and being followed around all morning by our new adopted pet dog, a gorgeous puppy pitbull cross boxer!) we went to the Grutas de Lanquin (some big caves lol) famous for their bats.

 After a bumpy tuk-tuk ride, we entered through a narrow tunnel where the river runs out from inside the cave. Straight from there you are into huge echoy caverns, boulder-y unstable floors with crazy rock formations everywhere, stalagmites/tites all over the place, eerey dripping water, huge casems either side down to what seemed like the middle of the earth and a creepy dim light from a faint string of bulbs through the caves.

  It was totally silent other than the bats sqeaking above us, the dripping and a faint sound of running water from beneath us. Where there was dripping water there were beautiful formations and sparkling white crystals. However, all the rest of the rocks were covered in slime!! Of what we think was a mix of bat poo, other organic matter and the condensation from the hot mist hanging in the air. We got covered in it climbing around the rocks! It was gross.

 It was kinda scary in there too, definately creepy, but so beautiful and we were the only people, apart from when we stumbled on a group of hippies doing yoga next to a very sudden drop into darkness! We clambered about for ages, up through small openings and over big boulders, torch in the mouth so we could see.

 

 

The whole time we could hear the squeaks of bats above us, and had heard that at dusk thousands rush out of the mouth of the cave, but we were not really prepared for it when it happened! Quite suddenly actually (no idea how they know the time lol) we were surrounded by hundreds of bats, all wooshing past us. You could feel and hear the wind of their wings as they came within inches of us but never touched us or all the rocks around us. They were seriously everywhere and we stood ontop of a rock to get in their path and get really close. It was so amazing to be in that cave and we stood for half an hour just watching them, and then moved out to see them fly off into the night. Just incredible!

  After that tho I realised I had left our torch in the cave, so Liam said he would run back to get it. I stood outside by the entrance for a little bit and by then it had got completely dark and wondered where he'd got to... so I asked the guard, who said that at 6pm all the lights in the caves go off!!! So Liam was trapped in the cave in the complete utter pitch black completely alone and unable to move as you can't see where the rock falls into a hundred foot cavern and its so slippery! I got the guard to run in there with me with a torch and found him sat on a rock waiting for me, he'd been there 15 minutes. He says he has never seen black like it, there was nothing, no night vision came because there was not the tiniest bit of light to see with, and he had just been trying to make sure he didn't move and didn't think of anything scary lol, thank god he has not seen The Desent! If it had been me I would be scared! He was pretty kwl about it though :) We came out absolutely COVERED in that slime!

The main reason we came to this area was for Semuc Champey, which we did the next day.

 View on journey there, from the back of the truck

 First view of Semuc Champey (though not the main part)

It's an amazing natural wonder, tho you have to go with a group, and it ended up being one of the best days! We started off by traveling for an hour standing/falling about in the back of a pickup truck lol. The first thing we did was this crazy crazy cave thing. Basically, they give you a CANDLE and you follow the guide into the cave, where you then (in a line because outside the exact route is too dangerous!) swim one handed, holding the candle above your head, through murky cold cave water at the bottom of a ravine (both of our candles went out at some point), climb one handed up unsecure rope ladders and over rocks, slide down over slippery boulders into deep dark pools, and climb up a waterfall!! All in the dark, could barely see a thing, all absolutely terrifying, definitely illegally not safe in the UK and completely Insane... but so exhilerating! I was scared of the cave monsters too lol.

Pretty much straight after we all did a 4m rope swing into the river too! The river here is very picturesque, with forest covered mountains in the backdrop. After all that we were given tyre inner tubes (lol) and lazily floated down the river in them. After Liam nearly fell out and subsequently got sorted, it was rele relaxing and tranquil to float down the river, just had to watch out for the sticking up rocks and currents! Was rele fun though and nice after the mornings adventures. The tubing ended just after a bridge, that we were told we could jump off (so long as it was to a specific point cos either side of that was rocks!)... that was either 9m or 15m high!! Funnily enough neither
me or Liam did it, but a few other crazy ppl did.
This was all before lunch!

After lunch we did a knackering big steep hike up to a mirador (a view point) of the whole valley and it was spectacular. THE view of Guatemala. The reason Semuc Champey is famous is because 2 different rivers flow separately, one through the mountain and one over it. One makes the spring water waterfalls that turn the rock orange and the water the clearest bluest blue, all surrounded by moutains and forest, just gorgeous, hard to explain so see the picture lol.

Part of the waterfall system
Where the river dissappears underground!

The waterfalls are a series of huge shallow pools that you can swim in too, so we went back down to have a dip. There was a bigger waterfall that crashed down under the ground and into the mountain, and then the several little ones and pools after that that. Here the water is crystal clear and drinkable as it is from a moutain spring.

The group went off and slide down some of the waterfalls, ducked under rocks to get to other pools and climbed back up to see the fish swimming there. We also saw Elise briefly from the San Andreas school which was a strange coincidence! Me and Liam sat for a while looking around and taking it all in, it made you feel very small! The colours were amazing and so bright, and the trees dangled vines and the roots twisted into the waters edge and it was beautiful. We were perched on the edge of a small waterfall looking down over the valley and it was perfect and full of shiny fish (but slippery as we found out when I fell in again lol).

A magical place

And then all too soon were were walking back past all the small trickles and streams that fed into the river and over the bridges, back in the back of the pick up and along the dirt track being thrown into the air and to the hostel. We were completely knackered by the end!!



 

We planned to do not a lot, but we ended up chatting to a big group of guys and stayed for a few drinks... which turned into a great Guatemalan drinking game, a bit like a boat race, with everyone in the bar and all the staff joining in and it ended up being a late night! Was great fun though and it really was a good day! :D

So the start of our mountainy adventure has been eventful, packed full, and crazy but totally awesome too! Felt good to be doing and seeing things again after the 10 days in San Andres learning lots :) Might need a day off again at this rate though haha!! Lots to do here in Lanquin so will be a busy few days.