Semuc Champey, Guatemala

We got up bright and early for some breakkie before jumping on an 8am shuttle towards Lanquin, the town next to the beautiful Semuc Champey. The 8 hour shuttle actually ended up taking 10 hours, but considering we didn’t get caught up in a political roadblock, we were actually pretty lucky.Our whirlwind tour of Guatemala coincided with the lead up week to their presidential elections. In Guatemala, political rallies and protests mean one thing – roadblocks. Yep that’s right. To protest against one political party or to show support for another, people will literally block major roads and hold a rally in the middle of the street. This includes major highways. We heard a nightmare story from a french couple who’s relatively short 5 hour hop turned into a 24 hour debacle. Hence, every single time we hopped in a bus or a van in Guatemala (which was lots in our mental week here), we did so with crossed fingers that we could somehow avoid one of these random and spontaneous commuting nightmares.

We got to Lanquin, and from here jumped in a Ute tray with all of our bags and other travellers for a half hour journey through the outskirts of town to our hostel – Utopia. We got here just in time for the big communal dinner, and shortly after hit the hay.

The next morning was Bec’s birthday! Although we were in these beautiful surroundings, it was bitter sweet for Bec due to us being on the other side of the world to both her parents and her twin brother, and even more so because the wifi in our hostel never seemed to work, hence we were unable to contact them.We walked to Semuc, and spent the morning climbing up to the lookout point before swimming and exploring in the pools for a few hours. We’ll just let the photos do the talking here.

​We headed back and along the way grabbed a delicious late lunch from a stall set up on the side of the road. Back at the hostel we tried calling home again unsuccessfully before giving up and having a few cheeky vinos on the back deck of the hostel. Pros and cons of travelling – you get to see so many beautiful places, but you can’t help but get homesick on days like this when you’re thousands of miles away from the people you love.Next stop Lago de Atitlan!