After a long and bumpy ride from Nebaj (they were literally building the road as we were driving on it), we arrived in the city of Lanquin to swim in the turquoise pools of Semuc Champey.
Surrounded by jungle, this area is known for it´s limestone rock formations, caves, and idyllic pools.
We opted to let our Hostal do the dirty work for us and went on a day tour that included caving, river tubing, and Semuc Champey.
The caves were fun and we found ourselves swimming through deep pools, climbing waterfalls and dodging rocks from above and below. A headlamp would have been a good thing to have, candles don´t do a great job of lighting the way.
Leaving Lanquin we took a ridiculous ride to the city of Flores, to get to Tikal. Between the vomiting, diarrhea (none of which was ours), yelling and deranged tourists, it´s a miracle we made it alive without somebody getting into a fight (or me for calling somebody a grandma).
Unfortunately we had to rush our trip up in the northern part of the country, but still our stay was special.
We spent a night in our hammocks in Tikal National Park listening to the howler monkeys roaring in the distance and watching troops of Codimundi (sp?) scavenging the jungle floor. They look like a giant raccoon with a really long tail, a ring tail monkey if you will.
We got up at 430am to walk to the tallest Mayan temple built and watch the sunrise. That was pretty awesome, watching night turn to day and hearing the jungle come alive. You can see forever in every direction, and the other temples reaching out of the jungle.
Click photo to enlarge:
Bottom view of Semuc Champey.
Top view of Semuc Champey. That shadow kills.
View from the Island Flores across Lake Peten.
Tikal. Temple in the Grand Plaza.
Tikal. View from Temple 5, second highest Mayan structure built.
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