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I'm writing this with the internet out, swinging in a hammock to the sound of a river flowing through the cloudy, humid jungle. One week, right now and I'll be back in blighty, four weeks and I'll be in Oxford. Time flies when you're having fun!
Semuc Champey was once an undiscovered gem in the heart of Guatemala. It still is by mainstream tourism, but it's now firmly on the backpacker map that's for sure. That's why now set up in the middle of the jungle is this, the Chi Bicol hostel, set up by an American backpacker who decided it a good idea to buy this random patch of Guatemalan land and cobble together some shacks, a bar and a few hammocks.
Part of the adventure of getting to Semuc Champey was just making it out of the hostel. I headed out with a couple, Belgian students, in the already humid, 30 degree+ heat of 9o'clock in the morning, down narrow, muddy tracks and past remote Mayan settlements - with more turkeys than people, before finally crossing a bridge and reaching the rutted, stony highway.
Semuc Champey is a remote series of brilliant turquoise pools dotted down the Rio Cahabon in the middle of the wilderness. It was a tough jungle trek, up a steep path to reach the mirador, as expected - packed with selfie-taking Israelis - to look down across the pools.
But it was more impressive being down there, able to dip in the freezing cold water (mostly to cope with the mild heat exhaustion, not helped by the fact Semuc Champey appears to have the world's most overpriced water bottles…) as well as see the caves and stalactite formations - just next to the river.
Despite the monstrous hike, today's largely been a restful, disconnected day, among probably my last chances to just swing a hammock, in the middle of the jungle.
Vamos!
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