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Semuc Champey was a 9 hour bus journey from Flores. I was seriously regretting the decision to go there just a couple of hours in, as my butt cheeks started to go numb. Luckily, our time in Semuc was worth the torturous journey.
We arrived into Lanquin, the nearest town to Semuc. The journey into Lanquin itself is amazing. We rode up steep inclines on worse than terrible roads, but against a backdrop of lush green mountains and valleys. At points the bus was a foot from a sheer drop off a cliff edge. We jumped onto a 4x4 pickup which was headed to El Portal, the hostel we had chosen for its proximity to the Semuc Champey park entrance. I sat right at the back of the pickup holding onto the rails for dear life as we ascended a mountainside along a rocky path. This was an adventure in itself. As I looked into the darkness, I could see small flashes of light everywhere as the vegetation was dense with fireflies.
Once we got to El Portal we were told that they didnt have our reservation, so rather than having a bed in a dorm, we had a matress each on the floor of the roof of one of the dorms - these were covered but had no doors and so were pretty open to the elements. I bedded down just after 10pm, after which point there's no electricity, and ended up having the best night's sleep I had had in a few weeks.
The next morning we (a group of seven - 2 Swedes, a Russian, 3 Americans and myself) headed out on a day tour of Semuc. Following our guide Toto, we climbed around 1.3km up a very steep incline. This was hard work, but the viewpoint at the end was well worth it. We looked down onto the natural limestone bridge and the crystal clear freshwater pools, as well as the river disappearing and re-appearing into an underground cave.
We trekked down the hillside and went into the pools. I sat on the water's edge as small fish nibbled at my feet - natural pedicure. Then, encouraged by the others, I jumped into one of the deep pools from a small ledge. It took me about 10 minutes to build the courage to do this, given the lack of a life vest, but it was an incredible feeling. Although my dive turned out to be a full on belly flop, I felt like I'd taken a huge step in terms of getting comfortable in the water.
We returned to the hostel for lunch, just in time to avoid a bout of rain. After lunch we took a 10-minute walk to do the cave tour. We followed the guide into the cave mouth where we were each given a candle. Next thing I know we're walking into darkness, with the candles illuminating the way just a few feet ahead. We walked barefoot over rock and sand, with the water's depth ranging from ankle height to chest height. Then as we went further into the caves we had to swim, one-handed with the candles held above our heads, whilst trying not to kick any rocks jutting out into our path - I was glad i'd decided to ask for a life vest at this point. We got to a small pool and several of the guys took it in turns to jump in, in pitch black, with just a few feet of water to aim at due to the rocks surrounding the deeper part of the pool. I couldn't quite muster the courage to do it. Next we came to a waterfall within the cave which was about 14-feet high. With my candle in front of me, all I could see was a small rope hanging down. I blew out my candle, tucked it into my shorts and proceeded to haul myself up against the back wall of the waterfall. The rock was smooth and slippery so I had to concentrate to make sure I kept my footing. This wasn't the UK - there were no harnesses or safety nets, just your ability to handle your bodyweight as you fought against gallons of water pouring down on you from a height. I emerged over the lip of the waterfall and felt like jumping up and down to celebrate. I hade made it up alive. The feeling was amazing. Finally, the last part of the tour involved a leap of faith into a black abyss. We came to a small crevace in the rocks which had water pouring through it. All that was visible beyond it was a wall of blackness. The guide sat at the crevace and explained what we should do - then he just let himself drop and fell into the darkness. One-by-one I saw a few of the others fall backwards into the crevace, each time I was convinced they must be dead. Then it got to my turn. I turned to face the others, said a small prayer, shut my eyes and dropped. I hit water about a second later - it wasn't quite the terrifying black abyss it appeared to be from the other side.
We left the cave feeling exhilerated. We walked back to the hostel to pick up our tubes to go tubing down the river. On the way back, Anthony, one of the Swedes had an additional bit of adventure as he was attacked by a turkey. We all laughed as he tried to swat it away with his tube. The final adventure was an 8m (24ft) dive off a bridge into the river. This was a step too far for me so I took on the roll of cameraman. Mitch managed to top my belly flop by landing in a seated position and taking the full force of the impact on his butt cheeks. Good times.
A quiet night followed - we had a couple of drinks with Steve and Jenny, a British couple we had met in Flores, played a bit of jenga and got an early night before another 8-hour trip to Antigua.
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