Adventure awaits in Semuc Champey

You may not know this about me, but I'm a thrill seeking adrenaline junky. 

Now, to be fair, I can't claim to have summited Mt. Everest, jumped out of an air plane, or ridden any sort of strange vehicle across country. 

However, when placed in certain environments, with the right amounts of risk and challenge involved, I am one of the first to line up. 

Up until this point in my trip, I had been playing it safe.

If you don't count the bike ride around Lake Atitlan which almost made me go into cardiac arrest...

Or coming close to being involved in a tuk tuk crash...
Or that time my friends and I kayaked to an abandoned house, halfway under the rising water and climbed onto the patio via the second floor window ledge...

All totally safe activities. 

Semuc Champey is located on the edge of the Guatemalan jungle, and is known for it's warm, lush, hilly surroundings. Mostly, people venture to this spot to visit the natural limestone bridge, freshwater turquoise pools and bat caves that bring fame to the area. Semuc Champey means "where the river hides beneath the earth" in Maya language. The river running through this area disappears into a point of the earth, and reappears to continue on it's natural path.

I stayed in a lodge located in a small village 45 minutes outside Semuc Champey called Lanquin. At El Retiro Lodge, they put emphasis on community and interaction with other travelers. Every night they offered a family-style dinner where everyone ate and drank together. This was not the only place in Guatemala I had stayed at which encouraged intentional time spent together. WiFi was turned off at certain times of the day, communal areas had long, large tables and group games, music sessions and long conversations were often had before or after dinner.

After taking a quiet, relaxing day to journal, lounge and do some lazy tubing down the river pictured above, I was ready to take on an adventure-filled day at Semuc Champey. 

Our group loaded into the back of a pickup truck and took the winding, bumpy road to Semuc. 

Our first adventure of the day were the caves. Our guide lit our candles that we were to hold throughout the tour to light our way in the pitch-black caves. We made our way carefully through the cave, tripping and walking sloppily as we maneuvered around large rocks poking out from above and below.  The cave bottom would drop down and we would have to swim, single-handed while holding our candles. We climbed up small waterfalls, jumped from high rocks into small pools, and got pushed through a small opening of rocks to land into the black abyss of water and rocks.

I loved every second. A few did not share my excitement.

Our second adventure came in the form of a rope swing. Each person took a turn sitting on the swing which flew you high above the river and we jumped straight into it. 

                                       

                                       

                                       

Next, we grabbed some tubes and floated for several kilometers down the river until we reached a steel road bridge and our guide motioned for us to swim to the side and climb out. I had started to wonder why he was leading us over this ordinary bridge for passing car traffic, when he stopped in the middle and asked if anyone felt like jumping in. 

He pointed to the bottom planks of the bridge and said "Para pollos", for chickens, then pointed to the very top rung and said, "Para hombres", for men. Our group stood there, not sure if we heard correctly. Our guide was telling us we could free fall off a 50 ft. bridge into the water below if we wanted to.  I immediately shot my hand up first. I could hear my parent's warning the night before I left for Guatemala, "Brittany, please don't do anything crazy or stupid, like jumping off a bridge," as I climbed to the very top rung of the bridge and jumped straight off.  

Our final adventure for the day was exploring the natural limestone bottomed pools.

This was by far the most relaxing part of the day. We hiked for about 30 minutes up hill to get a great view of the river, limestone bridge, and the surrounding hills. Once we arrived at the bottom, we were ready for some easy, relaxing swimming. We spent the rest of the afternoon sliding down the beds of rocks into the small pools. The water was an incredible color I've never seen before in a river bed. 

Finally, at the end of our long and crazy day, we loaded back on the pick up truck for the bumpy ride home. With a day full of adventure behind me, I was ready for a big family meal and a few drinks with the new friends I had made.