A Hidden Gem to Spend Christmas in Central America

Getting closer and closer to the big day on our Central America trip, the question hung over our heads:

“Where are we going to spend Christmas?!”

It all started to become apparent that following our itinerary it would be in Guatemala, and after lots of toing and froing we eventually decided upon a little gem of a place called Semuc Champey, and I’m so glad that we did!

Now I feel like we couldn’t have been anywhere else!

We stayed at a hostel that was like no other hostel I’ve stayed at before. Floor-to-ceiling views of lush mountains and trickling streams, just miles of green forest. A gorgeous (if not chilly) pool with views of the valley on either side of it. We walked around with beaming smiles, squeezing hands and exclaiming that we did good.

A long chalkboard stood in the bar with a Christmas itinerary sketched onto it: a big party on Christmas Eve, followed by tubing and Christmas dinner on the day itself.

We instantly made friends with another couple, Tom and Bianca. We went on an incredible tour of Semuc Champey together. A tour so epic it deserved its own post which you can read here:

At the Christmas Eve party, we played Jenga and a weird version of beer pong that I can’t remember the name of but loved, followed by a night of carefree dancing, hostel gossip, polaroid pictures, and fireworks rolling over the hills at midnight.

Christmas morning, we called our families back home before getting ready for an afternoon of debauchery and tubing.

Double-fisting beers, we hopped into a van, all standing and packed in like cattle, we tried our best not to fall over, singing and hollering as we bumped down the winding mountain roads to the river before grabbing a rubber ring and gingerly wobbling into the water.

We followed the music downstream, and our guide with his speaker acted as the backpacker pied piper. We flowed down past bowed trees hanging over the river’s edge, most of which I seemed to hit on the way down, much to Joe’s amusement, of course! For some reason, I could never seem to manage to get out of the way in time and kept having to play an absurd game of surprise limbo.

I also almost got taken away altogether further down the river at both of our stops. I didn’t know it was possible to be bad at tubing, but here we are!

Mishaps aside, floating in the sunshine next to the love of my life, sipping a beer, and looking up at the trees wasn’t a bad way to spend Christmas Day.

We arrived at another hostel to party, an afternoon of yet more beer pong, watching everyone leap off the rope swing and dance to reggaeton.

It’s funny how often being a traveler makes me feel like a student again!

Christmas dinner itself was pleasant but somewhat of a strange assortment of “Christmas” offerings. Turkey and a teaspoon of gravy accompanied by salad, corn on the cob, and a tortilla?

Our one last activity we did before we left our Christmas mountain paradise was to visit the aptly named “Bat Cave.” The cave itself was beautiful, with some astounding natural sculptures inside, which, of course, did not translate into a single photograph. But it mattered not because when sunset came, so did the cave’s real draw. Its namesake became dramatically apparent…

Thousands upon thousands of bats swarmed out of the dark corners towards the mouth of the chambers and put into the warm air of the night to hunt.

I felt like a small child experiencing the world for the first time. I stood in pure wonder. And what better way to celebrate after all than to recapture childlike wonder?

Merry Backpacker Christmas!

Thank you for reading! Hearts and tips are always welcome and your support is very much appreciated.

This story was originally published on Medium

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