The Best Place in Central America That You’ve Never Heard of

Intro

Central America may conjure up images of hidden Mayan ruins, spewing volcanoes, palm tree strewn beaches and pastel painted colonial cities but there’s one place that might not immediately spring to mind, but absolutely should.

That place is Semuc Champey in Guatemala.

Semuc Champey National Park is a travellers dream. A place to find your inner adventurer, exploring the mystical Kanba caves by candlelight. A place to get your heartbeat pumping hiking to the viewpoint overlooking the heart achingly beautiful, natural stepped pools. A place to relax at the end of it all, swimming in the cool, flowing water, climbing down from one pool to the next.

Let me take you through one of the best days of our Central America trip, in a place not to be missed!

The Kanba Caves

We booked this glorious day tour from our hostel. We got lucky, and we were only a small group, just us and our two friends Tom and Bianca. I am so grateful to have had such an intimate experience.

Our guide was a young, local lad with a great sense of humour. He said his name was “Cheeky”, and he certainly lived up to his name as he wasn’t afraid to take the piss out of us (which we often deserved, me more than others.)

Our first stop was the Kanba Caves. I’ve explored many caves in my lifetime, but I’ve never had an experience quite like this. We explored the cave by candlelight.

We waded through the water dappled by the sun and into the darkness, feeling the water drop in temperature the deeper into the cave we waded. Water that has long forgotten how it feels to be touched by the sun, only now lightly caressed by faint candlelight.

Our guide plunged his fingers into black scorch marks on the walls surrounded by wax drippings of long-lost candles and his fingers deftly smeared the coal across our cheeks. “Cave war paint.” He grinned.

He lit and handed us each a single candle. As we crept in further, we saw the flickering of candles wedged into the walls of the tunnel and it looked eerily beautiful.

It was one of those travel moments where you get that “Indiana Jones feeling”. I know we were one of hundreds of tour groups that get led through those caves but something about it made you feel as if you were the first people to ever explore it.

In that jet black water, we had no way of knowing how deep the water was when we placed our feet down. Somehow most people seemed to manage it but the dyspraxia girl that I am, I often did not. My tentative ginger footing, many wobbles and banged knees brought giggles to Cheeky’s face as he kept asking with genuine interest why I was such a scared girl.

We went from wading to swimming, with one hand grappling with a guide rope, the other outreached in front of you supporting your solitary candle, and two legs kicking out as you swam through the gloom.

We ducked. We crawled. We climbed. Climbing a shaking, rusty, rickety ladder turned me into even more of a scared girl (I’m afraid of heights). I had to do some strange breathing to get through it (I sounded a little like a woman giving birth) much to Cheeky’s amusement. He’s been going into these caves since he was a kid, so it’s no big deal to him.

We even slid down a small tunnel. I say we; I mean Joe slid down a small tunnel. I went back the way we came which ironically turned out to be the scarier choice, as Joe told me the tunnel was fun and it was only a short drop into the water. And climbing back down that ladder was certainly not fun!

The Waterfall and Rope Swing

Blinking back out in the open, we wandered down to a small waterfall which is at the very bottom rung of the ladder of the many falls of Semuc Champey, before having a go on a rope swing into the river.

Our guide told us a real horror story about a girl who didn’t jump when she should have. She bottled the jump and stayed clinging onto the rope as it swung back into the wall, breaking her back. “She’s lucky she didn’t die” he said as he handed Joe the rope and added “So, make sure you jump, OK?”

Luckily nobody died this time, and we could continue to the peak of the day trip, what we had all come here for.

The Viewpoint

We made our ascent to the viewpoint, which was a heart attack inducing set of incredibly steep steps. But as always on these adventures it was totally worth it.

It rewarded us with the most incredible view of the entire trip. I gazed down lovingly with longing at a collection of natural limestone bridges creating a series of stepped, bright turquoise pools surrounded by jungle clad cliffs.

It was dreamy to look at and I felt like it was a painting that I wanted to disappear into like a character under a spell from a Roald Dahl story. A dream scape that I could never grow tired of and would happily disappear into.

Swimming

We had to drag ourselves away from the view with the promise that this dream would become true, and we could swim in those very pools.

I put my water shoes on and climbed in. The clear cool water on my skin felt like heaven after that hot, sweaty hike.

We enjoyed swimming and floating on our backs. We would sit and chat in the pool before deciding to slide, climb or jump into the next pool below.

Each time I had to face my nemesis, heights, yet again, but this time I wasn’t met with giggles but with claps and cheers of encouragement from Joe and our friends. I felt that sense of pride that comes with going outside of your comfort zone and being rewarded with an incredible experience.

Floating in a dreamlike state in that dappled, shimmering, blue water, yes, leave me here to live on in this painting.

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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