Deep in the jungle of northern Guatemala lies a place beyond imagination, where a huge limestone land bridge has formed over the river, collecting clear aqua water into 6 flowing pools perfect for paddling, diving, and lounging. Steep, lush green cliffs rise up from each side, and there’s little sound beyond trickling water, chirping birds, and the occasional monkey. If you don’t enjoy swimming in unreal turquoise natural pools, waterfall jumping, candlelit cave tours, or tubing down a river while locals throw you drinks, Semuc Champey may not be for you. If this sounds like a paradise for water-lovers, keep reading!

Once I heard of Semuc Champey and saw photos, I knew I wanted to experience this unusual place for myself. The journey out to Semuc is not an easy one, ending with a jolting 45 minute ride in the back of a truck from the nearest town of Lanquín, in the Alta Verapaz region. Coming from Lake Atitlan in the southwest of Guatemala, it took over 12 hours to get to our lodgings near the park entrance. It was well worth the long, bumpy, hot bus ride to spend a few days diving into the cool, jewel-toned waters and tubing down the Río Cahabón.

Semuc Champey loosely translates to “where the river hides under the stones” in Q'eqchi' Maya, the ancestry of the region. Most of the Río Cahabón flows underneath the natural limestone pools, emerging in a huge waterfall just after the smallest pool. Our first day was spent exploring the pools in the park, which costs 50 Quetzales, about $6.50, to enter. Thick jungle teeming with dozens of bird species rises up from the banks. The water is amazingly clear and cool, the blue-green color even more vivid than the photos. A 45-minute hike will take you up to El Mirador, a lookout point high above the pools.

Tiny fish inhabit the pools and will nibble at your ankles if you sit still long enough in the shallows. Certain areas are deep enough to dive, and little waterfalls connecting each pool segment. Noisy tour groups seem to arrive in the early afternoons, so we were grateful to arrive earlier and have the area more to ourselves. Only 300 feet above sea level, the sun can be fierce and humidity high, so hiking to the lookout is recommended early in the morning. Personally, I felt refreshed and super reluctant to leave the sacred waters.

Practical Advice: the trip out there is going to be uncomfortable, especially if you get car sick. We stayed at one of the three hostels nearby to avoid having to travel far to the pools, which was wonderfully convenient, but meant you have to accept spotty electricity and occasional cellular coverage. The park closes around 4:30pm, so seeing sunset from El Mirador is not an option. There are numerous locals camped out at the park entrance ready to sell you fruit, cold bottled water, and a simple barbecued meal.

We stayed at Greengoes Hostel, which allowed a simple ten-minute walk past cacao farms to Semuc Champey. Greengoes boasts a cool swimming pool and lounge area, but warning if you’re looking for luxury: this is a place for young partiers and backpackers. The private rooms are cute but bare-bones and no sound-proofing, with no glass on the windows, and the loud music in the bar doesn’t stop until midnight. Power shuts off at midnight as well, and WiFi is only available during select hours of the day. The food was good, and the young rotating staff are nice enough and will help you book your cave tour and travel directly.

We booked a Cave Tour & tubing excursion for the second morning. Our Q'eqchi' guide Rafa met us at the Hostel and walked with us to the entrance of the K’an Ba Caves, a little below Semuc Champey. It’s a 15 minute trip into the darkness wearing only a bathing suit and shoes, and holding a lit candle. I felt a little like Lara Croft, sometimes swimming one-handed while holding onto a guide rope and ignoring the hot wax that occasionally drips onto cold skin. There’s a few ladders and some tight places to navigate, and you can climb a rope up a little waterfall. The tour ends at a shallow pool which you can jump into from a ledge, while Rafa holds your candle and your tour group cheers you on. Then you turn around and come out, laughing and a little chilled.

After the caves, our guide took us up the river to the waterfall where the river crashes out from under Semuc Champey. There’s more rope swings and cliff jumping if you desire the rush. Then you put your tube in the water and chill out while floating down the wide, turquoise river for about 20 minutes. Locals come running out of the forest and jump into the water with tubes and coolers to paddle up and sell you beers and sodas. You drift past a hostel or two, but mostly get to enjoy a true jungle experience, watching the wide roots of the trees dip into the water (our guide said that was the cause of the blue-green color of the water) and the steamy green leaves extend beyond view.

Keep your towel and a snack in the locker at the caves, so you can stop at the Semuc pools again on your way back. Our guide Rafa even paused to let us buy some of the best chocolate I’ve ever had from some local children, made from pure cacao and pressed into disks in a piece of foil, lightly spiced with cardamom and cinnamon. He pointed out the achiote trees growing on the side of the dirt road, popping open a pod and explaining that the bright orange seeds create the vibrant food coloring called annatto. As we left the park after an afternoon in the sun and waters, we were treated to a little family of spider monkeys crossing the tree highway above our heads.

I could have spent another day or two simply soaking in the vibrant, sacred waters of Semuc Champey and repeating the tubing trip. While the journey out to Semuc Champey is not for everyone, what with the rough roads, the bug bites, the humidity, the bruises from falling in the cave (maybe that’s just me being excited and clumsy), all of it was more than worth the unbelievably colorful and crystalline waters, the unique cave experience, the nights filled with a chorus of insects, and the mornings full of birdsong. Maltiox, Guatemala.

Travel Diary ~ Semuc Champey

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