Lake Lachua & Semuc Champey: Amazing Natural Beauties

Whenever I travel to a new country, I have never-ending list of places I’d love to see. Guatemala is no exception. A quick search on the country shows a number of volcanoes, lakes, ruins, and other natural parks, several of which went on my "places to go to" list. Getting to these places can be quite a challenge what with the distance between them (making weekend trips difficult), as well as the public transportation options available (many tourists often opt for shuttles when time pressed). So I was really looking forward to this weeklong trip two fellow teachers and I had been planning. We set to do it at the end of the school year, thus giving us more time. It made a nice "treat yo self" trip (though while still under somewhat of a budget) and early birthday trip for me.

Travel buddies

We started our travels on Sunday, and spent the whole afternoon traveling north to Cobán. We arrived not too late in the evening, and had enough time to check in our hostel, and eat some dinner which we packed (as true budget travelers, we packed a few meals to eat and prepare for the first few days of our trip). Then we had an early night to prepare for an early morning the next day.

Natalie and I had been to Cobán last year, and this time around we planned to use it as our jump off point to Semuc Champey. But first, we decided to try and go to Laguna Lachua, a beautiful lake we had heard about. While it is remote (located in the northwest of the Alta Verapaz department, almost near the Mexico border), it's actually easy to get to.

Early on Monday morning we walked to the Mercado Terminal and got on a microbus. While researching I was getting a little confused with the transportation options. There are no chicken buses around there, and so when they say public bus, they do mean the microbuses. It's a big van, similar to those used as private shuttles; I'm more familiar with calling them colectivos, which is what they are called in Peru.

We got there early (or so we thought) at 6am, but the microbuses don't leave until they are full or if they deem that they have enough passengers. So we sat waiting, and didn't end up leaving until almost an hour later (so just a tip when planning your travel time). Like I mentioned, getting to Lake Lachua is a fairly easy route. We got on a bus going to "Playa Grande" and told the ayudante (helper) that we were getting off at the lake. The bus made a couple stops along the way (though we didn't pick up any new passengers), and we arrived at the entrance of the national park three hours later. A long but straightforward journey that costs Q50 per way.

The entrance to the National Park

At the reception, we paid the Q50 entrance fee for foreigners, and got a bit of an overview of the lake. There is no food or drink for sale inside (we had planned ahead and packed lunch), and there's a 2.4 km trek from the entrance to the first dock. Ready, we made our way in. It was a very easy walk -- all flat ground -- and we went a bit slow taking in the nature.

The trek

One hour later, we were rewarded with this magnificent view:

The beautiful Laguna Lachuá

I had seen pictures, but was not prepared for how gorgeous it was in person. It was a truly magical sight. Laguna Lachuá (Lake Lachua) is an almost perfectly circular turquoise lake, and its waters make it the most amazing reflecting pool. It is protected inside a natural park and surrounded by 14,500 hectares of forest. We spent some time basking in the views and the serenity, and taking pictures, of course.

Reflections

The name lachuá comes from the Q'eqchi' language meaning "foul smelling water," possibly from the sulfur smells the shores of the lake emits during certain seasons. It must have been off season (or perhaps the lake doesn't smell anymore), but it looked most inviting, and I couldn't wait to dive in. Swimming wasn't allowed at this first dock, so we walked another 20 minutes or so around the lake to the swimming area. The lake gets reportedly full with local on the weekends, but on this particular Monday morning it was so peaceful. There were six other tourists, and two locals, and later on, it was eventually just us swimming around.

This was my first time swimming all year, and I had so much fun, I didn't want to get out of the water. I alternated between swimming and sitting on the rocks where the little fishes bite at your feet.

We spent a couple of hours swimming, and then I eventually dragged myself out of the water. We ate a light lunch that we had packed, and then made the trek back to the entrance to catch the last bus back to Cobán. We got there a little bit before 4pm, since they said the bus passes between 4-5pm. Then it was another three hour ride back to Cobán where we had another early dinner and early night.

The next day we had another early morning (early is the trend these first few days!) as we got on a 5am bus to Lanquín. This bus filled up quickly and we were off almost as soon as we got on. The bus went steadily through the highway and then eventually on a dirt road, and we arrived in the small town on San Agustin Lanquín or just Lanquín, two and a half hours later. The small town is the closest one to Semuc Champey, and has many hotels and hostels, as many travelers sleep there, making a day trip to Semuc. Once in Lanquín, we had to wait for our hostel to pick us up since it was located in the jungle. We had to wait an hour (and I was getting antsy), but then we were off. A 30 minute ride later, we were at the side of the road, and ready to begin a 30 minute trek into the forest to our hostel.

It was a little bit of a trek up and down, with our bags, and in the heat, but it was lovely to be surrounded by so much nature, and getting these beautiful views:

Thirty minutes later, we arrived all sweaty at the Ch'i Bocól Community Hostel. It was a pretty sweet place nestled in the middle of nature, and nearby the river. There were hammocks to lounge in and a nice table in the middle for everyone to gather around. They do community dinners, but also open up the kitchen for you to cook. Because of their remote location, they also sell things in small quantities if you feel like making something spontaneously.

The climb up to the rooms, and our room on the second floor of the house on the left. Their goal is to make the whole place powered by solar panels.

While I did enjoy staying there, I would only recommend it if you're staying for at least two nights. Arriving in the morning, waiting to get picked up, the 30 minute trek to the hostel and another 30 to go back out made it tight to get everything we wanted to done. But we still did get to enjoy Semuc Champey, so now on to that!

First we started to make the trek to Semuc. We walked the 30 minutes back out to the main road, and then started walking in the direction of Semuc. We were walking for a good bit and planned to jump on the back of any pick-up trucks we saw coming, but didn't see any. Eventually a family stopped and offered to let us hitch a ride. They were very nice, and we remembered that we had seen them at Lake Lachuá the day before! (They were arriving as we were leaving). Finally, we were at Semuc Champey. We paid the Q50 entrance fee, and we're ready to get exploring. 

We made it!

Semuc Champey is one of Guatemala's biggest tourist attractions, and its easy to see why. The beautiful turquoise pools are a sight to behold. Semuc Champey means "where the river hides under the earth" in the Q'eqchi' language, and it consists of a natural 300-meter long limestone bridge under which the Río Cahabón flows. At the top of the bridge is the sumidero, which is the point where the river goes underneath. The bridge is created of stepped pools with small waterfalls.

There are a bunch of activities to do in and around Semuc, so we had to prioritize which we wanted to do first. The first was swimming! We spent a couple of hours swimming in the pools starting from the top and making our way down. It was very relaxing just swimming around, and then later on jumping or sliding down to get to the other pools.

The beautiful pools

Next, we made the grueling climb up to the mirador. It was a tiring uphill walk in the heat, but well well worth it. From there you can see all the pools in the famous shot that comes up whenever you search Semuc Champey. It really is more so gorgeous in person, and you can't help but join in in the picture taking.

At the mirador

We eventually pried ourselves way from the view, and made it back down and out of the park. We had a late lunch of some grilled chicken served with coleslaw, rice, and beans, the beans which were spiced with a little chile cobanero, and were so delicious.

Then we headed off to the meeting point of our next activity: tubing down the river. I was initially unsure if I wanted to go tubing (since I also really wanted to go to the caves), but while we were at our hostel, the owner was telling us that they offer tubing, and unlike other tour groups, we can tube much further down the river to about 5 minutes away from the hostel. I immediately signed us up for it so we could skip the 30 minute walk back to our hostel. Haha!

All set to go down the river

In the end, it turned out to be a lot more fun than I expected. We floated down the Río Cahabón (pictured below), which is the same river that runs underneath Semuc Champey. Most of it was floating along, but there were more than several small rapids that were fun to go through.

Rio Cahabón

I don't know exactly how long we were on the river for, but it must have been about an hour. We ended up just behind this spot in the river (pictured below), five minutes away from our hostel, as promised.

In the end, we didn't have time to do the caves (which seemed really cool) or go to the waterfalls, but we enjoyed everything else and it was a great day! We spent the evening relaxing in our hostel playing cards and cooking dinner, then called it another night for the next day. Part two of the travel coming up soon. :)