Day 4 - Semuc Champey (Pools and Caves)

Today was a "rest" day - a day of zero traveling. We were very active the whole day, but it was still refreshing to have a break midway through the trip where we weren't spending any time on a bus/ shuttle/ plane….

We got up early the next morning because my dad and I wanted to investigate the pools at Semuc Champey a bit on our own before we went on the guided tour (we signed up for a full day tour through El Portal, including the pools, tubing, and caves to make sure we didn't miss anything.) The pools were very close to El Portal (a 5 minute walk) and the entrance fee was small (30-50Q range.) The pools are in a protected park like area with several trails, some that go along the river and one that climbs up extremely high to get to a Mirador (lookout spot) where many of the famous views of the pools are taken:

We had only explored a small part of the river/ pools on our own before going on the tour. The tour was fine, and it perhaps forced us to make that hike to the Mirador that we would not have made otherwise, but I do not think it was essential. You can easily explore the pools on your own, at your own pace. The one advantage I saw to using the tour was that the guides knew the spots on the pools that could be jumped off of/ slid off of. They took a group of younger kids who were on the tour from pool to pool, starting at the top, and either jumped or slid from pool to pool. Because we were traveling with my brother, whose arm was casted and unable to get wet, we weren't able to join up with them.

So - if you're wanting to do a lot of swimming, jumping, and sliding, I would say to go for a tour. If you just want to see the pools and take pictures, do it on your own.

We took lots of beautiful pictures. My favorite spot was where the river entered and exited the caves underneath the pools (the pools are actually a natural land bridge, so their own water is not really a part of the rio Cahabón, which flows beneath them). Here are some photos:

The "start" of Semuc Champey, where the river plunged beneath the pools

One of the pools (everything in this picture is part of the land bridge; the river is deep beneath us and not connected at all really to the water in the photo.)

I'm a gymnast, so a flip from one pool to the next was necessary I guess.

The group that swam, slid, and jumped between pools to work their way down.

The "end" of Semuc Champey, where the river (below) re-emerges from the cave/ bridge.

We were on the tour from about 9-11:30; plenty of time to hike the Mirador, see the pools, swim, and take photos. Once back at the hotel, we ate lunch (the food was mediocre, but come on, you don't go to Semuc Champey for the fine dining, so it was fine) and then headed to another part of the river where we went on a short tubing ride. This was nice and relaxing and only about 20-30 minutes long.

Next we headed to the caves, which are very easy to find and only about 5 minutes from El Portal as well. Our whole tour group went- about 20 of us - and we heard reports from other tourists that you could just show up to the caves and that the cave guides would leave whenever they had a big enough group - usually about 7-10 people. Obviously with a smaller group you get a bit more "attention" and possibly get to see further back in the caves.

Still, with 20 of us, we had a great time. I had read reports about how dangerous the caves were or potentially unsafe - I saw none of that on our tour. Yes, you have to wade and at times swim with your candle held high so it doesn't go out. But if it does, you just relight it with someone else's. Light was never an issue, and we frequently kept half of the candles in our group extinguished anyways to save light for later. There was a cool spot where you could climb up a waterfall with a rope (the cave system is an underground river) - but this was optional; there was a (slightly sketchy) ladder to the left. There was also an optional jump at the end of the journey towards the back where you could climb up about 12-15 feet and jump into the water. Only about 3-4 of us did it. The guide showed us where to jump with his headlamp, and he did it first, so I felt safe doing it and had a great time.

Speaking of, the guide really was excellent. He seemed flustered, and who wouldn't be, managing 20 of us - including 1 person who could not swim and my injured brother, whose broken arm often resulted in the guide carrying him on his back across the deeper parts of the river. But he did a great job of waiting to make sure everyone stayed in the group and keeping us all safe (you still have to take some personal responsibility here, this is an underground cave system after all!)

I actually managed to bring my camera through the caves without soaking it, and snapped some "rare" pictures of our journey:

My mom and dad. Yeah, the water was a little cold.

Me and my balding spot. You can see the group up ahead.

Our friend Charlotte, who we met here, climbing up one of the ladders to move to the next area.

The cave walls were awesome.

The subterranean cliff jump, which was awesome!

When we left the caves, the sun was out (it was cloudy for most of the day) and lit up the fauna and river well before we headed in for dinner:

El Portal also arranged shuttles to Antigua, so we went ahead and reserved one of those as well (for a reasonable price), rather than doing the route to Cobán and then getting a Monja Blanca bus back (which is also feasible, but more of a hassle.) We had another dinner, enhanced tonight by more conversation from our new friends we had made that day, and got to bed early again to prepare for another long day of traveling in the morning.