Exploring the Pools of Semuc and Drive from Semuc Champay to El Estor – 20220717

What a day. I woke up in Semuc at 7am, chatted to my hostelmate from Iraq for a moment and then was about to head to Semuc Champay park when I realized I once again had some major intestinal issues. I sat on the toilet for ever and then finally around 830 headed up to the park. It’s a 2 minute walk from El Portal and costs 50 quetzales.

I wasn’t expecting too much as I am always very apprehensive about tourist-hyped areas but was pleasantly surprised when I walked upon the pools and started exploring around them. The natural formation of the pools was absolutely stunning. I immediately wished I had brough my goggles because there are big shelfs under the waterfalls that you can swim under and explore. I have no idea how far back they go.

After about an hour I did the hike up to the mirador. It took about an hour to get up there and was a tougher hike than I expected. There’s a couple stair areas that are a little sketchy and can really only go one person through at a time and there were a fair share of people that weren’t exactly in great shape always blocking the way. Overall I really loved the hike though. Really amazing jungle to hike through all around Semuc Champay.

I swam again on the way out and ended up at the hostel packing up my stuff at around 11am.

I kind of knew what was ahead but when I left it looked like it would be a nice clear day all day long. Bright and blue.

I took highway 5 which is almost definitely the wrong choice to take. It was a rouuuuugh ride to say the least. Made much rougher by the rain that lasted the last 2 hours of my riding.

But right before the rain started I stopped at a little tienda to get a couple snacks as I had not yet eaten and the whole family came to hang out with me. The road is clearly never traveled on by adventurers and they had a lot of questions for me. The mom could not even speak Spanish, just the local language so she kept asking her kid to translate for her. It was really an amazing moment and the whole ride was full of people waving and smiling at me. I wasn’t expecting that. I love the old traditional clothes that all the women wear here. They are so bright and colorful.

I finally made it to Hotel Ecologico Cabana del Lago and was pleasantly surprised by the place. The lake is rather pretty and the place has nice cabins with some really cool developments on the lake. Nice places to sit and chill. BUT an unbelievable amount of mosquitos everywhere.