Two waterfalls, two caves and finally visted Tikal. Finally, because everybody who heared how long we already travel Guatemala were very suprised we hadn´t visited Tikal yet. But first the other activities, like this picture on the left, going into the caves near Chemuc with candels. Possibly not all pictures are uploaded yet, but no panic, we know and are working on it

 

Bats in the caves of Lanquin
We stayed at El Retiro and visisted the caves with the bats. Sorry no pictures of them because people scared them away with there powerfull flashes. See it in the fotoalbum of Lanquin.

 

With candles through the caves of Semuc Champey
We walked to Semuc and had a nice reward there: no vacancy! But after 15 minutes they found a tent for us! Yippie! We had time enough to visit the waterfalls and do the cave tour. Very exciting, going with a candle into the dark cave, swimming and jumping! See it all in the album of Semuc Champey.

 

Idylic nature beauty of Laguna Lachua
Laguna Lachuá is a beautifull lake, cristal clear, in the middle of the jungle. It has a Eco-lodge and the rules for visitors are very strict: no fishing, no stereo´s, no sunscreen in the water etc. But… for that you get a very beautifull reward. A lot of other (Guatemalteec) tourists don´t like it, so it´s very quiet. Especially because you first have to walk 5 Km through the jungle with all your food. First we thought we would be the only ones, but after dark Lory and Bruno arrived, a Swiss/Italian couple. We could get along very well, so we enjoyed ourselves very well during the 2 days and nights we spend there, swimming, talking, laughing, cooking and eating. A bottle of wine would have been very nice….. See it all in the fotoalbum of Laguna Lachuá.

 

Waterfalls Las Conchas bij Frey Bartolomé
Bruno and Lory also planned to go to Frey, so we went there togeteher. The fist day we didn´t do much because of the rain. The second day we did what we came for. We visited the waterfalls of Las Conchas. Less famous then the ones of Semuc Champey, less blue, but bigger. Bas liked these ones more. I (Eelco) liked semuc more. But this one was better for picknicks, what we did! See the foto´s of Frey Bartolomé en Las Conchas.

 

Finally .. TIKAL!!!
Tikal is THE toerist attraction of Guatemala. The´re thé maya ruines you have to visit, in the middle of the national park with birds, monkeys and a beautifull jungle. People were suprised we hadn´t visisted Tikal and Antigua yet, although we were in Guatemala already for a long period of time. But…. now we did! We spend the night in El Remate, about 30 Km from Tikal. From a bus left at 5:30 to be in Tikal as early as possible. and yes, it was beautifull, but…. probably we´re spoiled. For the size, we thought Teotihuacan (near Mexico City) more impressive and Palenque (also Mexico) was more jungle like, we thought. Ofcourse it was very beautifull, but we think we lack the knowledge about the mayans to appreciate the diferences between the sites. And then the first one is your most impressive one. Comare the foto´s of Tikal en El Remate with the ones of mexico 2 years ago (more then 300 pictures, so beware!)
Plannen
We stick around Lago de Petén Itzá. After that we head for Poptun en Rio Dulce.

Greetings,
Bas and Eelco