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Our second and final night on the lovely island of Flores was a bizarre cosmopolitan affair. We dined in the German owned, French named restaurant called La Ville del Chef, eating a Mexican meal, served by Spanish speaking Guatemalan waiters whilst listening to reggae music. Flores has been a real bonus as it was just a gateway to visit the Mayan site of Tikal but it’s been a bit like being on an Italian lake but at a fraction of the price.



Semuc Champey, Guatemala

Next morning a minibus collected us at 9am and just a short nine hour journey south through lush mountain scenery via hundreds of speed bumps and potholes we arrived at the remote but wonderfully tropical river location of Semuc Champey in the centre of Guatemala, our base for a couple of nights. On the wall of reception was a timetable for electricity…..between 6pm and 10pm.

The turquoise pools (taken by Ed, San Diego)

We had high hopes but weren’t too sure about what we would find there but what we experienced was probably one of the best days of our lives. In warm sunny weather we made a 45 minute steep climb to a viewpoint on the river to view below us a series of ridiculously turquoise cascading pools which form a 300 metre long limestone bridge under which the river plunges. Then there’s nothing else to do but spend a few hours swimming in the clearest water, diving and rock sliding to each of the pools. Dense, tropical jungle surrounded us and it was difficult to imagine a more beautiful place to be. It was a classic Timotei advert and we couldn’t quite believe we were in Guatemala.

The day could have finished quite happily there but after lunch it was off for a bit of caving which we knew involved some swimming. Armed with nothing more than a candle each, seven of us including an American couple from San Diego, a guy from South Korea, a Colombian, and an Israeli followed our guide into the cave. An hour and a half later after climbing up and jumping through waterfalls, swimming whilst attempting to keep the candle alight, and just generally helping eachother through some adrenalin pumping situations, we all emerged with nothing more than a few bruises but best of friends. We’ve been in various caves before but this was on a different level, just amazing and the smile didn’t disappear from our faces all day. There was still time to tube 3kms down river in the late evening sunshine and for a couple of us to jump off a 40 foot bridge into the river for our final soaking of the day.

We could come home today and be totally content with our travels. Guatemala has been a massive surprise and just amazingly beautiful……so far.