words from the world

the route of a trip is often based on the fortunes of the encounters. That's the way I sit down in a minibus which drives on a winding road towards Semuc Champey. We penetrate into the heart of the valley to end up at a greenery-wrapped campground where smiling, cumbia-fans Guatemalan young people welcome us. The rustic bedrooms lodge in the wooden huts scattered in the campsite. We need to walk a little bit further to enter in the Semuc Champey park. A river follows the outline of the valley bottom when it suddenly disappears over 300m for a brief underground pass before gushing out downstream. But, instead of a horde of trees and bushes spreading over the surface, a trickle of water diverts from the river to form a set of natural ponds. A lookout gives a bird's eye view over the clear- and stagnant-watered pools. The effort to reach this viewpoint quickly fades as we walk down. I slip on my boardshort and go to jump into one of the basins. Our guide planed an aquatic course with a descending of a rope ladder, the discovery of the grotto where the water of the river gushes out of the earth then a jump from the top of the rock. A local way to marvel at a fantastic place and to release a little amount of adrenalin in the same time.






















At the end of the afternoon, the Las Marias grotto offers me the extraordinary experience of moving in a dark cavity, only lit by a mere candle. Sometimes walking, sometimes swimming, the community reaches the depths of the gallery. A swimming not really academic since we can only use one hand, the other one holding out the burning candle. Like a procession or a band of explorers-wannabes, the group trudges in a single file with these simple flames as a guide. Our sense of sight clings to this orangy and flickering glow which dimly lights the walls. The one of hearing captures the hollow sound reflecting each one of our moves. Two magical hours for this sort of caving of an ancient time. Unforgettable!
And to finish this day of adventure, we hop on inner tubes of trucks to let the current of the river carry us for half an hour.