Day 50 - I visited Semuc Champey today. Maybe it's time I describe exactly what the place is? There is a river, the Rio Cahobon, which is entirely swallowed up by a cave, where it flows for 300 meters underground, after which it reemerges again. The second photo above is of the river being swallowed. And click here for a video. This alone would be interesting to see, but on top, are a series of cascading pools filled with beautiful turquise water -- quite large and deep for swimming and diving. It's really a special place in nature and well worth a visit. And I was well overdue for a swim :)

The local tourism board has also hacked a trail through the jungle to get you a view of the series of pools from a mirador (remember that word?) about a thousand feet up. This is a really fun hike too, with narrow paths, wooden stairs, and rocky bits to climb. And the view is fantastic. Click here for a video from the mirador.

After spending a couple hours hiking the path and swimming in the pools, my group (yes, I joined a small tour) went on a cave exploration. Only this one was very different! You are led by a local Mayan resident, and everyone is given a skinny 12" candle. You enter the cave, which is filled with a flowing stream, and you must wade, swim, climb small cascades, and jump, all whilst trying to keep your candle lit. There was even a 15' waterfall we climbed up the middle of with a rope, while getting blasted with water in the face. Should your candle go out in the water, it's a group effort to relight it.

It was actually really fun and adventurous. When we first started I was regretting having left my Stenlight (uber powerful light for caving) at the hotel, but then I started getting really into the whole "one candle per person", the challenge of keeping them lit, and the flickering on the walls from only the few candles we had.

The only part I got frustrated with was when our guide announced it was time to turn around. All of our 12" candles had burned to about 3" left! My caving experience was screaming in my head, "don't enter a cave without 3 sources of light per person!" It was quite crazy really. We made it back out rather expeditiously, just in time, and some guys singed their fingers abit since they were holding nothing but nubs of candles at the end.