Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
“posh block” has tastefully decorated rooms with private bath and electric hot-water heater
($24 d). There are hammocks out front for taking in the wonderful vistas toward the river
and surrounding hillsides. A bed in one of the four-person dormitories costs $4. Rooms
with shared bath are also available, and range $10- 13 d. You can camp here or sleep in
a hammock for $2. The
palapa
-style bar plays great music and is lined with rope-swing
bar seats. The restaurant serves excellent food, with dinner being a nightly communal ex-
perience. There are barbecues on Wednesday nights; Saturday night is Mexican. The lodge
can arrange a variety of activities for you, including inner tubing on the river for $2.50 and
horseback riding ($5-16).
In town,
Hotel Rabin Itzam
(tel. 7983-0076) has 14 clean rooms with somewhat hard
bedsandsharedbathfor$4perperson.OntheotherendoftownasyoucomeintoLanquín
from the El Pajal Junction is
Hotel El Recreo
(tel. 7983-0056), with rooms in a wooden
main house or in an adjacent concrete structure. The main house has a lower-level section
with shared-bath rooms for $20 d. The lighting is fluorescent. Nicer rooms with private
bath are $31 d. This lodge is usually empty unless there's a tour group in town. There's a
restaurant here too.
Other options for food include
Comedor Shalom,
near the Hotel Rabin Itzam, with set-
menu lunches and dinners comprising mostly meat and rice dishes for around $2.
Cuevas de K'an Ba
AlongtheroadfromLanquíntoSemucChampey,inthevicinityofPosadaLasMarías(tel.
7861-2209,
www.posadalasmarias.com
)
,you'llfindtheseratherinterestingcavesfoundon
the lodge's private property. There are wonderful opportunities for exploring the caves by
floatingthroughoninnertubes($5forhotelguests,$7.50fornon-guests).You'llseesever-
al formations and underground waterfalls before emerging onto the clear, turquoise waters
of the Río Cahabón.
These gorgeous limestone pools (
www.semuc-champey.com
,
6 A.M.-6 P.M. daily, $6.50)
lie at the end of a rough dirt road nine kilometers from Lanquín. Although they were once
a remote attraction way off the beaten path, they are now one of Las Verapaces's top tour-
ist draws. Accordingly, infrastructure has improved to keep up with the rising numbers of
visitors. Try not to visit on a weekend, as there are day-trippers in droves from Cobán and
vicinity.
A giant, 300-meter-long limestone bridge forms the backbone for the descending series
of pools and small waterfalls that make up Semuc Champey. The water that fills the pools
is the product of runoff from the Río Cahabón, churning as it plunges into an underground
chasm from where it reemerges downstream at the end of this massive limestone overpass.
