Laguna Lechua

After the unbelievable scenic beauty and adventure of Semuc champey and the grutas we were ready for our next leg. Susana and Ion had heard of a lagoon called laguna Lechua a few hours away from Coban, that was supposed to be completely off the beaten track and beautiful. The fact that very few tourists went here was too aluuring for us to let go. None of us, and not too many locals knew how we could get there even though it is a designated national park and in some guide books. We knew we had to get to Chisec or Coban, leave our big back packs there and head on with day packs because of a  trek involved in getting to the lake.

We took a local bus to Coban. There we located a hostel and convinced them to keep our back packs in storage for 2 days. It took us a few hours to find the hostel, then find a super market to get stock for 2 days since the refugio we were planning to stay at had on food etc. This meant we fianlly got into a collecctivo only by around 2pm. The next 2 hours were the worst. It was hot as hell, and there were 21 people in a van meant for 12 to 14. At some point Nu asked the driver to open his window and he casually puts on the A/C. The sadistic bastard!!

We finally reached Laguna Lechua. The route as it has been throughout Gautemala was beautiful. The national park was not what I had expected. The forest guard at the entrance took his job extremely seriously and we were told what we could and could not do. After that, we were asked to be careful and quiet as we walked throgh the park to the refugio as there were poisonous snakes around, and it was important we don't disturb them!! We were also told not to swim too deep into the lake as we could then look like food to the crocs that lived in the water. Exhilarating stuff!

The 4.5 kms trek through the forest was nice but unfortunately we did not find any snakes to disturb nor were we quiet enough to spot any Jaguars. The refugio is basic but nice except for our hatred of organic loos. The kitchen has a wood fired stove but was otherwise well stocked with utensils. In any case we weren't planning on gourmet meals.

The laguna was stunning! The water crystal clear with a lot of fish. We never did get to see the crocs but Amiai saw a nutria ( otter like mammal) and we saw a couple of large rodent like animals on our trek back. Tarantulas abound, and apparently so do scorpions. We saw a few tarantula without realising they what they were until the very end, and other large spiders but no scorpions.

We spent a beautiful morning, just the 6 of us, diving in, and swimming about in the water. A bunch of locals came in around lunch. They were noisy and the kids were making a ruckus and that spoit the peace of the place. They had been at the lake the week before and saw a croc sunning itself on the very rocks that we were hanging around. Nice not to have known before we got in, I guess.

All in all, a real fun time except for the organic loos that I've had enough of. 2 nights was the right time to spend here and so we headed back to Coban in a chicken bus. we knew there was nothing much to do in Coban but a night without insects and a real loo was inviting enough.