July 17, 2018 – July 19, 2018
Mindo is 2.5 hours from Quito but a world away in terms of the environment. In 268 kilometres of winding road we dropped about 1,500 metres in elevation. Gone were the volcano peaks and bare mountains, replaced by lush tropical forest and gorges. Gone were the high rises, traffic and urban dwellers, replaced by palms trees, people on horseback and children playing in the stream while their mothers hand washed clothes and lay them on the rocks to dry.
Lanquin is the town that many backpackers base themselves out of to visit caves, do hikes and see attractions in the area, Semuc Champey being the highlight. We had been warned that the road to Semuc Champey was rough, had a few precarious bridges that might not support our 5 tonne plus rig, and after the drive the day before, it wasn’t really appealing to us. We opted for a return trip on the hostel’s shuttle to Semuc Champey and back at a cost of about 10 CAD each.
We wanted to head towards Rio Dulce, so to break up the trip we spent a night at Las Pozas. The family owns a large piece of land along a river, where the water gathers into pools for swimming. We arrived in the afternoon on the weekend and there were many local families in the park enjoying the water, the rope swings, the picnic shelters and the soccer field. The owner told us to wait until a little later in the day when the crowds thinned and then we could move our truck to the river and set up for the night.
We headed towards Caracol, the largest Maya site in Belize. The road is rough and slow, so we planned to camp half way and then get to Caracol early the next day. Before setting up camp, we stopped at Rio On Pools and played in the water for a few hours.
We left Oaxaca on a highway known as the mescal trail and drove past several fields of agave and many small shops selling Mescal made right on site. Some were still using stone wheels about 5 feet in diameter powered by a horse. The wheel is dragged around in an endless circle running over the agave to make a mash, which is then made into Mezcal. We considered stopping at one to buy some Mezcal, but the sample we had had in Oaxaca didn’t really appeal to either of us so we decided to keep driving to our destination for the night, Hierve el Agua.