Las Fuentes Georginas

Hey Guys! Today was a lazy Sunday, so my friend Kat ( A girl I met through the coordinator at El Nahual who is volunteering as a nurse in a local hospital) and I decided to do a little exploring and headed off to a nearby hot springs called Fuentes Georginas. So named because Jorge Ubico and his wife Georgina used to come vacation at the hot springs.

            We were going to take a shuttle from Xela – but when we arrived at the shuttle office at the prescribed time there was no shuttle, and a couple phone calls confirmed that the shuttle was not coming due to a vague problem… ie the driver was probably hungover from the 15^th. So we roughed it and took a local bus, which was  what we should have done in the first place but honestly I’m still a bit nervous about transportation around here. When we arrived at the town of Zunil ( about a 45 minute bus ride from Xela) we paid around six bucks to ride in the back of a truck up the mountain to the hot springs. The ride was gorgeous, passing through farmland up into the jungle – with a view through clouds to the river below.

            The hot springs were a bit crowded because of the holiday weekend, but one of the baths was suspiciously empty. After I had gone in up to my waist I realized this was because it was scalding. I think I lost a layer of skin on my legs. Kat and I found a different pool that was in between boiling and lukewarm, and it was amazing to finally be able to relax in some hot water! On our way out we saw a sign for an ecological trail down to a mayan altar and another “banera” and after asking around a girl in traditional dress told us it was a beautiful three to five minute walk. It was beautiful, but it was no three to five minute walk, and the mayan altar turned out to be a cave. Full of trash. There was also no natural hot spring. The altitude made the climb back up quite a trip! At least I’m exercising off some pan.

            On our way back we explored Zunil, and walked through the local market. We were both exhausted from our spontaneous hike and the hot water and Kat fell asleep on the bus back. This was probably a good thing because about halfway home the bus driver decided to stop the bus and disappear for twenty minutes. My best bet is he went and got lunch.

p.s. I will add photos later! 

new word:  "de alto grado" meaning steep. Something I wish I had understood when asking the mayan girl about the hike.