1/30-2/1/12: Mayan Highlands

We took off on Monday with Steve in his truck. First thing off the road out of town was blocked by a barricade by the Protestant fundamentalists who were keeping the police from arresting them for a murder a few months before.  So we took the longer route out of town but did get out.  From the sounds of it a young man was killed and the police thought this particular group had done it.  Several people had already been jailed.
We saw the police by the bridge on the far side of town.  They weren't messing with the blockage on the main road but looked intent on keeping the bridge open.

We drove to a lovely hot springs - Fuente Georginas - by the town of  Zunil, after not finding a friend of Steve's in Xela (Chela).
                                                   

We booked two cabins (with fireplaces, wood, candle, hot tub of its own, bathroom, shower), had lunch and put on our bathing suits to get into the hot springs.  One large area was just too hot for anyone to get into, but two others were wonderful - quite hot, out in the open air.








Yehudah and I hiked, as well, down to another hot springs down a long trail which was more Breitenbush-style - into the rocks, by a tumbing waterfall and the river.  No one else was there and we heard that skinny-dipping was okay here.

And it was even a tad hotter than the hot springs above.

In the evening we played Gorgle.  I won 2 games and Steve 1.  Yo and I lounged afterwards in our private hot tub and slept quite cozy with the fire.  It is quite cold in the evenings here.




 In the morning Yo and I hiked up to a lookout point, in view of the closest volcano and Zunil.

We convinced Steve to stop in Zunil to see the local church and to go to the Women's Cooperative to buy woven goods.

 


After that we managed to find his friend's home in Xela and to have them help Yo and I with our next adventure - going by bus to Laguna Chicabal, a sacred Mayan-Mam lake in an extinct volcano.


 

We got some money at an ATM, got on the bus, met the truck that would take us up the very steep, dirt road to the entrance to the Laguna.  Dan and Lyssa suggested that rather than staying in the town of Chili Verde we go directly to the Ranger Station where there was lodging.  We did just that.  They are now building a restaurant, a second story to their guesthouse and are evidently making plans for opening a hospedaje.
                                      

Right now, however, we were the only guests and there was no food except for us to buy two packages of instant soup and to have them with boiled water over a fire pit.  I kept asking if it was possible to go to someone's home near-by and, somehow, someone did go to find that out and a young woman appeared to receive our $4 for dinner.  Sarah returned with her little sister Cindy and led us to their home.  Fried egg with frijoles, tomato sauce and as many small corn tortillas we could eat plus very weak coffee that Yehudah thought was tea.  The father told me he was a very religious man and that he grew many fruits and coffee on his finca that were exported to Xela.  Such a sweetheart.

On the way back to our lodging (we chose to stay in the bunkbed room with the outhouses near-by for $10 total) I taught the three of them how to count in English from 1-10 and they were very attentive students.  Most notable were fireflies - luzitos - on our path.

The wind howling, we slept quite well, and woke to return for the very same meal.  Yehudah took a photo of the family.



 All the girls ran around combing their hair, putting on a better skirt, making their beds, until, finally, the formal picture was taken.  We will try to send a copy for them to the Ranger Station.

The road up to the Mirador - lookout point - over Laguna Chicabal is very steep - 2 km.

 Then the walk down to the lake is 615 steps.



 Several groupings of Mayans were praying around the lake - keening at times - wailing - as if grieving loss.

We walked in silence around the lake, stopping at various points, listening to the praying, singing and wailing.

A good place to let go, forgive, release.  It was clear, pristine.  Bathing is forbidden in the lake.  It is strictly a place of prayer, although camping is permitted.

We took an alternative route back up rather than the stairs and emerged by some trucks loading bags full of coffee beans with no room to spare.  The walk down was so steep but we made it to the ranger station, packed up and headed out on another steep uphill road out of the valley.  We missed 2 trucks that left before us and so walked all the way to the edge of town, where we did get a ride on a truck all the way to the mini-bus stop where we waited for a very crowded mini-van to pull up.  Made it back to Xela, got off at a busy bus corner, got on a bus to Guatemala City that would leave us off at the crossroads - Los Encuentros - to Pana, got on another mini-van to Solala, walked around Solala,

 

got on an Esmeralda large bus to Pana.

Back at Steve's, exhausted.  He is at a party, sauna at a friend's but we are opting to chill, have dinner, rest and plan our day tomorrow.  We leave at 10:45 a.m. for our final stop before Guatemala City, Antigua.  A friend of Hunt Kooiker's has secured us a room for $12 each including 3 meals although she won't be around.

We are both ready to be home again.  We fly out Monday morning.