Leaving comfy San Marcos de La Laguna, one night in Panajachel and bus journey to Quetzaltenengo, the second most populated city in Guatemala. Beautiful thermal springs and football with locals.
I woke up on numerous occasions to the sound of a waterfall coming from next door to my room in the Hostel. I thought it must be the dodgy boiler or something along those lines, so I thought nothing of it and went back to sleep. When i finally woke up I realised the taps had been running the majority of the night! When I had arrived the staff here told me there were damaged water works down the street and the water down stairs was not working, I had tested the taps before they told me this and I must have left the taps running! I suppose that is a cheap way to sleep next to a waterfall.
I went for a walk to the marketplace once again to try and get some photos to make up for the day before. I managed to see a couple of recognisable faces and retook their photos. I arrived at the market a little too early today as I had to be somewhere at 9pm so the atmosphere was not quite the same as the day before, but there was still some banter to show for it. As you can see we had one showman who loved the attention of the camera and gave me his facebook to send them on to him.
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The ladies were not so forthcoming and dodged the camera when they saw me. Each to their own! This woman had no qualms with me taking photos and oozed confidence, she is the true embodiment of the industrious fruit and veg sellers here. Strong and arduous with a great sense of humour!
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It was time to head to the thermal springs - Fuentes Georginas. It was nice to see the outskirts of the city and its rich farmlands.
The driver of the shuttle bus spontaneously picked up some farmers on the way through, I thought it a nice gesture until the farmers paid him. I guess everyone has got to get paid!
We made it to the thermal springs. There were a range of temperatures available, the hottest was easily up to 40 degrees. The sulphur rich waters have many benefits for the body, it is great for skin and helps the body produce vital antioxidants. One quarter of our body consists of sulphur after all! Enough of the sulphur. A woman was filling up cups from the dripping wall and giving it to her family members, she then offered me a glass, it tasted just like lemon water, baffling.
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Visiting the springs is a great way to see how locals recharge their batteries, whilst doing so yourself. The best time to visit the Springs seemed to be in the morning time, it was not too crowded and when we departed at 12pm bus loads of people were arriving. The go to pool was located a few hundred feet down the hill between two steep green mountain sides draped with tonnes of tropical plants. The setting was perfect!
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