Climbing and Soaking

Last weekend, I went for a hike up Santa Maria, the tallest mountain surrounding Xela, and then went to soak my sore muscles in some nearby hot springs. Santa Maria is about 12,300 feet at its peak, about a mile higher than Xela. I went with some students from my old school, and we left bright and early in the morning so we could beat the fog and the rain.

At about 6:30 in the morning, we reached the base of the mountain. This picture is looking down at Xela from there.

About halfway up the mountain. It was unusually clear that morning, and we were able to see the city and the surrounding mountains so well.

From the top.
It got a bit cloudier, so you can't see Xela as well here, but it's there beneath the fog.

Here is Santiaguito, the volcano I hiked to at the beginning of my time in Guatemala, going off. Santa Maria is a dormant volcano that blasted a hole in its side in 1922, forming Santiaguito, the most active volcano in Central America. It went off three times while we were at the summit.

Here's the group of students who hiked with me. The host father of Natalie, on my right, and Matt, up on my left, guided us up the mountain, and he brought the flags of Guatemala and the US, and insisted that we take pictures with them. As someone who is not particularly patriotic, it was a bit strange, but at least Guatemala's flag was also there.

There were so many of these tiny lizards all over the summit!

We went down a bit on Santa Maria's other side to get a better view of Santiaguito. You can see the crater peeking out of the clouds on the left.

Going off! The clouds were covering the volcano for most of the time we were there, but they cleared up just long enough and just around Santiaguito so that we could see this eruption. After spending a night under it three months ago (is that all?!), it was amazing to watch it erupt from above. It was also incredible to sit on the top of Santa Maria, a volcano that only a century ago was devastatingly active.

Santa Maria has religious significance for Mayan culture, and an indigenous family climbed up around the same time we did, and we saw the remains of their ceremony as we were leaving. The candles they used had crucifixes and other Christian symbols on them, and while they may have just been the most available candles around, it could also be another example of the pretty prevalent syncretism (blending of native traditions with those of the invading or conquering culture) here.

Natalie and Xela from the top.

We were all pretty worn out when we got to the bottom, and we decided to go to the nearby hot springs, Fuentes Georginas, the next day. There are three pools, in decreasing temperature. This is the hottest one, and at the back rock wall, is the source, where water trickles down from inside the mountain. It's almost boiling, and you can't stay back there for very long. We went in the mid-afternoon, and the fog was settling on the mountain, so that combined with the steam from the hot water made it pretty difficult to see very far. It made it seem like we were cloaked and hidden in another world. It also started to rain about halfway through our time there, and it was incredible to sit in this steaming hot water with rain falling.

The drive up to the hot springs is amazingly beautiful, but yesterday was too foggy to see much, which created its own, surreal beauty.

To get to the hot springs, we took a chicken bus from Xela to Zunil, the town at the base of the mountain, and then hitched a ride on the back of a pick-up 8 kilometers up to the hot springs. It's a pretty exhilirating ride through some of the most beautiful landscape in the country.

I'm continuing to do well. My homestay has been great - the family, the food, my space, everything. A new student moved in yesterday, so my time alone is over. The clinic is also going well. I've had some reservations about my work that have steadily become stronger as my time there has continued, so I'll be cutting my time down a week. My mom will visit, followed by some other friends who will join me on part of my week and a half trek through the country, so it makes sense to end my time at the clinic then. That means I have only two more weeks in Xela, which I cannot believe! I continue to have a bipolar emotional reaction to the thought of leaving, going between feeling anxious to be home and being incredibly sad to leave. My time here has been so rich, but I think I'm beginning to be ready to head home.