One way to look at it is that I sort of almost got burned by a volcano.

I´m sitting in an internet café, which has a dozen terminals and all are being used.  I´m not far off the main road, yet I´m the only gringo here.  Ten of the other computers are being used by very excitable teenage boys who are all playing internet soccer with each other, screaming and yelling at each other every time (I assume) one of them makes a good play.  There are also a couple of girls (girlfriends?) who are standing just outside the door, laughing at their own jokes (or perhaps at the boys?).  I feel very out of place, but still it totally cracks me up.  When I traveled to Asia, all the teenage boys would be sitting in lounges singing karaoke.  Now they play internet soccer.  Ah, progress.  :)

We are just about to finish our second week of Spanish class.  There have been both good and bad days.  It is hard feeling like a child with a limited ability to communicate.  No wonder kids cry so much, they just don´t know how to tell you what they want!  However we do think we chose a great school, as they continue to take us on outings that, were we to have to pay a tour operator to take us, would cost about ten times as much.  Plus, getting there by local transport is a hundred times more interesting and fun than going in a tour shuttle!

Tuesday afternoon we took a chicken bus out to a village on a hill called San Andreas Xecul.  The town is mostly notable for a crazy church that people (including me) love to take pictures of.  We also walked up a steep street leading up the hill to similarly adorned but smaller church, and turned around to an amazing view of the valley behind us.  Next to the church was a lot where a man was doing a ritual with a fire in front of a cross.  Part of the reason the Catholic church did so well among the Mayans was that the Christian cross closely resembled the cross the Mayans worshipped which pointed the way to the four corners of the world.  Even today the Catholocism practiced here is melded with the old Mayan traditions, in ways that I´m guessing would be considered outright paganism in other parts of the world.  But that is just how it is here.

There were two other tour groups following us.  But with a quick question to a local we ditched them up another alley, and found the home that houses another incarnation of the venerated San Símon.  Unlike in Zunil, this was definitely not a tourist affair, and was therefore much more casual.  The woman of the house warmly invited us in, and didn´t even charge us admission!  Inside there were two effigies side by side, as well as a smattering of random small statues and Mayan carvings (which our teacher-guide assured us were real) crammed onto a long table.  We took photos and our teacher lit a candle to show our respects.  Outside facing down the valley (with that breathtaking view) and towards the sunrise, was a Mayan alter adorned with more old carvings, mostly of faces.  The altar was black with soot from the offerings that are made to the sunrise.  Totally awesome.

Wednesday was the birthday of the Italian girl that is also living in the house we are staying at.  She invited a few of her friends over for some (very interesting) chocolate cake.  We had to sing Happy Birthday to her three times to represent the languages present - Italian, English and Spanish.  We all spoke mostly in Spanish as it was the common language for everyone, which of course made me feel very cosmopolitan and fancy.  In reality I was just barely hanging on to the thread of the converstation, but still it was the best I´ve done so far.  And I got cake for my efforts, which was great even if it did seem to have some kind of orange marmalade mixed in.

The house has actually been rather interesting of late, as a few new people have moved in (including an actor from Chicago) which has prompted the landlady to make drastic efforts to redecorate.  We´ve had guys hammering and sawing at all hours of the day, and I swear every time I go into the kitchen the dishes and silverware are in a different location, which has the upside of turning every meal into a treasure hunt.  Will the bowls be up in the cupboard, in a drawer, or under the counter?  You just never know!  Also we still haven´t tired of the other residents of the courtyard, a couple of small birds that live in the tree.  To warm up we sit out in the sun for lunch every day, and these two birds fly over to a mirror on a windowsill and fight with their reflections.  It is the cutest thing.

Today was another great outing.  A bunch of us took a chicken bus out to Xunil, where we boarded a pickup truck.  For transport the pickup trucks put a basic steel rack in the back, so people can sit or stand in the back to make trips where the chicken buses are less convenient (or in this case, don´t go at all).  There were ten of us that boarded in the back, and we took off up through the village and then up into the hills beyond.  The road, of course, winded its way perilously close to the steep dropoff beyond, which proved to be a bit much for a young French Canadian girl who became very pale and quiet as she clutched the support frame.  For me, however, it was a highlight.  The coutryside was filled with small farms, men in cowboy hats and women in colorful local garb tending the fields.  We got an amazing view of Santa Maria, a huge volcano nearby (that we are hopefully going to climb on Saturday).

Finally, up in the far reaches of  the mountain, we arrived at Fuentes Gorginas, a natural hot spring.  The locale was gorgeous, the main pool right up against the side of the mountain, with water trickling down the rock into the pool.  The water was hot tub hot, generally cooler the farther away from the mountain you got, but with patches of water so hot it was almost scalding.  In fact when I swam over to touch the water trickling into the pool (I knew better but couldn´t resist) I almost burned my hand.  Guatemala (and all of Central America) is rife with dormant and active volcanos, and thermal heat is nothing to play with kids!

I´m not sure what was in the water (David got a mouthful and said it had a sour taste), but it was incredibly relaxing.  We sat and talked under a canopy of lush foliage, steam rising from the water over our heads which certainly added to the out-of-this world atmosphere.  Several of the girls used the mud from the mountainside to give themselves facials while they steamed.  It was just terrific.  I hadn´t been super interested in coming, certain that the pools couldn´t possibly live up to the hype, but boy was I wrong.  The next time you find yourself in Guatemala, make sure you book a trip here.  (There are even cabins where you can stay the night, too bad I have class again in the morning or I might have just stayed over!)

When we got back to town one of the guys took us to this very out of the way café where I had an amazing mug of hot chocolate.  David got a hot chocolate that came with two scoops of ice cream floating in it.  A great end to a great day.