Southern Migration

Fuentes Georginas, Zunil & Santa Maria!

In only a week I have already done quite a bit here in Xela, taking full advantage of the organized excursions offered at PLQ (plus one great climb over the weekend through a non-profit called Quetzaltrekkers).

Beautiful Fuentes Georgina, hotsprings just outside of town. Particularly nice for me since I haven´t felt hot water on my skin since I left the states.

A view of the countryside from the bus coming back to town. Lots of little plots for families to farm on. Some of them are super steep.

A shop in a town close to Xela called Zunil. This shop was selling religious items only, to be used next door where the statue of San Simon (a protective spirit and saint) was kept.

And this is San Simon. He wears a hat and sunglasses and boots, and smokes cigars and drinks rum. This photo was taken in a little room with only a few people there, but the vibe was pretty intense. I gave him a bottle of rum, as instructed, by pouring it into a little pitcher and then pouring that into the mouth of the statue. It was kooky. I hope he takes care of me.

The town of Zunil also provides lots of vegetables for other neighboring towns and Xela at large. Here´s a view of the market there.

Yummy cow feet.

On the bus back to Xela. I still need to show a picture of the outside of these buses because they are so cool. People call them chicken buses, and this was my first time actually seeing chickens (little ones, in the boxes).

And then there was the volcano. Santa Maria. An active volcano not far from Xela. Here's a view of it from the bus.

The summit! These awesome dogs spend all day going up and down the mountain, hanging out with different people. I loved them. In this photo they are eating the remains of someone's religious sacrifice. It's hard to see, but there's a charred chicken carcass over there somewhere. Delicioso!

And here's a sunset view from the top. 

Sunrise from the top...this photo doesn't really do it justice...lots of layers of mountains in the foreground and then moving back. Amazing.

Here's the actual mouth of the volcano off to the other side of the mountain. Doing its thing.

I didn't take pictures on the way up since it was too painful for my body to do anything but the bare necessity. Here's a shot of the landscape on the way down, towards the bottom.