enough water

Saturday I went to Fuentes Georginas with the directors of my school.  To get there, we took a bus from Xela to Zunil.  Once we got off the bus, we hopped into the back of a Toyota pickup.  The Toyota pickups here are a bit modified.  They have some bars around the outside and down the center of the back so passengers can lean against them, or stand and hang on.  The drive was about five miles up the mountain past many fields.  We stood so we could get a better view of things.  We got off the truck at Fuentes Georginas, a place to enjoy the hot springs.  After getting my fill of sitting in hot water, we headed down the mountain.  It felt like we were walking through the clouds.  A nice peaceful walk where I could see the fields and there wasn´t much noise.  As we descended the mountain, it got cooler and at times quite foggy.  We had walked about an hour when it started to sprinkle, then rain.  We caught a ride on another Toyota pickup to speed our return to Zunil.  After just a few minutes, the driver stopped.  I wondered what was going on.  He proceeded to pull out a big piece of black plastic like you might find on the farm and handed it to us.  We held on to the plastic and used it to keep most of the rain off of us until we got back to Zunil.  Then we walked a bit more in the rain to get on the bus to return to Xela.  A good way to spend the morning, made more memorable by getting soaked.  I did tell the director I had enough water for the day. 

The Testament

If you have never read anything by John Grisham, I suggest his book The Testament.  It is the second time I read the book, and it was just as good or better the second time.  The story revolves around the heirs of billionaire Troy Phelen, including a daughter who is a missionary in South America, whom the children never knew.   Grisham is an excellent story teller with likable, realistic characters.  It would be a good book for a book club to read and discuss.

hiking

On Saturday, our school activity was hiking in the mountains.  Quetzaltenango is surrounded by mountains.  We walked out of the city, then into the country.  We saw lots of small fields with vegetables like corn, brocoli, and leeks.  It felt good to get out of the city.  We walked  to a nearby town, Almolonga, saw the market there, then returned to Xela via chicken bus.  The music on the chicken bus made me laugh, as it was the song Red, Red Wine by UB40.