After a fun filled an exciting day at Xocomil, Guatemala’s largest water park, we camped for the night en route to the Mexico border (where we were headed to renew our Guatemalan tourist visas which are only good for 90 days.) As we drove home to Panajachel, we stopped over at Fuentes Georginas, an incredible set of hot springs outside of Xela (between Xela and Reu).
The road turning off from the main highway leading to the hot springs is 8 km long, and a little bumpy, but the scenery was spectacular.
Entrance to the park is Q50 for adults and Q15 for kids. I think they charge a little bit for parking as well. They have cabanas on site where you could stay the night, and they also allow overnight parking for overlanders. There are three separate hot springs. The first is by the entrance/driveway to the park. It is carved into the rock, with a trickle of (hot!) water which flows into it, leaving a green streak on the cliffs. It was nice.
But then we hiked down the sendero (path) to the ‘natural’ hot springs in the valley below. Since we’re up at a higher altitude, the sun was already getting low in the sky, and we were wet, it was quite a chilly little hike. Brrr!
This pool was near a river/waterfall and the setting was absolutely idyllic… something you dream about when you think of exotic travel. It felt so warm and cozy, especially after our frosty trek into the valley.
But the day was waning and we still needed to drive the 3 hours back to Panajachel… so we reluctantly left. Before going, we checked out the last pools — they were located at the ‘back’ of the park, past the cabanas, and next to a restaurant. It had changing rooms and bathrooms available, and was built in a traditional piscina (pool) style.
There were three pools to lounge in, each with varying degrees of heat. The first one (behind my boys in the picture below) was TOO hot, even for me (and I like my water hot). It was pretty much scalding, burn your foot off hot.
Rachel Denning is an unassuming mother of five who never really did any international traveling until she had four children. After a second honeymoon to Playa del Carmen, Mexico, she and her husband decided to sell most of their belongings and move their family abroad.
Driving from the United States to Panama, they settled in Costa Rica for a year, until the U.S. financial market crash in 2008, when they lost their location independent income. Returning to the United States to look for work, they knew they’d be back ‘out’ again, having been officially bitten by the travel bug!
Despite adjustments to living a simpler life (or perhaps because of it), they were able to save enough money to move to the Dominican Republic in 2009. After six months they came back to the States once more, where they were offered employment working with a non-profit organization in India.
They spent five months living in Tamil Nadu, then returned to the States once more (to Alaska) so they could have baby number five – Atlas.
From there, they set out in April of 2011 to drive, in a veggie powered truck, from Alaska to Argentina, visiting every continental country in North and South America.
Travel is a part of their life now, and they can’t imagine doing anything else. Rachel photographs and writes about their incredible family travel adventures on their website, and they also have resources that encourage others to live a deliberate life.
