Xela, part 2

So, obviously I´m not a very good blogger, but to be fair, the internet at school was awful, the internet cafes in Xela close early and I was sick.
But I really enjoyed the rest of my time in Xela.  I went to Las Cumbres, a beautiful little hotel up in the mountains near Zunil, for an afternoon.  They have saunas heated and filled with steam that comes directly from the volcano.  There were always steam vents there, and someone bougth the property and build the hotel to take advantage of it.  I loved the setting and the amazing views, but I think I actually had more fun on the ride up.  I rode on a mattress in the back of a pickup truck.  Apparently gringos in pìckups are pretty rare in Zunil, so all the little kids were pointing and staring.  It was cute.
The fields in the hills around Zunil were fantastic.  Some of them were terraced, but for the most part, they aren´t, so people are farming in nearly horizontal fields.
A few weeks later, I went to Fuentes Georginas, hot springs where the volcano heated water drips and trickles directly out of the mountain into the pools.  These are on the other side of Zunil, so I got to drive through the same fields I admired before.  Even more amazing up close.  The hot springs were amazing and there was huge rainstorm while we were there.  Floating in the insanely hot water, staring up into the forest with big drops of freezing water falling from the sky was incredible.  Driving along the scarily curving road that was semi washed out on the way home was a little less fun.

I really enjoyed my time at ICA, my spanish school.  My first teacher, Mario, was good, but I spent my last week with Rocio, who was amazing!  I learned a ton, but now have to work on putting it into practice.
I also had a great time hanging out with the other students, who seemed less young as time went on.  We went to two kinda crappy, but really fun bars.  King and Queen, where an Israeli guy´s Guatemalteco boyfriend used to work, was a fun dive with good beer and free snacks.  I got to meet everyone who worked there and most of the clients, too.  We also went dancing at La Rumba a lot.  It smelled, usually like crap.  The DJ was absolutely awful, I could probably have transitioned between songs better than he could and there were always overly insistent drunk guys wanting to dance and not taking no for an answer the first 20 times.  But somehow, it was a blast.
I still felt restricted by the safety concerns, but found a few reliable cab drivers, so I didn´t feel so dependent on other people to get home. 
In the end, it was hard to leave Xela, but it was time to see the country.