Zunil (pssst...it's pronounced Soon-eelh)

Only two days after our first hot-spring action since Japan, we were ready for more. Figured we aught to soak it up while we can. We had decided to head to the more touristy of the many options, because of what promised to be a breathtaking location up high in the mountains and right smack in the middle of nature. What we did to make ourselves feel better was to take a walk through the town at the base of the mountain, when most people get a ride in a pick-up right at the bus stop. We ARE better than you tourists HAHAHA.

Anyways, the story begins on one of these...

which drops us off at a small town surrounded by these...

we follow a road up to the top of the town, which is filled with women dressed like these...

only to stumble upon the most beautiful one of THESE I have ever seen...

The ladies who we followed most of the way up the hill asked me out of the blue if I was going to the cemetery. Then I knew where we were going. Absolutely breathtaking. Colorful graves draping the top of the hill, with mist-draped mountains towering in the distance. I remembered my time in Korea, when in the best places with the best sunshiny there was always a grave around. Fengshui in Korea creates a practice that seems to be echoed here in this primarily K'iche' Mayan town.

The graves here were different than those I had seen in Merida. They were lower to the ground, and fewer had house-like structures on top. There was a distinctly new kind of grave that was made of roofing tiles painted solid white, with the remains placed inside a cylinder constructed and covered with same tiles. Like Merida, crucifixes dominated the highest places on most graves, but the flower wreathes that adorned many of the graves were something of both beauty and interest.

Zunil is also home to rather unique in that they worship a deity called San Simon, who is a cowboy hat wearin', booze drinking, cigar smoking, and yes, wish grantin' sun of a gun. Some say that he is a Mayan deity represented as a Spanish missionary. Statues will often have a hole that allows the statue to actually "drink" booze.

Once we made our way through most of the town, we headed up to the highway to catch a pick-up to the hot spring. Breathtaking views, refreshing wind as we rode through mountain top fields holding onto the sides of the truck bed.

The people in the field whistled much like as we drove by. The kind of whistle that, in the States, you would expect to hear from a drunk man trying to get the attention of an unwitting girl. Here, it seems, that's just how you get someones attention. Except for one Mayan minority that when they want your attention, it sounds like they're telling you to be quiet, "Shhhhhhh!!!"

There was one catch. The entrance fee had been doubled in the last few days... Of course, I didn't believe the guys telling me this when I got there. That is, until he showed me the pistol strapped to their waist when I tried to push by them. I paid the new fare...

...and we soaked in some GREAT natural spring water to the sounds of live mariachi music. Even managed to hitch a ride back with the CEO of a construction company in Quetzaltenango.