1. (1) Entering Guatemala

2. (2) Hot Spring of Soap

(1) Entering Guatemala

A janitor "seno^rita" of the hotel was sending me a smile when I parked the bike. Unlike Mexicans, she didn't easily talk to me, however, she had warm eyes. Another two women joined her. It was irresistibly hot. I asked them if they had beer in the hotel. The answer was negative, but one of them told me she would buy one at a nearby shop for me. I asked the price. It was nearly the same as in Mexico. I also asked the local time. They answered it was four. An hour was behind Mexico. I remembered Mexico probably had daylight-saving time. Immediately after I finished drinking beer and changed my clothes to T-shirt and shorts, I went to a moneychanger. For, I already spent the Guatemalan money of US$60 that I had changed in the Mexican side. The expense at the border was more than I had expected. It stopped raining after I got through the border, but it began to rain again at dusk. The rain was much harder then. The rain water was flowing like a river on the street. In the hard rain like that, a woman was trying to sell something under an umbrella. She was tough. Someone said it was the first rain of this year and it would last another one hour. I thought I wouldn't be able to wait and walked on the roofed sidewalk back to my hotel. However, I got soaked. My body, which was immensely heated during the day, cooled down. The hot shower in the hotel was consolable. The following day I left the expensive hotel with a feeling of running away, and directed the bike on the seaside national highway 2 towards the capital in the east. I was afraid of the bad condition of the road, but, probably because of the main road, the road was rather better than that of the Mexican side. After riding around 50 km, I hurried on the mountain road up to Quetzaltenango located in the mountain range in the north, which is the second largest city of Guatemala with a population of 150,000. There are several hot springs on the way to Quetzaltenango. I had an idea I would stay in one of them on the day. I found a signboard of one of them. The hot spring was at the end of a valley. I saw lots of people and I could not find a place to park the bike. In addition, the spa resort had only sheltered baths and didn't have outdoor thermal pools. I left there and rode towards another hot spring on the top of the mountain. My original idea was to stay in a bungalow of the resort. The narrow mountain road gradually gained elevation. I had already put on a jacket, however, I was feeling a little chilly. That was the best for soaking in a hot spring. I was excited with the expectation.

I was sure it would surely be the best thermal pool only if the temperature were slightly higher. While I was bathing, deep fog covered the resort. Even the edge of the pool of the other side was hardly invisible. I became worried about riding back down the mountain. I decided to follow the family car of Pedro whom I made friend with in the pool. On the road I couldn't see anything farther than 10 m ahead. The indicators to show a vend in the road were only the tail lights of the ongoing car and the yellow center line on the road. The car in front was going at the speed of trotting. I though I was traveling not in the fog, but in a dense cloud. I heard there would be plenty of hotels in the town down the mountain, but there was only one. The hotel didn't have a parking, so I, in the end, rode to Quetzaltenango 20 km away. The cheap hotel I had found in the "Lonely Planet" closed its door and seemingly had no parking. I visited another hotel nearby. The hotel was a little more expensive, but had a large courtyard for parking and gave me a impression of a hotel with long history. The charge was $13 and I checked in on the spot. For the sake of the heavy luggage, I asked a room on the ground floor as usual, but they had rooms only on the upstairs. However, the young man of the hotel carried all my luggage up to my room. It was very helpful to me. The room was spacious with a high ceiling and had three beds. Black wood was used for both the floor and the lower part of the white wall. Even a hearth was equipped. It was a quite characteristic room.

I went out of the hotel to have a meal after dark. The streets were dark and the shops were already closed at eight around the hotel that was located in the very center from where the central square could be seen. Some homeless people were squatting on the unlit dark sidewalk. There were some weird drunken people who were trying to bother anyone else. Besides, it was somehow cold at night in Quetzaltenango even though it is located in the further south and its elevation of 2000 m is lower than Mexico City of 2400 m. I found a restaurant near the hotel and went in. The large restaurant was built in wellhole style with a high ceiling and had waiters worn in black trousers and white shirt with a bow tie. A candle was lit on every table. The restaurant had a gorgeous atmosphere. However, it was dark there and it was not easy to read the menu. A musical band of three people, meanwhile, came into the restaurant and began to sing. Their elegiac songs gave me a dark feeling. Unlike Mexican towns where everything is bright, this town in Guatemala gives me an impression that everything is dark. And, unlike Mexicans, the people also tend to be reserved. Not a few women wearing traditional clothes are seen in the town. Among the countries in Central America, Guatemala has a large population of indigenous people. Is the darkness of the country due to their existing traditional culture?

(2) Hot Spring of Soap

There is a small town with a population of 9000 "Totonicapan", 30 km northeast of Quetzaltenango. Its name sounds like "Typography in East Capital ('Toto ni Kappan' in Japanese)" to me. The reason why I felt like visiting there is that the town has a hot spring.

I went to the hot spring as soon as I checked in the hotel. I was looking forward to the thermal waters, because it was also quite chilly last night. The spa is located on the skirts of the town, 2 km away from the center of the town. I though about walking there, but I chose riding in the end. Arriving at the spa, I saw the iron gate closed and the large parking lot behind it. One of the attendants immediately opened the gate and I parked my bike in the parking without any vehicles. The admission fee was only Q1 ( 13.4 cents according to the exchange rate of yesterday). I was asked which I liked, a cold spring or a hot spring. I chose the hot spring, not to mention it. I followed the boy guiding me and saw a large building. The thermal pool inside the building was clearly visible from outside. The people who bathed were all women. I thought it a women bath, but it was, to my surprise, a mixed bath. In addition, the hot spring was as white as milk. I never expected that much. That was exactly like Nyutoh Spa in Tohoku district or Shirabone Spa in Shinshu or Nigorigo Spa in Kiso in Japan. I was deeply impressed to see the magnificent thermal water. As in a certain hot spring resort in Tohoku, the bathhouse didn't have a changeroom, but had only a long bench-like shelf on each of the four walls, where the taken-off clothes should be laid. The bathers were giving a curious or suspicious stare to a stranger from Asia, who had abruptly intruded. The voice saying "China?" was heard from time to time. Nooo! I am a Japanese and not only a Japanese, but a spa freak. In a hot spring resort, I am accustomed to getting undressed in public. Besides, I lost my weight quite much, as I had expected, during an year on the road. The leather pants that was too tight around the waist now falls straight down to the feet unless a belt. However, this doesn't mean that I now have a good body like Bruce Lee. My beer belly have only shrunk, keeping the same shape, as a balloon does. Even so, the smaller beer belly has lessened the ugliness of appearance and has made it possible for me to see my own member concealed below the swollen belly. From this additional reason, I don't have any hesitation in getting naked more than before. Sensing the ardent look from the Guatemalan women, I exposed my buttocks to them and put the swimming pants on. No matter whether I am one of the Japanese who are immune to nakedness, I had to do so in Guatemala. If I had walked into the pool without any clothes as we do in Japan, not only I would have given an inestimable culture shock to the women, but some of them might have passed out and drowned in the thermal water.

But that kind of worry wasn't necessary. The thermal pool was so shallow that the Japanese cannot imagine. Its depth was only about 20 cm. The hot water didn't cover my shoulders even if I lay on my stomach. I was really disappointed and shouted in my mind, "Why is this so shallow?!". To make the matters worse, the thermal water was as lukewarm as in the one on the top of the mountain I visited some days before, even though not as cold as in that "Hot Spring of Scorpions". The Japanese like a very hot bath! There was an additional large chamber in the thermal pool. I moved there. It was a little sweltering like a sauna bath in the chamber. The temperature of the spring water was raised a bit. I lay on my face for a while there. Everyone was washing the body with soap around me. They washed out in the bath. It was that familiar scene in American movies. I dare to accept it because in the US the hot water in the bathtub may be changed, however it is a waste of water resource, after one person finishes. But, the place is the hot spring open to the public. I would like to tell them to wash themselves outside the bath as we do, however, there wasn't the facilities to do so in Guatemala. I admitted it as a cultural difference. Even so, I had something that worried me. "Isn't this milky water due to soap?" There were also some young women here and there. I hear there were lots of young women bathing in the public bathhouses in Tohoku, Japan years ago. Recently, however, the bathers are only old women. In comparison with the recent situation, this spa keeps the feeling of those in Tohoku in the past. This is a hot spring in Guatemala, though. All-naked bodies of young women cannot be expected. The women bathed, covering their body totally with dress. However, in times I saw a part of their breasts as they washed the body in front of me. It was a favorable view that can never be enjoyed in Japan anymore. The old women were as exceptional as in Japan. They showed off their dangling breasts without hesitation. I didn't find any beauty in them, but it was natural and gave me a good feeling.

Although the spring water became a little warmer, I didn't find it hot enough as my body got accustomed. I asked to an old man next to me where the hottest place was. He answered me it was at the end of the chamber. The source fountain was surely hot. It was a good, authentic hot spring. I saw the pit of the hot spring water. It was not milky, but transparent! If possible, I could have bathed in a deeper and transparent hot spring that was not contaminated with soap. Usually I don't wash out my body after bathing in a hot spring, because I hear its mineral ingredients permeate into the body and give a good effect to the health. But, I showered myself today when I went back to the hotel. I miss those Japanese hot springs.