A popular day trip from Quetzaltenango with locals as well as visitors, the Fuentes Georginas hot springs (tel. 5704-2959, 8 a.m.–6:30 p.m. Mon.–Sat., 7 a.m.–5 p.m. Sun., $2.75) were hit hard by Hurricanes Mitch and Stan in the past few years. The first of these wiped out a Hellenic statue that once gazed upon the pools and the second hurricane filled its main pool with mud and debris.

It’s all up and running, however, and in addition to the wonderfully warm thermal pools you can enjoy a fairly decent restaurant serving cocktails overlooking the emerald-green waters surrounded by tropical ferns and flowers. There are also sheltered picnic areas with barbecue pits for which you’ll need to bring your own fuel.

Trails lead to the Zunil and Santo Tomás Volcanoes with guides available at the restaurant for about $10. The hikes require about 3–5 hours one-way. There are accommodations available but they are not recommendable. The management assures me there are plans to invest some money into upgrading the accommodations once they’ve fully recovered financially from the last hurricane.

Getting to Fuentes Georginas

To get to Fuentes Georginas, you can first take a bus to Zunil leaving frequently from Quetzaltenango’s Minerva bus terminal and then take a pickup the rest of the way (eight kilometers) to the hot springs. You can also walk from Zunil in about two hours.

Head out from the plaza going uphill to the Cantel road (about 60 meters), turning right, and then going downhill to where you’ll see a sign for the hot springs indicating their distance eight kilometers away.

The easy way to get here is to book a trip through any of the local guide companies, including Adrenalina Tours (13 Avenida and 4a Calle Zona 1, Pasaje Enríquez, tel. 7761-4509 or 7767-2474, www.adrenalinatours.com), which runs transfers to the site at 8 a.m. and 2 p.m. for $10.