I´ve been on a number of daytrips to villages/volcanos/hot springs around Xela while I´ve been studing Spanish during the daytime.
Laguna de Chicabal
A couple of weekends ago we went up to the Laguna Chicabal which is a lake formed in the crater of an extinct volcano. It is a decent hike to get there and if you are lucky (which we were) you can get a great view from the mirador - you can see the peaks of the highest points in Central America from the mirador and it is quite surreal when the clouds suddenly part to reveal the laguna in the crater of the volcano
Fuentes Georginas
These are some (cool) hot spring baths quite near Xela. The setting is pretty impressive as the springs are set deep in the hills and it is actually really cold when you make your way there. However, the wather that flows into the baths are seriously hot - I couldn´t stay in them for more than 15 mins at a time without feeling that all the energy had been sapped out of me
San Andres Xecul
This is a colourful village about 45 mins from Xela which has a bizarre mini carnival once a month. We went there on a Saturday following a slightly heavy night on my part - the first port of call when I got to San Andres was a tienda to get some water. The mini carnival itself was slightly odd with people disguised as conquistadores and parading up and down in front of the colourful church. There was also some random bloke who thought it would be a good idea to walk a rope linking the church. There were a lot of food stalls around the place and at various points during the day I did wonder how many taco and fried chicken stalls a small vilage could support...
El Baul
This is a hill that overlooks Xela and you can walk for about 40 mins to get to the top. There is a decent view of the city from the top and there are some quite big slides carved into the hill that you can race down. To increase speed there are crushed plastic bottles to sit on as you race down the slides. Racing down the slides is particularly good fun for big kids like me...
