Guatemala Day 8

You will not believe the stuff we did today. So first of all, we went to Fuentes Georginas, AKA NATURAL MOUNTAIN HOT SPRINGS IN THE JUNGLE WHAAAAAAT

For those of you who don't know, I LOVE hot springs so this was one of the coolest places I've ever been. I wish I would have taken more pictures (this is basically it), but I was a little busy disfrutar-ing the different pools. The water could have been hotter, but you know what, I'm not gonna complain because the place was gorgeous + you can drink the water (not inside the pool because that's gross, but you could collect drops of citrus-y volcano tea (?!?!?) falling from the rock wall in the photo). Note to self: get water-proof camera.

***

But wait! That's not all! One of our drivers, Don Rafael, invited us to his home to see his wife/mother give a weaving demonstration!

Once the threads are prepared, they are wrapped around this contraption. The colors look pretty random, but it actually requires great skill to know exactly what color each thread should be in order to create a specific pattern 

Once that's done, it's rolled up into a ball like this

Then they string up that ball of thread onto this backstrap loom (not pictured; backstrap that Don Rafael's wife is sitting on that keeps this whole thing taut and functioning)

Videos of the demonstration to come later, but here is a close up of what the pattern actually looks like. I am still not entirely sure how the threads come together nor how one can possibly picture this design and then figure out the exact order in which the colors to be in order to actually create the design!

I'm so grateful to Don Rafael and his family for welcoming us and giving us this unique and intimate experience. I have a newfound respect for weavers and weaving and woven material. Maybe I will just go find a Guatemalan family to live with and learn how to weave and how to speak Spanish/one of the Mayan languages (I am only half kidding).