Luna Jaguar Hot Springs

If the coffee plantation was out int the cut, then this hot spring was way out there. We seemed to have to drive for hours (it was probably another half-hour to forty-five minutes out there), up the road away from Copan, bumping and jiving and being tossed all around the backseat of a Dodge minivan.

We arrived at the Luna Jaguar Spa, a hot spring resort that has been carved out of the jungle. It's been set up to resemble an authentic Mayan resort, but of course there's nothing realistic about it's antiquity. The Mayan may have used the hot spring's water for beneficial purposes, but the way it is presented to tourists from all over Central America (and elsewhere) is rather modern and faux-ancient.

It did look pretty cool, though.

You had to cross a bridge to get to the real entrance:



Walking around the site you see where the hot water actually spills from the ground, and away from there, the pools go from scalding to comfortable to uncomfortable to really cold. Here are some pictures.

This is the entrance after the bridge, looking like an old Mayan entryway:



Me in the only pool that was just the right temperature:



Here's a cool sculpture/fountain:



Here's the opening where the super-heated water pours from:



I believe that some of the sculptures could be authentic, which gives an interesting experience to the whole place, a sense of history even if the actual layout is based on new design sensibilities.

After the two hours we spent alone back here (when we arrived we were the only patrons), we slouched and nearly slumbered the entire ride back to Copan, and napped the rest of the day away, after setting up our return trip to Guatemala City.