Belizeans looking for a warmer winter vacation - temp 65F.

GUATEMALA RAVAGED BY LANDSLIDES

Was looking for a warm spot for a winter vacation. Earlier this year we had picked Fuentes Georgina hot springs, in a tiny valley at the North end of Lake Atitlan, out of Xela and Zunil. Made famous by Guatemalan Presidents for a 100 years. Their web page went down this summer and we wondered why? Apparently the famous HOT SPRINGS was buried by a landslide and no one knows when, or if, it will be dug out and re-opened. ( So my buddy Robert Smith on the Winnie Estelle told me. )
So we were looking for another hot springs. There is one near CANA on Lake Atitlan, available by boat only, where the hot spring pours into the cold lake. We were thinking of that as a backup choice. Anyway in talking with my life long buddy, Roberto Smith from San Pedro, who lives on his boat( Winnie Estelle) down in the Rio Dulce, SUSANA MARINA, he told me that the road between Solala and Panachjel on the Lake side ( a big tourist place ) was also cut by a landslide and it will not be re-opened before next year. The only way to get into Lake Atitlan ( big tourist place ) is by going to the Pacific Coast and coming back from the Western Pacific Coast. That sounds too much travelling for my old bones.
We already are familiar with the one on the lake down by the Rio Dulce.( Lake IZABEL ) Wanted someplace new. Was looking at one an hour trip North of COPAN a famous Mayan ruins on the border between Honduras and Guatemala, but it doesn´t look like much from photographs on Trip Advisor.
There is one ( hot springs ) down in Costa Rica we like, but will have to check to see if it is still functioning? It was a family operation, 6000 feet up in the mountains on a coffee plantation. Tiny but nice atmosphere and hot. Costa Rica should be warmer than Belize at our temperatures of 65F these cold days, as the Northers blasting down from the USA stop around Nicaragua. Thing is, how do you get to Costa Rica economically from Belize? Have to look into that! I have the feeling the cost is outside of our budget.