Growing up in Washington state, places like Agua Tibia only existed in my imagination. A river that runs warm, instead of the normally frigid water’s of my PNW childhood seemed otherworldly. So it was a happy surprise to me that one of my childhood fantasies came to life just outside of my husband’s home town of Jocotillo Villa Canales in Guatemala.

Located about 45 kilometers from Guatemala City, it’s a 20 minute drive through the grass fields outside of Jocotillo on a well maintained dirt road (by Guatemalan standards jajaja) to reach the gate of Agua Tibia. From there the road gets a little rougher, as it begins to descend down to the river bed but it’s definitely passable though good shocks do come in handy.

Once you reach the river, there are cabanas and firepits a plenty to use for a carne asada or family bbq. There’s even newly constructed bathrooms, and though we were there in the off season, I can imagine how popular it gets during the peak of the summer months.

After leaving the rest of the family to get started on the carne cooking, I took the kids and we weaved our way down to the river. That is a definite perk to being a boy mom, everyone always assumes you can handle anything because you deal with savages everyday and so when you volunteer to take the kids to the river to secretly get out of cooking, they gladly let you take all the kids since your a pro at taming the chaos.

Agua Tibia is a series of man made ponds constructed in the middle of a flowing river, so we had to cross the river in order to reach the deeper pools but it’s shallow and easy to do, though the flowing water is a bit colder. The water is translucent and similar in temperature to a nice bath, and at most places, is about 3 feet deep.

When we plunged into the water, there were a few other families already there, and my blond hair certainly attracted the attention of a few young kids who shyly swam over to check us out. It was only a matter of minutes though, before all the kids were taking turns jumping off of the rocks and playing a game of tag. It didn’t matter that they hadn’t known each other at all five minutes before or that my boy’s grasp of Spanish was clearly lacking, there was warm water, and fun to be had, and that’s all kids need to have a great time.

After the afternoon rain storm rolled in, we all scrambled out, as the water rose around us and though it was hard to leave the comfort of the warm water for a chilly run up the hill in the rain, it was time for lunch. Everything was delicious, all the more so because I didn’t have to prepare any of it hahaha. There was a young boy scampering from group to group selling roasted corn out of a basket, and though he most likely should have been in school, I hope us being there and buying up all of his wares, helped him at least get the afternoon off to do what he pleased. I saw London watching him, only a year older than he was, and could sense the empathy in his eyes. He might not always get what he wants but at that moment, I could tell he was grateful for what he did have, and that’s one of the beautiful things about traveling, it often puts things into perspective.

After lunch wrapped up, we all headed back down to the river for one last dip before heading home. Edgar’s sister Carmen had brought a bag of jocotes, a small sourish sort of fruit native to Guatemala and we munched on them while the waters ebbed around us. As the light began to fade, we slowly trekked back up the hill, and as the rains rolled in again, I thought that it had been just about a perfect day, surrounded by family, good food and one of the natural wonders of nature. A quintessential Guatemalan day to be sure.

Agua Tibia

Open Daily 7am to 5pm

Costs is Q30.00 per person, including children

Km 36 Carretera a El Salvador. Cruce en la concha a la derecha. Km 46 en cuatro caminos cruce a la izquierda 01069