Lee Tuuj

The tuuj, or temascal in Spanish, is a Mayan vapor bath. Though traditionally built from adobe, the tuuj is now generally constructed from cinder block, as are most Guatemalan houses. A fire is lit inside the tuuj to heat it early in the day. The fire is built under a pile of stones just like in a Finnish sauna, and a vat of bathing water is nestled in alongside.

Once the fire burns down to coals the bather crawls in and sits on the bench in the back. One can cast water on the stones to create steam, and there is plenty of hot and cold water for bathing. A curtain (which doesn’t appear in the pictures) hangs across the doorway to keep in the heat and steam.

















I do not take showers or bucket baths here, only the tuuj. We usually light it twice a week, though we have been lighting it every day since the arrival of baby Francisco, as a woman must take a steam bath daily for ten days after giving birth. It is wonderful to crawl in there on a cold rainy night, steam searing the nostrils with every breath.