There was no posada, so our boy declared, and we had to try the _cabildo_ for the first time. The _Escuela por Niños_, or “school for ninnies,” as Frank persisted in calling it, was placed at our disposal; but the floor was bare, hard concrete, and we had no mats, while there was no chance to hang our hammocks. It was not inviting; but one of the attendants kindly brought two mahogany settees from the court-room, and this was so hard a couch that one might be pardoned for going to bed with boots on,—and mine were so wet that I feared I should not get them on in the morning if they once came off. We needed food quite as much as a bed, and at last found rolls and coffee at a little shop near at hand. At four o’clock in the morning there was an earthquake, which did not wake Frank, though it jarred my bed as though some one had run against it in the dark. This shock was felt, as we afterwards found, at Coban, San Cristobal, and for miles around. Slight earthquakes are said to be common enough here, but we saw no evidence of severe ones. In the morning at half-past five, while Roberto was saddling the horses, we visited the church and found many curiously carved and gilded altar-pieces. After performing our ablutions in a puddle in the road, left by the last night’s rain, we got our coffee and hastened on our way, as it was Friday, and we still had twelve miles to ride to Coban. This city, although at an elevation of 4,500 feet, is surrounded by much higher hills; and from the pass over which the road winds, the view of the surrounding coffee-region is very fine. The streams were in flood, and some of the lower plantations were under water. Near the town we saw the method of raising coffee-plants under frames covered with dried ferns. Crossing a good bridge, we came up a paved street, and soon after ten o’clock rode into the Hotel Aleman, where we had a very comfortable room and two beds with sheets and pillow-cases,—the first we had seen since we left Livingston; and we were not now compelled to sleep in our clothes. Our breakfast was the best we had found since we had been in the country, and consisted of soup, sausages, _frijoles negras_, wheaten rolls, fried plantains, _tortillas tostadas_, tomato salad, fried potatoes, and good coffee. The potatoes here are native, seldom larger than an English walnut, and very mealy. In the patio of the hotel bloomed roses and violets. [Illustration: In Hotel Aleman.] [Illustration: Plan of the Hotel Aleman.]