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Published: June 20th 2013
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Kumarkaaj ball court This was the real Guatemala. There I was, barrelling up and down the switchback roads of the highlands, occasionally passing small villages. I was squished into a minivan with 23 other passengers, but it did not matter. This was the experience I was looking for. I was on my way to Nebaj, and the scenery was beautiful. Lush green hills and valleys all around, as far as the eye could see. Hours before I had still been in Lago de Atitlan. I was disappointed to leave, but knew I had to keep going. After taking a bus to Chichicastenago, where I had been to the market days before, I took a "chicken bus" to another town, Quiche. Chicken buses are the cheapest and most common mode of transportation in Guatemala. They are old yellow American school buses that have been converted and repainted. The buses are usually crowded and uncomfortable and go way too fast, but at least they are cheap. I stopped in El Quiche to see the Mayan ruins of Kumarkaaj. I hired a tuk-tuk, a small vehicle with 3 wheels that many use to zip around town. It was not made to go outside the city on country
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Mayan ritual roads, but it managed to get me to the ruins. I could see from the guestbook that foreign tourists had not visited the ruins in a few months. The ruins were small and not particularly impressive, but it was cool to see a Mayan ball court that had been well preserved. This is also the site of Mayan rituals that still go on today, and I was lucky to be able to witness one. As you can see from the picture, there was a group of people huddled around a big circle, chanting. Other local tourists that were there initially did not dare to take a picture, but we relented and took a quick photo.
From El Quiche I went in a minibus to Nebaj, an isolated town at 1900m, or 6200ft. Nebaj is part of the Ixil region, a collection of villages that is intensely traditional. There is also a huge indigenous/Mayan population here, and they mostly speak Ixil. Spanish is a second language here. Foreigners are scarce, which is what I was looking for...something off the beaten path. At my hostel I made friends with 2 Israeli guys. I also met the large foreigner community in the
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Hike from Nebaj to the village of Chichel Nebaj area. My hostel, Popi´s, seemed to be the central hangout. Many of them were volunteers doing work in the region, including for the Peace Corps. There was also an American guy who volunteers at the hostel, basically as a waiter, in exchange for free food and room and board. He will be doing this for 2 months. He already feels unsure about what he has gotten himself into - he did not realize how indigenous and isolated this community was.
The next day I sent out on a hike with the 2 Israeli guys. We first took a bus to the town of Cotzal, and walked from there. The looks we got at Cotzal from the locals brings me to what I call the ¨stare test.¨ You can often measure how touristy a place is by how much or how little you get stared at. In Antigua and Lago de Atitlan people barely noticed me, but here, in Cotzal, they were wide-eyed. My growing beard probably intensified their looks. This clearly confirmed what I already knew, that tourists rarely come here. Right then and there I knew I had found the right place. The hike we did to
the village of Chichel took 3 hours, and brough us through beautiful green pastures, cornfields, and a small creek. We finally reached the village of Chichel, where we had heard there was a beautiful waterfall to visit.
After some more walking we finally found the waterfalls. There were 3 waterfalls that were right inside the owner´s property. His house was set in a beautiful area, right on a creek. After paying 10 quetzales (about $1.25 US) to get in, we set out to explore. The biggest waterfall was probably about 100ft tall, and sprayed us with a heavy mist. We then had lunch there, and the owner´s wife prepared a delicious chicken noodle soup with plenty of tortillas. The tortillas I had here were likely made out of corn (compared to the usual wheat and white flour), and they were amazing. The 3 of us looked around and realized that this guy knew how to live. A beautiful place. We had little interest in walking back, and so were fortunately able to catch a ride on a pick-up truck back to the town of Cotzal, and then a bus to Nebaj. This was clearly the best day of my
trip so far, in large part due to the 2 Israeli guys, who were really cool and great to talk to. One works for an NGO while the other is an officer in the Israeli army.
Back at the hostel I met a couple and a girl from Quebec who were traveling together. We decided to do a hike to the town of Acul the next day. I went to dinner with them that night and quickly realized I would probably not get along with them. Although the couple was nice on the surface, they were also closed-minded and harshly judgmental about the conditions in Latin America. The guy had traveled the world, including Asia, and why he harbored so many negative attitudes was lost on me. If he wanted to live in luxury and comfort he should have stayed home in Australia. I simply bit my tongue and tried to carry on a pleasant conversation. The girl from Quebec, in contrast, was nice and provided a buffer from the couple. The next morning we did our hike to Acul. The volunteer from the hostel came with us as well. After awhile we realized we had gone the wrong
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Valleys near Chichel way. What should have been a 3 mile hike became a 6 mile hike. The last 2 miles were all uphill, and the sun was blazing hot. Needless to say we were pretty beat by the time we got to Acul. We stopped at 2 ranches there that make their own cheese. The Australian guy again complained about the service, and again I let it go. No need in starting an argument with the guy. The service was a bit slow, but that is typical in Latin America...what do you expect? At least the surrounding area was beautiful, as you can see from the pictures. The area looked straight from the Austrian Alps. The couple and the Quebec girl wanted to stay in town awhile longer, and so me and the other guy hiked back. He quickly brought up his misgivings about the other three´s attitudes, and I was glad he shared my sentiments. We found the right path to get back to Nebaj, which would only be 3 miles. The first half was straight uphill along a muddy trail, and then downhill the rest of the way. It began to rain heavily and we were slipping and sliding in
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Giant waterfall that is in the owner's property the mud on our way down. We passed a small village before Nebaj, and were again greeted by many stares, particularly from the children.
That night, Lior, one of the Israeli guys, wanted to watch the NBA Finals as much as I did. We thought we would not be able to find it anywhere in town, but we came upon a fancy hotel that agreed to put the game on in their restaurant. Other locals eating dinner there quickly became enthralled with the game as well, and there were about a dozen of us watching. Although we were both disappointed to see the Spurs lose, we had a good time watching it with the other locals.
I was relieved to have finally gotten off the main gringo trail and see what the ¨real¨ Guatemala was all about it. This was a truly special area, and even though it was hard to get to, it was totally worth it. Next I´ll be heading to the town of Todos Santos Cuchumatan, which is even higher up in the highlands. It is even more intensely traditional and indigenous than Nebaj, and is an equally good base for some great hiking. Sounds
good to me.
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Andrew
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Love the blog
I am really enjoying your descriptions. Can't wait for the next entry!