Huehuetenango and Zacaleu

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On our first day in Guatemala we drove to the city of Huehuetenango. As we entered town Chuck noticed the infamous golden arches. We followed the signs and it appeared as though McDonalds was located inside of a shopping mall since the golden arches sign was hung above the entrance. We parked the van and went into the mall to have our first meal in Guatemala at a McDonalds.


We found the food court, but not the McDonalds. We asked one lady and she had no idea where or even what McDonalds was. The next person pointed us towards the lower level of the mall, which was a parking garage. We went back up into the mall and asked another person who agreed with the last and said that McDonalds was located on the lower level. We went down again and looked a bit more closely. McDonalds was just outside of the parking garage of the mall; great success!


After breakfast burritos and egg McMuffins we drove towards the town center. The streets were crowded and confusing. We thought we would find a place to park and walk to find a place to stay; no such luck as there was nowhere to park. We back-tracked our way out of the town center and found a hotel on the road back to the main highway. We checked into the Hotel California and giggled a little at the name.


From our hotel we took a cab to the ruins of Zacaleu. The name Zacaleu means white earth and functioned as a Mam Mayan sitefrom as early as circa 400 CE until it was defeated by Spaniards in the early 1500s.
United Fruit Company hired archaeologists to restore the ruins during the late 1940s. The result of the restoration project left the ruins with a 1950s industrial type of appearance. Although the appearance is presumably more akin to an actual pre-Hispanic Mayan locality, it would also have presumably been much more grandiose and colorful.


The ruins of Zacaleu include a handful of buildings and a ball court. It was a thought provoking place to visit because of the restoration that had been done. It was interesting to consider the extent to which the controversial restoration was either accurate or inaccurate and beneficial or detrimental to the understanding of the pre-Hispanic Mayan built culture.


From Huehuetenango we drove to Lake Atitlan; more on that later.

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