Todos Santos Cuchumatan

TODOS SANTOS CUCHUMATAN

Transportation

From Quetzaltenango: At 6.00 chicken bus to Huehuetenango (20 GTQ two and a half hours ride). At 10.30 microbus “Transportes Flor de Maria” (20 GTQ about two hours travel). I waited 2 hours at the Huehue bus terminal, a dirt patch with a smell halfway between piss and rubbish. Since I had nothing to do, I wrote down all the departures timetable for Todos Santos Cuchumatan for this company: 10.20, 11.20, 14.00, 15.15 and 16.15. Comfortable travel. The stretch of road between Huehuetenango and Todos Santos is not as terrible as mentioned online. It’s a mountain road full of bends, that’s all. Very scenic, among other things, in the area where it reaches at the summit a plateau, called La Ventosa, before the descent to Todos Santos Cuchumatan

To Nebaj: what an odyssey !! Flor de Mariaa microbus at 7.00 to Huehuetenango 20 GTQ (2 hours). Other microbus to Sacapulas 20 GTQ with intermediate change for unknown reasons at Aguatacan. Fourth microbus from Sacapulas to Nebaj 15 GTQ. Arrival at about 13.00. There are no tourist shuttles. Microbuses are generally very crowded. The bulky bags are loaded on the roof, and covered with tarpaulins if the weather tends to get worse. It is wise to keep with you anything you care for, better if small sized, for the following reasons 1) inside there are no overhead place, and any property must therefore stay on your knees 2) in case of a change you must be very quick to grab a seat, traveling for two hours withou balance inclined at 90 degrees on a curvy road is not the best ….

Sleep

Hotel Familiar, 100 GTQ an ensuite single without breakfast. Friendly managers, the classic place which attracts nice people with whom it is enjoyable to exchange a few words. My room was not that good, as I understand the older ones are better. Also a bit noisy because there were people who made a mess in the street, and until 21.00 in the big building on the other side of the road (I think it is the Municipal hall) the festival of marimba was being hold: the first 5 minutes are tolerable, it even sound pleasant, after that it gets enough to complaint to Amnesty International

Eat

Apart from some comedor, the only restaurant in the village is the one in my hotel. 35 GTQ chicken rice beans guacamole cheese.

Excursions

La Ventosa + la Meseta 150 GTQ with a guide, Mr. Rigoberto, mentioned in many other travel stories. I think he is the most competent guide among of all those I met during my trips. On the main street of the village there is a shop that sells household appliances, with mustard-colored painted walls, and a “Day trips” board stuck close to the counter. The owner, very helpful, draws to the interlocutors maps of the area, with the relative villages to be reached by walking. If requested, then, he contacts Rigoberto. My hotel, for example, did not offer any kind of excursion, but it listed on a board the names of the guides in the area, and their telephone numbers. For lack of time, since I decided to go to Nebaj, I could not do much. There is a kind of village which can  be reached on foot in 5 hours, it’s called San Juan Atitan, but you have to sleep there, and come back with pick up the next day. Or another, to the south, reachable in a collective minivan or on foot, are about 6 km, San Martin Cuchumatan. I decided for La Ventosa because, arriving from Huehuetenango, I passed there and I was struck by the beauty of the landscape, lots of green and colorful flowers, clear skies, fresh air. I then convinced two other French tourists to join me and Rigoberto. We reached La Ventosa in pick up, but it is possible to do it on foot, in about 2 and a half hours.

From the village, a small cluster of houses, we then continued uphill, admiring the view of some volcanoes, until reaching the top, a plateau full of plants and flowers

Around noon we started the descent, while the clouds already began to rise rapidly over the cliffs covered with vegetation, until we reached the Meseta, a small cavity in the rock with a stone altar, where the locals celebrate propitiatory rituals according to the ancient Mayan traditions. Return to Todos Santos with pick-up

Impressions

I really enjoyed my time. I was very curious to visit the Sierra de los Cuchumatanes because it had been recommended by a couple of friends who had worked as volunteers in the area, and was also painted on Lonely Planet and in various online forums as a rather rustic place. The fact that it cannot be reached by tourist shuttles means that it remains slightly more isolated than Quetzaltenango, for example. As mentioned earlier, the stretch of road between Huehuetenango and Todos Santos is not as terrible as feared online. It’s a mountain road full of bends, that’s all. It takes two hours to go to destination, so it seems to me excessive all this alarmism on the web, “do not go if you have little time, the road is horrible”. There is nothing complicated, if you just want it.

In Todos Santos there is a lot of opportunities to interact with the locals. A lot of people I met work in the United States, and they express themselves in an excellent English, also to impress their friends, who meanwhile, since they do not understanding anything, laugh all the time. Many people emigrated to work as farmers in the US, at my specific request about immigration and visa the were a bit vague, so, as I understand, they do not have regular permits. “Excuse me, what about Trump?” “Oh, no problem” …. Others just start to talk to you in Spanish. While I was walking alone, not far from my hotel, towards an altar where Maya rituals were performed, I met a girl coming from the Catholic church, she even invited me to her house. I could not accept because I would not have time to go back before sunset, since I would have to walk 3 hours roundtrip. She told me about her hard life, the cost of education which could have given her a better life, 400 GTQ. If my credit card was not stolen two days ago, leaving me a bit short of cash, I would have given the money to her.

I arrived in town on Saturday, which is market day. Exactly as in San Francisco El Alto, they sell goods for common use, except animals. The are is very animated, men meet to chat iaround the town hall square. Unfortunately, many get drunk to the point of not being able to stand, in some pubs protected by curtains or dark glasses.  They are easily recognizable since they are pumping music at full blast. I counted 7 foreigners in total. I have been confirmed that this is the average of July / August, while in other periods of the year their presence becomes more numerous.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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