September 15, 2011

The hidden treasures of northern Huehuetenango: Laguna Brava


Two years ago, I had planned a trip to hike to the Laguna Brava o Laguna Yolnajab but never went. So when I realized it was close to the Posada where we were staying I knew I had to go. 

On the third day of our stay, we left the Finca early with my dad and our guide to get to the community where the treck starts. As the Laguna is on a private land owned by three communities, you need to hire a local guide (75 Quetzales) even if you already had a guide from the Finca (130 Quetzales) and you need to pay the entrance fees (25 Quetzales per person). 

It’s known as the Laguna Brava because at certain times, but often in the evenings, the wind enters the valley and the waves of the lagoon are heard from afar.

It took us 45 minutes on a hilly and muddy path to get to a high point where the descent to the Laguna starts. From there you can see the river meandering to the Laguna. In the area, they are cultivating corn, sugar & coffee so you can see local working.  In 30 minutes, you got from 1600 m to 1150 m high on a steep path that can get really muddy when it’s raining. We were lucky that the weather had been quite dry before we arrived! Then we still had an hour walk on planned land to get to Laguna. When there is some sun, the water appears emerald and really clear. It's beautiful!

La Laguna is 4 km2 of turquoise water. You can only see a small part of the Laguna and for the rest you need to go by boat. They have 4 cabanas with 4 beds each where tourists can spend a night & visit the Laguna by boat the next day. 

We enjoyed the view of the Lake while eating our cereal bars. As it's only accessible by foot, it's really calm and we could hear the birds singing.  It took us 2h30 mn to walk back to the car with one hour of hard climb. Back at the community, a cold drink was waiting for us. 
 My dad and our guide, ready to start the descent to the Lake.
 You can see the lake at the back


 Laguna Brava


our two guides in a long discussion
the cabanas where tourists can sleep for a night


2 comments:

sophia said...

Hi Claire, This is the first time I’ve visited your blog . Interesting,hope to visit the place one of these days.Congratulations for your work!Keep it up and take care.In your move abroad,be sure you are covered with an International Medical Insurance . Have a good weekend ahead.

JimmY said...

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