Traveling on a bumpy road across the continents: The hidden treasures of northern Huehuetenango: Mayan Painting & Hoyo Cimarron

Around Finca Chacula there are many beautiful places to discover than not many people have to the opportunity to see while visiting Guatemala.

The first day of our stay, we drove an hour from the Finca to see some very old Mayan paintings. As they are on a private property, you can’t go on your own. Even if you wished you would not be able to find them as they are well hidden. We had to wait for an hour for our local guide to arrive as the guide from the Finca did not call him before to warn him of our arrival. By the time we started walking it was 11 am, so very hot & sunny. The path is rocky and with not much shade, so one better leaves early! But the walk was worth it as we saw the Maya paintings not many had the opportunity to see. Unfortunately, nothing has been done to protect them and some modern graffiti are decorating the wall. Nobody really knows how old they are as a specialist would need to come to study and as our guide said, that cost money.

Entrance fees are 20 Quetzales per person and the guide is 80 Quetzales for the group.

In the afternoon, we left my mum & Logan at the Finca and went to the Hoyo Cimaron with my dad. 20 minutes by car followed by 1 hour walk and you get to the impressive hole. The path to get there has been restored not a long time ago but it was done at Guatemalan way, it’s better to walk on the side than actually on the path. The Cimarron is a huge hole of limestone rock, perfectly round and has a diameter of approximately 200 meters and a height of 150 meters.

On the edges of the Cimarron, the climate is relatively dry, with particular vegetation. At the bottom of the Cimarron however, moisture is evident, possibly because of the underground streams (there is a nearby lagoon and one at several kilometers) and features a green forest, totally different from the trees to the ground level.

There is a legend about the Hoyo that said that the first owner of the Finca Chacula was very rich and was exploiting the people. The Mexican Zapata heard about him and came to kill him. But the owner hearing the rumor fled with 3 donkeys carrying the entire god he had. They were trapped at the border of the hoyo and he thought that if the god was not for him it will be for anybody else. So he pushed the donkey into the Hoyo and jumped after them. So it’s believed that there is god in the Hoyo.

Entrance fee is 10 Quetzales per person, parking is 10 Quetzales and the guide is 80 Quetzales for the group but this is very easy to do it on your own if you know where the parking is.