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Ok this is going to be a bit of a marathon ….. but I hope it is worth the read! I certainly had a great time and learned a lot and experienced things that simply would not have been possible elsewhere!

Las Conchas - Alta Verapaz

Ooops! Where did the road go?

I have spent the last few days in Alta Verapaz and now realise just how dramatically beautiful Guatemala is! Climbing up through the cloud line, passing through forests, and using roads that are liable to collapse and landslides. And with Guatemala being so poor, the roads are a sign of the economic situation. But, I am still in one piece! I also have to say that some of the roads in Guatemala are some of the best I have ever travelled on! And when you are passing through jaw dropping scenery it is a comfort.

El Calvario - Coban

“In ancient times, Alta Verapaz was part of the heartland of the Mayan Civilization. When the Spanish invaded and conquered the Mayans, they were repeatedly repulsed by fierce Mayan warriors in this region now called Alta Verapaz. The Catholic Church suggested that a peaceful approach might be more successful than armed invasions. This was tried and was successful, hence the name Verapaz (true peace) for Baja (lower) and Alta (upper) Verapaz commemorates the peaceful way this area was subdued by the Spanish invaders.” The Dominican Friar Bartolomé de Las Casas (1484-1566) Defender of the Indians was the instigator of this peaceful approach.

Beautiful Colonial Coban

The area around Coban in Alta Verapaz is also where German settlers started the coffee growing business in Guatemala in the late 19th century. Coffee is still a big business and the German influence can be seen in various ways, especially in Coban. Alta Verapaz is home to the famous tourist attraction at Semuc Champey. In 1941 the USA forced the government of Guatemala to evict all the Germans from Guatemala because of their open support for Hitler. Many house around Coban are of a distinctly alpine design!

Ugly Modern Coban - The bandstand! Hides the Cathedral nicely!

There is so much I could write but I am going to restrict myself to some key themes.

“Qua Mek” is Qeq’chi for Don Miguel or, if you like Mr. Michael. Q’eq’chi is the mayan language spoken as the principle language in this part of Guatemala. Alta Verapaz is the heartland of Mayan culture and it is noticeable in many aspects of life here. Not least in the fact that there are far fewer lighter skinned and taller people who are the product of the Hispanic invasion! Also tourists are few and far between! Coban is a small yet bustling city, with narrow streets and many hills! I loved it for the sheer mismash of architecture, and general higgle-di-pigglety-ness of it all!

Chipi-chipi is Q’eq’chi for drizzle, and drizzle is what you get in abundance in this high hills and mountains as a result the tropical forests abound in orchids, bromiliades and the climate is perfect for the growing of coffee, cardomon, tea, teak, rubber and of course everywhere there is Maize. The land is often enveloped in cloud and with all this rain there are rivers, and waterfalls galore!

During my time in Alta Verapaz I was with my, now friend, Marvin and I have the pleasure to meet his family and business associates. And as is typical in more rural parts things tend to happen spontaneously, so a lunch we had turned into a trip to visit a new ECO attraction being built by Juan a business colleague of Marvin’s which in turn became an invitation for Juan to come to Chahal with Marvin and I to visit Marvin’s hotel and his new project at Las Conchas. Which in turn, became a day of sawing up wood for the construction of the ECO restaurant, which led to swinning atlas Conchas, catching fish at a fish farm and eating said fish to a traditional Mayan recipe! Fortunately for me, I am sufficiently laid-back to not let this spontaneity got to me (too much!)

So, all this is by way of introduction.

First food! Kak-ik!

Kak ik!

Senora Felice demonstrating how to open a tamale

Slow cooking - it doesn't come more authentic!

The stove of the caldos!

The quirky "casa de los caldos"

Wow! Kak-ik is a caldo, and a caldo is a cross between a stew and a soup! Kak-ik is turkey and “bacon” it is incredible, a little bit spicy (picante) but luscious and is eaten with rice and tamales. One the way to visit Chahal where Marvin has his hotel, he took me to the restaurant of a friend of his (and the whole weekend changed). Senora Felice has been working in the “Casa de las Caldos” all her life and is using the recipes established by her mother who started the restaurant. It is the epitomy of all the slow food movement stands for! The caldos are cooked on wood burning “stoves” and take their own time to cook! There is no menu to speak of as people come to Casa de Las Caldos for one of the three or four dishes constantly on the menu (nothing else is served!) Senora Felice, salts and smokes her own bacon and slaughters and preares the turkeys, so it is all very authentic!

My Kak-ik arrived and I was transported to food heaven. Senora Felice was amazed at the fact that I quite happily followed tradition and added generous amounts of “picante” [ground up, dried, explosive, “chiles cobano”] to my caldo and enjoyed every minute especially as it was washed down with pure cacao – the drink of the Mayan gods! Think strong hot chocolate made with cacao, sugar and water mmmmmmm!

The restaurant is completely eccentric, shelves of old pots and pans, radios, pictures, old machinery line the edge of the dining area. Tables are just pulled up as needed, there is an ancient marimba which is played every Sunday and surrounding the restaurant a garden which again is simple organic in its layout! I loved it!

Enjoy a mug of Cacao- the drink of the Mayan Gods!

Senora Felice invited Marvin and I into the kitchen so I could see the stoves and see how a caldo was cooked ….. 2 hours ~and many cups of cacao and samples of everything on the menu~ later, having met Juan (Felice’s husband) we had somehow agreed to go and see Juan’s new project of an Eco hotel and “caving” experience.

The hills/montanas outside Coban

Well the journey up into the mountains took about 45 minutes, 30 of which was on a “non-road” a 4 x 4 would have been perfect but eventually we arrived at Juan’s place, which is due to open in 1 month! Well, Juan had bought about 30 – 40 acres of land, consisting of 3 or 4 hills, valleys and forest. He has cleared a lot of the forest and replanted it with native flora, put in paths, and trails and started the construction of the “cabins” which will form the hotel! The highpoint was the opportunity to “explore” his caves.

Juan's project

The path to a cave "Cueva"

At the cave entrance with Juan

He has four cave systems on his land, they are all unexplored and un-charted! He has cleared one sufficiently that people can visit it (however it needs a lot more work) so, armed with ropes, boots, safety helmets, protective wetsuits, lamps, ladders, walkie-talkies and all the safety paraphernalia required we started off! Stop, this is Guatemala …….. try again, so armed with nothing but a torch each we started off. I was soon so amazed by the sights of underground pools rivers, stalactites and stalagmites (the mites go up and the tights come down) that I simply forgot to be afraid of the fact that here I was in a virtually unexplored cave system with nothing but a torch ……. We probably went about 400 yards into the system and it is obvious tat the system of caves is vast, you could see other caves branching of in all directions, and with the river and pools it would be a speleologists dream! I decided that when we got to what was a VERY steep set of makeshift steps going down into a black hole I decided that we(I) had probably gone far enough! Once we got back to he surface I put on my “consultants” hat and gave Juan a few ideas about making the attraction a little more “user friendly”.

Exploring we will go! Whose bright idea was this?

Too much for my poor flash - but you get the idea!

Relief - written all over my face - after cave number 2.

I was rewarded by an offer to view another cave system which has not even stared to be developed but which was the source for the water used on the property. Fortunately I only had to clamber in virtual darkness for about 100 yards to see the underground spring!

So excited was Marvin to see what is possible that he mentioned to Juan that the land he had purchased at Las Conchas also had a mountain and also had a cave or two! That was enough to get Juan very eager to visit, so he was invited to join the trip, he contributed a chain saw, as Marvin thought we would take the opportunity to saw up a tree he had bought! (Before you even think it, forget safety goggles, gloves and all that Health and Safety stuff) ……. The mountains in this part of Guatemala are like Swiss cheese and simply full of caves, you see entrances to caves just about on every rock face and hillside. They are interesting for the fact that many have been used by the Maya for thousands of years, in one of Juan’s caves we saw what were obviously cave pictures/etchings in the rocks, amazing! I now know what David Attenborough must feel like when exploring!

Chahal and Las Conchas

In the grounds of Marvin's hotel

Red Cocao

Marvin’s hotel is on a road which is undergoing complete transformation and once complete will provide a route directly across Guatemala from Mexico in the west to the Port of Puerto Barrios in the East. His hotel in San Fernando, Chahal is ideally placed to pick up a variety of custom from lorry drivers, to business people, to tourists. But, I want to tell you about the land he and a business partner have bought, literally next to one of the most beautiful natural attractions in Guatemala, Las Conchas. I had promised Marvin that I would do a report for him on the potential of his hotel and the property at Las Conchas and I am in the process of producing that, and won’t bore you with the details here.

With Marvin

Pensive ~ Hoping the viewing tower doesn't collapse!

Las Conchas waterfalls!

Marvin has started the construction of what will be a restaurant so that tourists to Las Conchas might have some refreshment facilities. Well anyways, we spent the morning and part of the afternoon, cutting up a tree ~ well to be truthful they did and I was in charge of putting the bits of no use in a pile for use a firewood when the kitchen is up and running!

After, all this work, the reward was swimming at Las Conchas itself. At three oclock in the afternoon we virtually had the place to ourselves! The staff, who should have charged admission etc, had long since gone home bored or just apathetic (typically of a government run attraction) so as an “extranjero” I did not have to pay the Q.35 entrance fee. All I can say is that the place was amazing as a natural beauty spot, spoiled only by the complete lack of attention given to it by the tourist board! Broken, seats, filthy and almost abandoned bungalows for overnight stays. Wooden bridges over the water have dilapidated, such a shame! But nothing can detract form the natural beauty of the place. Las Conchas (Shells) is so called because as soon as you put your hand in the gravel bottom of the pools and river you realise that what you have in your hand is not sand but fossilised shells and the every pebble contains a fossil! Incredible! Or swimming was only spoiled buy the fact that the government is building a hydro electric project on the back water of the waterfall and where we were swimming was where they were constructing a small dam! Odd swimming in clear water with a huge Caterpiller earth mover working 10 yards in front of you!

I hope that the pictures are worth a thousand words, as I think I have written enough for now, but suspect that future blogs will reflect aspects of my weekend.

Enjoy these extra fotos …...