A Visit to Santa Ana Huista's Heart: El Resumidero

The sweet traditional marimba sounds, the church bells tolling, the aromas of home cooking recados and corn tortillas, will be our welcome present when arriving to Santa Ana Huista, a place that was highly recommended yesterday, while enjoying our coffee tour.

This municipality is located a bit more than 350 kilometers from Guatemala City and about 100 kilometers from the capital of the department, Huehuetenango.

Santa Ana Huista is surrounded by exuberant nature and amazingly, there is no need to travel far away to explore the very heart of this peaceful town: El Resumidero. 

I don't know how to translate this name; however, what I can tell you, at least to give you an idea of the meaning is that "sumidero" translates as a place where something is pushed down, the prefix "re" translates as repetitive or more than once; thus, in this case, "resumidero" is the place where the Huista River is pushed down, again, and again through a huge cave where the river literally disappears underground to reappears 4 kilometers further.

The reappearance of the river, as impressive as the disappearance, can be observed close to the cave El Limon (The Lime), located shortly after the village Cuatro Caminos. 

Not far from there, the Huista River converges with the fast-flowing Selegua River, the largest water source in Huehuetenango whose whole basin occupies almost 21% of this department territory and has played an important role in the development of the coffee industry in the region.

This border town is surrounded by extensive forests, where despite of certain degree of deforestation which has threatened several species, many Hormigo trees still can be found there. These are the trees whose wood is used for making the finest marimbas.

These forests are also home to a great fauna variety, among others, ocelots, foxes, skunks, coyotes, coati-mundi, raccoons, deers, serpents, and dozens of birds.

Recommended Book:

A Los Cuchumatanes: Poem by Juan Dieguez Olaverri

Yesterday, I received a couple of personal messages from Guatemalans living abroad, they truly touched my heart and I felt that instead of touring around, I should include in today's post this extraordinary poem, which addresses the nostalgic feelings that one experiments when thinking about our motherland while residing in faraway places.
Juan Dieguez Olaverri was born in Huehuetenango in 1813. Due to political persecution during the government of President Rafael Carrera, he lived exiled in Chiapas, Mexico, from where he used to watch the Cuchumatanes' highest peaks, which inspired him to write this beautiful poem.

Monument at the Mirador Juan Dieguez Olaverri in Los Cuchumatanes.

My sincere apologies to our travel companions who don't speak Spanish. I just couldn't translate it into English. For the rest of you who speak Spanish, I do hope you will enjoy it as is.

¡Oh cielo de mi Patria! ¡Oh caros horizontes!

¡Oh azules, altos montes; oídme desde allí!

La alma mía os saluda, cumbres de la alta Sierra,

murallas de esa tierra donde la luz yo vi!

Del sol desfalleciente a la última vislumbre,

vuestra elevada cumbre postrer asilo da;

cual débil esperanza allí se desvanece,

ya más y más fallece, y ya por fin se va.

En tanto que la sombra no embargue el firmamento,

hasta el postrer momento en vos me extasiaré;

que así como esta tarde, de brumas despejados,

tan limpios y azulados jamás os contemplé.

¡Cuán dulcemente triste mi mente se extasía,

oh cara Patria mía, en tu áspero confin!,

¡cual cruza el ancho espacio, ay Dios que me separa

de aquella tierra cara, de América el jardín!

En alas del deseo, por esa lontananza,

mi corazón se lanza hasta mi pobre hogar.

¡Oh, dulce madre mía, con cuanto amor te estrecho

contra el doliente pecho que destruyó el pesar!

¡Oh, vosotros que al mundo conmigo habéis venido,

dentro del mismo nido y por el mismo amor;

y por el mismo seno nutridos y abrigados,

con los mismos cuidados, arrullos y calor!

¡Amables compañeros, a quienes la alma infancia

en su risueña estancia jugando me enlazó

con lazo tal de flores, que ni por ser tan bello,

quitárnosle del cuello la suerte consiguió!

Entro en el nido amante, vuelvo al materno abrigo:

¡Oh cuánto pecho amigo yo siento palpitar,

en medio el grupo caro, que en tierno estrecho nudo

llorar tan sólo pudo, llorar y más llorar.

¡Oh cielo de mi Patria! ¡Oh caros horizontes!

¡Oh ya dormidos montes la noche ya os cubrió!:

adiós, oh mis amigos, dormid, dormid en calma,

que las brumas en la alma, ¡ay, ay! las llevo yo.

Zaculeu: White Earth in The Highlands

Today, I wouldn't like to sound to academic; however, please keep in mind that my only reference to guide us during this visit are academic documents,  starting with a 2007 document published by Patricia del Aguila of the Department of Anthropological, Archaeological and Historical Research of Guatemala, the book Ciudades Sagradas Mayas (Mayan Sacred Cities) published by Fundacion G&T Continental,  and some other publications, Zaculeu, the ancient capital of the Mam Maya Group, contains  several temples and structures, which show some architectural influence of the Mexican highlands, particularly from Teotihuacan.

The structures that can be seen today, date back to the Maya Post Classic Period, although the original settlement goes back to the Century V BC. There is evidence indicating that Zaculeu reached its maximum splendor between 1250 and 1524 AC, when the city was occupied by the Spaniards.

Zaculeu lies on a 4,000 sq m plateau in the mountain range Los Cuchumatanes (a Mam voice that translates as "that, which was brought together by superior force") at an altitude of almost 2,000m (6,200ft), overlooking the Selegua river, flanked by  deep ravines, with one only access on the north side. Additionally, the original city was fortified, which suggests a defensive position.

Artifacts recovered from the site include items fashioned from turquoise and metal artifacts crafted from gold, silver and copper and their alloys demonstrating the city's participation in the wider trade networks of the Postclassic Period, according to the chart suggested by Christopher Jones in 1993.
These metal artifacts were either influenced by or imported from Mexico and southern Central and South America.

The impressive and almost intact ball-court consists of the structures marked as 22 and 23, was used for the ceremonial Meso American ballgame.
It is an I-shaped sunken ball-court with sloping walls. The two structures forming the sides of the ball-court once supported buildings, now only the lower sections of their walls remain. The ball-court is oriented northwest to southeast and is 48 m (157 ft) long.

So far, let me tell you that I am impressed! Without any doubt, this place will be included in my next trip to Guatemala.