In the mountains

After returning to Xela for one last night, I headed back out to the mountins first thing Monday morning.  I wasn't sure where I'd end up for the night, but a series of easy and comfortable bus rides led me to the mountain town of Nebaj.  It seemed like a good base to explore the nearby mountains and various indigenous villages.  I found a book about hiking in the Nebaj area (apparently it's a thing) though it was all in spanish.  I shelled out the $5, and picked up a copy, intent on practicing my spanish while trying to translate the thing.  Didn't really work out so well for me.

The town of Acul from above

As always, I looked for some key words that I knew, and kind of constructed the sentences around those words.  Unfortunately, I didn't really put the necessary time into translating, and I think things like "The road splits here.  To the left is a maze of trails that don't go anywhere, and to the right is the path you want" would get translated as, "The road splits here.  Take the first left and then the next right."  This resulted in what I thought would be a 5km walk to the nearby town of Acul turning into an all day expedition through surprisingly jungly mountains, culminating in me finding myself standing on top of a mountain looking straight down on Acul 2,500 feet below me.

Hurray Jungle Hiking!

Though I did spend most of the day lost, I finally got to break in my new shoes on a real, muddy, jungle hike so I didn't feel like such a dork wearing brand new looking sneakers.  It was also cool to come around a bend in the trail and see Mayan ritual sites all over the place.  Most still had active fires burning from that morning's ceremony.  I felt kind of weird taking pictures, even though I was the only one there.  Sorry.

Anyway, I wound my way down to Acul through farmer's fields that probably didn't see a lot of tourists.  All the children seemed fascinated by me, which was kind of nice, as at least I had people to ask directions of.  I made it to Acul and started walking back to Nebaj just as the afternoon rains set in.  I ducked into a nearby farmhouse, and it just so happened that they were one of the only artisanal cheese makers in all of Guatemala.  I waited out the rain for a few hours with the help of some delicious quesadillas and home made lemonade.  Once the rain finally died down, I started the 2 mile walk back to Nebaj.  This time on the right roads and trails.