On this beautiful but cold Sunday I decided to go to Retalhuleu to visit the "nearby" archaeological site of Takalik Abaj.
From Quetzaltenango, I had to take three different transports to arrive there and it took only about 3 hours. It's not that much for a Sunday :D
The funny thing is that the vegetation was really different. In Quetzaltenango at about 2300 meters high, the vegatation is mainly pines and plants that can stand the cold. Yes it is really cold by night about 5 degrees yesterday night. However in Retalhuleu, only 50 km away from Quetzaltenango, but only 240 meters high, the vegetation is back to subtropical and the heat was back as well (I was sweating again)
So I went first to Takalik Abaj, it's not a big site. Well it was a big site but what is left is sadly not really big. Only a part of the site is visible as some of the ruins are on some Finca's properties (a finca is like a farm with plantation of fruits and vegetables : in that case it is coffee plantation). The interesting thing was that this site has received different influences because it has been occupied for around 2000 years (Olmec and Mayan influences).
I also saw some local animals that the archaeological park take care of.
After my visit to the site of Takalik Abaj, I went back to Retalhuleu where I have had my lunch and took back my bus to Xela.
This post should have been posted yesterday but I fell asleep in front of my computer before finishing it...
From Quetzaltenango, I had to take three different transports to arrive there and it took only about 3 hours. It's not that much for a Sunday :D
The funny thing is that the vegetation was really different. In Quetzaltenango at about 2300 meters high, the vegatation is mainly pines and plants that can stand the cold. Yes it is really cold by night about 5 degrees yesterday night. However in Retalhuleu, only 50 km away from Quetzaltenango, but only 240 meters high, the vegetation is back to subtropical and the heat was back as well (I was sweating again)
So I went first to Takalik Abaj, it's not a big site. Well it was a big site but what is left is sadly not really big. Only a part of the site is visible as some of the ruins are on some Finca's properties (a finca is like a farm with plantation of fruits and vegetables : in that case it is coffee plantation). The interesting thing was that this site has received different influences because it has been occupied for around 2000 years (Olmec and Mayan influences).
I also saw some local animals that the archaeological park take care of.
After my visit to the site of Takalik Abaj, I went back to Retalhuleu where I have had my lunch and took back my bus to Xela.
This post should have been posted yesterday but I fell asleep in front of my computer before finishing it...
The site Takalik Abaj seems really amazing ... well from my point of view
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