Travel Guide Uspantán

50 km east of Nebaj, on the road to Cobán, lies San Miguel de Uspantán. Its name comes from the Náhuatl "Uzpantlán", meaning "Place of walls and the gentle sparrow". It was thanks to the guides and auxiliary troops of this ethnic group from Mexico that the Spanish conquistadors discovered the territory, which they conquered in the mid-16th century. For the most part still unrestored, the Mayan ruins of the Uspantecos' ancestors date from the Preclassic period to the advent of the Gumarkaaj kingdom.8 km from the village, the cerro Xoqoneb' is considered the cradle of Mayan spirituality, where the god Ajaw, creator and shaper, is worshipped. It boasts brotherhoods and altars visited by devotees from different parts of the country. Further afield, 26 km from Uspantán, lies the welcoming hamlet of Laj Chimel, where Rigoberta Menchú was born in 1959. Against a backdrop of civil war, her struggle against the government and for human rights was rewarded with the Nobel Peace Prize in 1992. In addition, the area is covered by a thick cloud forest, where you might even catch a glimpse of a quetzal.