Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
one block northeast of the plaza, with bare-bones rooms. The nicest place in town is
Hotel
Don Chico
(4aAvenida 3-65Zona1,tel. 7780-6087,$20d),wherethecomfortable rooms
havehotwater andcable TV.There'salsoundergroundparkingandanInternet access cen-
ter next door on the edge of a large parking lot bordering the hotel. Also found facing this
lot is
Restaurante El Eden
(all meals daily), which serves good Guatemalan fare as well
as pastas, sandwiches, and decent breakfasts. Another decent choice is
Restaurante Alma
Latina,
on the plaza.
The pavement ends in Soloma, the rest of the way being a fairly well-maintained dirt
road.
San Mateo Ixtatán
Continuing north, you'll pass the small village of
Santa Eulalia
before eventually arriving
in the Chuj-speaking village of San Mateo Ixtatán, perched on the side of a mountain at
2,560meters(8,400feet).Whiletheresidentsofneighboringvillagestraveltothecoastfor
seasonallabor,thoseinSanMateotendtoworktheirownlandstendingsheepandgrowing
coffee, cardamom, and grains. Like most other towns in Huehuetenango, however, a large
percentage of its men travel to the United States in search of work. Another source of local
prosperity are the community-owned salt mines. The town is well known for the produc-
tion of its exotic black salt and its very name is a derivation of the Nahuatl word Ixtatlán,
meaning “abundance of salt.”
The town's pretty
church
somewhat resembles a giant birthday cake and is supposedly
painted every year in different bright colors. I remember catching my first glimpse of its
Technicolor facade in a
National Geographic
magazine from the late 1980s, but on my re-
centvisititwaspaintedaratherunremarkablecreamandwhite.Thetraditional
huipil
worn
by San Mateo's women is one of Guatemala's finest, with concentric woven star patterns
in reds, purples, and blues that verge on the psychedelic. Some of the men still wear the
capixay,
athick,black-wool,open-sidedpullover.Thetown'sannualfiestarunsSeptember
17-21. Market days are Thursdays and Sundays.
