Zaculeu Archaeological Zone

With ravines on three sides, the late postclassic religious center Zaculeu ('White Earth' in the Mam language) occupies a strategic defensive location that served its Mam Maya inhabitants well. It finally failed, however, in 1525, when Gonzalo de Alvarado and his conquistadors laid siege to the site for two months. It was starvation that ultimately defeated the Mam. The park-like Zaculeu archaeological zone, about 200m square, is 4km west of Huehuetenango's main plaza.

A small museum at the site holds, among other things, skulls and grave goods found in a tomb beneath Estructura 1, the tallest structure at the site. Restoration by the United Fruit Company in the 1940s has left Zaculeu's pyramids, ball courts and ceremonial platforms covered by a thick coat of graying plaster. It's oddly stark and clean. Some of the restoration methods were not authentic to the buildings, but the work goes further than others in making the site look as it might have done to the Mam priests and worshipers when it was still an active religious center. What is missing, however, is the painted decoration, which must have been applied to the wet plaster as in frescoes. The buildings show a great deal of Mexican influence and were probably designed and built originally with little innovation.

Buses to Zaculeu (around US$1, 20 minutes) leave about every 30 minutes, 07:00 to 18:00, from in front of the school at the corner of 2a Calle and 7a Av. A taxi from the town center costs around US$9 one way (around US$11om the bus station). One hour is plenty of time to look round the site and museum.