Verapaz Highlands Overview

No great geographic divide separates the Verapaces from the Western Highlands, though travelers will immediately sense the difference between Baja Verapaz’s unique combination of near-desert and tropical forests and the densely-forested green hills of Alta Verapaz. Cobán, the capital of Alta Verapaz and the region’s transportation hub, is a convenient base from which to explore the surrounding highlands, including Chisec, which is itself a wonderful jumping off point for numerous outdoor wonders.

The cloud-covered Alta Verapaz exists in sharp contrast with the high-pines of the highlands. It consists of limestone pockmarked with sinkholes, humid tropical forest, and mammoth caves. When oil was discovered here, the region’s first road—the Transversal del Norte—was built, and K’ekchi’ from the war-torn highlands settled the area. Today, it remains a sparsely populated agricultural frontier criss-crossed by a baffling web of routes built by the oil and cardamon industry. If you’re looking for an off-the-beaten-path adventure, a trip through the region is worth the hassle. Its magnificent natural sites, the Candelaria Caves and Parque Nacional Laguna de Lachuá, remain little touristed. Its reconstructed towns ring with K’ekchi’ and are scented with caldo de chunto, and although the region may not boast the vibrant colors of the highlands, the Maya here remain undisturbed in their traditional lifestyle. The festive towns of Salamá and Rabinal are in Baja Verapaz, near the highway from Guatemala City to Cobán.

It was the area’s long, successful resistance to the Spanish conquest that gave it the name Tuzuntohil, or “Land of War.” Thanks to Fray Bartolomé de las Casas and the Franciscan friars, however, the region has earned its present Spanish name, Verapaz, or “True Peace.” When the Fray organized a campaign in defense of the indígenas, the Spanish empire halted its military conquest and granted him five years for the “humane” conversion of the local people. The chiefs, assured that the friars were not interested in their gold and land, accepted them, and a peaceful conversion followed. By the end of the 19th century, however, the Guatemalan coffee boom had established large fincas in Verapaz, which strained available land and labor and disrupted many indigenous villages. Despite these tensions, the indígena presence in the region remains strong. Much of the native population speaks K’ekchi’ and Pokomchí; a small population in the south of the region speaks Quiché. On a practical note, it takes a while to navigate this area. Transportation is like the quetzal: elusive, and most active in the early morning.