Guatemala Guide
The western highlands
The Ixil Triangle
High up on the spine of the Cuchumatanes, in a landscape of steep hills, bowl-shaped valleys and gushing rivers, is the Ixil Triangle. Here Nebaj, Chajul and Cotzal, three remote and extremely traditional towns, share a language spoken nowhere else in the country. This triangle of towns forms the hub of the Ixil-speaking region, a massive highland area that drops away towards the Mexican border and contains at least 130,000 inhabitants. These lush and rain-drenched hills are hard to reach and have proved notoriously difficult to control, and today's relaxed atmosphere of highland Maya colour and customs conceals a bitter history of protracted conflict.
The beauty of the landscape and the strength of indigenous culture in the Ixil are both overwhelming. When church leaders moved into the area in the 1970s, they found very strong communities in which the people were reluctant to accept new authority for fear that it would disrupt traditional structures, and where women were included in the process of communal decision-making. Counterbalancing these strengths are the horrors of the human-rights abuses that took place here during the civil war, which must rate as some of the worst anywhere in Central America.
Despite this terrible legacy, the fresh green hills are some of the most beautiful in the country, and the towns are friendly and accommodating, with a relaxed and distinctive atmosphere in a misty world of their own.