Guatemala Guide
The western highlands
The ruins of Utatlán (K'umarkaaj)
Early in the fifteenth century, riding on a wave of successful conquest, the K'iche' king Gucumatz (Feathered Serpent) founded a new capital, K'umarkaaj. A hundred years later the Spanish arrived, renamed the city Utatlán, and then destroyed it. Today the ruins (daily 8am–5pm; US$6.50) can be visited, about 4km to the west of Santa Cruz del Quiché.
Utatlán is nowhere near as grand as the large ruins of Petén, but its dramatic setting, surrounded by deep ravines and pine forests, is impressive, and its historical significance intriguing. Little restoration has taken place since the Spanish destroyed the city, and only a few of the main structures are recognizable, most buried beneath grassy mounds and shaded by pine trees. The small museum has a scale model of what the original city may once have looked like.
The central plaza is almost certainly where Alvarado burned the two K'iche' leaders alive in 1524. Nowadays it's where you'll find the three remaining temple buildings, the great monuments of Tohil, Auilix and Hacauaitz, which were simple pyramids topped by thatched shelters. The Temple of the Sovereign Plumed Serpent once stood in the middle of the plaza, but these days just the foundations of this circular tower can be made out. The only other feature that's still vaguely recognizable is the ball court, which lies beneath grassy banks to the south of the plaza.
Perhaps the most interesting thing about the site today is that costumbristas (Maya religious practitioners) still come here to perform sacred rituals that predate the arrival of the Spanish by thousands of years. The entire area is covered in small burnt circles – the ashes of incense – and chickens are regularly sacrificed in and around the plaza.
Beneath the plaza, a long constructed tunnel runs underground for about 100m. Follow the sign for la cueva; the entrance is usually littered with empty incense wrappings and aguardiente liquor bottles. Inside are nine shrines, the same number as there are levels of the Maya underworld, Xibalbá. Devotees pray at each shrine, but it is the ninth one, housed inside a chamber, that is most actively used for sacrifice, incense and alcohol offerings.
To get to Utatlán from Santa Cruz del Quiché, you can either catch a bus heading to Totonicapán, walk, or take a taxi (around US$12 return trip, with an hour at the ruins). It's a pleasant forty-minute stroll, heading south from the plaza along 2 Avenida, then turning right down 10 Calle, which will take you all the way out to the site.