Takalik Abaj

Takalik Abaj a national park in Guatemala that holds some of the early developments of the Maya civilazation. This park is still being excavated to recover some of the Maya monuments. This area was first settled around 1000 BC, its early monuments were executed in Olmec style between 800 and 400 BC. Preclassic peroid Maya-style carvings of standing rulers were beginning to replace the Olmec art. Later in the classic era some of the Maya world's most exquisite jade masks were created here.

It was fasinating to see the carvings in the rocks of animals and people. There were large stairs made of stone that lead to the altars. It is amazing that people could make something like this with out any machines. The history here is unbelievable!

Takalik Abaj is surrounded by many coffee plantations and they produce it there. After touring the park, we drove up the bumpiest rode I have ever been on in my life. It took us 15 minutes to go about a mile. However, our destination Takalik Maya Lodge was well worth it.

Our guide Walter, tooks us for a hike down, down, down a mountian to this amazing area where there was a waterfall with the clearest blue water. There we were able to relax and play in the water before climbing back up! After our hike, we headed to the resturant for a well deserved lunch. There we met up with Iris and her family.

After lunch, we had a tour of the coffee plantation. We were able to see how they make the coffee. They use a lot of water (which is every where around here). They throw the beans down some pipes. If the beans rise to the top, then those are not the good ones and they are discarded. The good beans then go into these huge trofts where they are then packaged to sell. Having a coffee finca is a lot of work!