Lanquín

The name Lanquín comes from the Ch'olti' word lakin, "east", so that it means "the eastern town". It was one of the communities of the Verapaz brought under Spanish rule without conquest by Dominican friars, among them Pedro de Angulo and Luis de Cáncer, and the settlement was established in 1540. Its first Catholic chapel, dedicated to San Agustín, was built in the same decade, and Saint Augustine has been the town's patron ever since. Under independent Guatemala it was counted part of the Cahabón judicial circuit in the 1825 constitution, and records treat it as a municipality from 1846, when its first mayor was Crisanto Beb, a Q'eqchi'.

In the 1950s the government declared the caves beside the town a national park for their natural beauty, and they were later raised to the status of national monument, in 1970, and national cultural heritage, in 1997. From the 1960s the area was drawn into the Franja Transversal del Norte, the northern strip that governments opened to settlement, cattle, logging and farming, created by decree in 1970.

Semuc Champey, a pickup ride south of the town, became the reason most outsiders came. It was made a natural monument in 2005, and as backpackers arrived along the shuttle routes, the town grew a ring of riverside lodges and a tourist trade that now stands beside the farming of the hills.

Lanquín is Q'eqchi' country, and life in the town is shaped by the Q'eqchi' view of nature and the cosmos. Respect for everything around, the plants and animals above all, is its basic principle, though that principle is under pressure from outside influences. Trust matters more than paperwork: agreements and business deals often rest on a person's word, and punctuality, cleanliness and respect are what earn it.

Around two-thirds of people are counted as Catholic, and evangelical congregations have grown steadily in recent years. Older beliefs remain: there are two recognised Maya altars in the municipality, one in the Lanquín caves and one at Semuc Champey, and the elders are believed to know of others they keep to themselves. The caves have long been treated as a threshold to the underworld.

The great event of the year is the fair of San Agustín, from 24 to 28 August, with fireworks, stalls of traditional food, games for children, parades and popular dances, as in towns across Guatemala on their patron saint's day. The rest of the year the town moves between the rhythms of a Q'eqchi' market town and the comings and goings of young travellers on the shuttle circuit.

The municipality has about 16,500 people, many of them of Q'eqchi' Maya descent, spread across 208 km² of steep, forested hills around the small town centre, which sits at about 380 m. For most Q'eqchi' families food still comes from the maize fields, and the seizure of communal land and the effects of the Spanish conquest left the Q'eqchi' with long-lasting poverty.

Tourism is the other economy. Lodges, guides, pickup drivers and tuk-tuk drivers depend on the flow of visitors to Semuc Champey and the caves, and the town's bank, market and comedores serve both villagers and travellers. Tuk-tuks run around the streets late into the evening, and pickups carrying people and goods are the everyday transport on the roads out of town.

Water is a recurring issue in the valley. Hydroelectric plants on the Cahabón River leave stretches of it dry, and Q'eqchi' communities along the river have opened proceedings to have them dismantled.

Food in Lanquín is Alta Verapaz home cooking. The comedores of the town serve standard Guatemalan fare at low prices, and maize, the basis of the Q'eqchi' diet, comes to the table as tortillas. Tamales, wrapped in leaves as across Guatemala, are a food of special occasions, and stalls of traditional food are part of the August fair.

Kak'ik, a spicy red turkey soup whose name comes from the Q'eqchi' words for "red" and "hot", is made across Guatemala; the Verapaz recipe uses turkey with garlic, onion, mint and coriander, coloured with ground annatto, and the dish was declared part of the nation's intangible cultural heritage in 2007. Alta Verapaz has also been an important coffee-producing region since the 19th century.

Most travellers eat in the riverside lodges, some of which serve communal dinners in the evening, or in the small comedores in the centre. Fresh fruit and simple snacks are sold at the market and by the roadside, and cold drinks are welcome in the heat of the valley.