Highlands Trek, Day 2 - Ixtahuacán to Xiprián

The next morning we wasted no time in peeling our aching bodies off the hard floor and packing up our stuff. At the local comedor (small restaurant), local Mayan women graciously fixed us a breakfast of rice, beans and eggs, as well as café - which we learned doesn't necessarily mean coffee but rather, referring to the most literal translation of the word, brown water. It's interesting to note that Guatemala produces some of the best coffee in the world, but the native population has little to no interest in it.

We continued on along the gravel road that had brought us into the village the night before. Now it edged upwards along the side of a mountain, and around the bend, it revealed our next task: scaling a short but steep hill...in record time!

The fastest recorded time this hill had been climbed was by a native Guatemalan who completed it in approximately nine and a half minutes. A handful of the men in our group decided to pit their bodies and backpacks against the fastest of the fast. While the fastest in our group clocked in at just over 11 minutes, Matt clocked in at just over 12 minutes. Not too shabby!

(Tara was "close behind" - but no less victorious - at approximately 25-30 minutes)

Panting furiously at the top of the small climb, we paused for a break before continuing upward for the next hour. This was the most grueling "uphill" of the trek, made somewhat more intense by the sun, which had long burnt off the morning clouds and was now shining in full force.

From this vantage point, we could see the highest point of the Pan-American Highway (10,334 feet)

Finally the terrain leveled off and we continued onward through more Mayan villages, across beautiful farmlands with checkered fields of green and gold.

After a lunch of rice, black beans and avocados, we hiked on for several more hours, arriving at late afternoon at the house of Don Pedro in the Maya village of Xiprián (ship-ree-AHN). He had prepared licuados (smoothies) of strawberry and pineapple for his weary guests, which was soon followed by a delicious meal of grilled chicken, tomalitos, rice, beans and vegetables.

After some brief entertainment round the family's outdoor fire, we tucked away in a large spare room of the family's house where another night of "sleep" awaited us.