Iximche in Chimaltenango in Guatemalan’s Western highlands is the site of a once great Mayan metropolis. Now a popular ruins with Guatemalan and international tourists (25Q entrance fee - about 2.5 Euro or $3) the site, though not as artistically rich as Copan in Honduras, remains strikingly impressive.
In addition to Iximche’s central importance to local Maya history, the first Spanish Capital of Guatemala was founded just over a kilometer away before being moved to what is now Ciudad Vieja in 1527 (with subsequent natural disasters moving the site of the capital first to Antigua and then to the current capital Guatemala City).
I visited this site recently as an afternoon excursion from Santa Cruz De Balanya. While there, I was curious to know what was the nature of an intriguing Maya religious ceremony that was being conducted on the site. A quick read of the Wikipedia entry about Ixmiche indicates that what I witnessed may be a purification ritual to cleanse the site after the 2007 visit of George Bush. The Maya really do know how to make a telling political point.
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