"Coban was a Must Stop between Sayaxche... " a Cobán Travel Page by atufft

Coban was a must stop between Sayaxche and Uspatan. The original plan was to travel from Sayaxche to Languin, but the transport through to Languin in the Mayan Highlands was more or less broken. We couldn't even hitch a ride with some farm workers. While the distance was as the crow flies seemingly close, the actual passage of time by dirt road in the back of such a vehicle was unthinkable. So, we backtracked a bit to Raxruja and picked up a van to Coban. Coban is no great shakes as a tourist town, but it does have some scenic charm, particularly from the top of the Mayan oriented El Calvario.

I kept my ear to the radio listening to the news of the presidential election. Guatemalan politics has been know for violence, yet this election seemed to be one of the most civil contests in the country's history. The government declared that all bus transportation would be free for election day, so many private bus services promptly closed down for a day. This left us in Coban an extra day, so I continued to hike around town shooting more pictures.

We were lucky enough to have good restaurants and pleasant hotel service, which as I now understand it is based in part upon the tourism to local plantations or coffee beans and cardomum. Then, following the delay of one day due to the Guatemalan presidential elections, we boarded an overly crowded "chicken bus" destine for Uspatan and Sacapulcas. As it turned out, Coban offers the shutterbug plenty to do for a couple of days at least.