Finca El Baul

George And Audrey DeLange

We begin our journey to El Baul, Guatemala by first considering: SANTA LUCIA COTZUMALGUAPA - population 24,000 elevation 356m About l00 km east of Retahuleu is the unexciting but historically important town of Santa Lucia Cotzumalguapa. In the sugarcane fields and fincas near town stand great stone heads carved with grotesque faces and fine relief scenes. The question of who carved these ritual objects, and why, remains a mystery. The local people are descended from the Pipil, an Indian culture known to have historic, linguistic and cultural links with the Nahuatl-speaking peoples of central Mexico. In Early Classic times, the Pipil grew cacao, the 'money' of the time. They were obsessed with the Mayan/Aztec ball game and with the rites and mysteries of death. Pipil art, unlike the flowery and almost romantic style of the Maya, is cold, grotesque and severe, but it's finely done. What were these 'Mexicans' doing in the midst of Maya territory? How did they get here and where did they come from? Archaeologists do not have the answers. Orientation Santa Lucia Cotzumalguapa is northwest of the Carretera al Pacifico. In its main square, several blocks from the highway, are copies of some of the famous carved stones found in the region. Several basic hotels and restaurants are available in town. The main archaeological sites to visit are: Finca Bilbao on the outskirts of town; Finca El Baul, a large plantation farther from town, at which there are two sites (a hilltop site and the finca headquarters); and Finca Las Ilusiones, which has collected most of its findings into a museum near the finca headquarters. Of these sites, Bilbao and the hilltop site at El Baul are far and away the most interesting. If you don't have a car and you want to see the sites in a day, haggle with a taxi driver in Santa Lucia's main square. It's cloyingly hot and the sites are several kilometers apart, so you'll be really glad you rode at least part of the way. If you do it a1l on foot and by bus, pack a lunch; the hilltop site at El Baul is perfect for a picnic. We used Clark Tours, they were reasonable and the guide was excellent. They took all of the work and worry out of the trip. We will explain some of the photos, but no attempt will be made to explain many of our pictures of the objects on display.