Xutixtiox

Xutixtiox is an overgrown Maya ruin on a mountaintop outside of Sacapulas. It is unrestored, but there is some exposed architecture, including surviving stucco facades. To get there, take a taxi, tuk-tuk or bus to Los Trapichitos, about 5km along the highway west towards Santa Cruz del Quiché. Stop when the highway passes beside the river and climbs with an evangelical church on the right and a school on the left, just before Los Trapichitos itself. Follow a path down beside the church, and keep going amongst peasant houses until you reach the river bank. The river needs to be waded, ask locally for the best place to cross, which probably changes after every rain season (the river will be impassable during the rains). In January 2016, the best place to cross was a sandbank about 0.75km northwest along the river, just past some rapids and a sharp left-hand bend in the river, and more-or-less opposite a solitary shack on the far bank. The current is fairly strong, and crossing near the rapids is not recommended. Once across, follow the path to the right (eastwards), climbing the mountainside and gradually turning southeast onto the headland in a bend of the river. After crossing a narrow ridge, the ruins become evident, with a number of structures, including an overgrown pyramid.