Due to the influence of the Sierra de las Minas and the Sierra de Chuacœs, Baja Verapaz has six areas of life with great biodiversity and different weather conditions. Its eight towns: Salamá, Purulhá, San Jerónimo, San Miguel Chicaj, Rabinal, Cubulco and Granados, possess different ecological and cultural characteristics that make them attractive places to move away from the bustle of the city.

For those who like nature and enjoy the small but magnificent details that it offers, Baja Verapaz has forests that go from dry thorny to cloudy.

To promote the tourism, the conservation of the natural resources and the improvement of the local economy of the region, the Tourism Union of Alta and Baja Verapaz have carried out a series of projects, for some time now, among which we can cite the Second Fair of Ecotourism in the Verapaces. The last time, it was carried out in Salamá.

During this fair, organized by the Tourism Union of Baja Verapaz, diverse educational, cultural and commercial activities, as the round of business, took place. Also, there were exhibitions and sales, folkloric representations, conferences and shops with environmental education. There was also gastronomy from the region with the delicious kaq ik (a regional turkey soup), exhibitions of pictures and regional crafts, orchids, medicinal plants, raw material used for Creole crafts, as well as ecological and cultural tours.

These trips are varied and they allow knowing and come closer to people of the communities, enjoying the customs of the place and the contrast of nature.

This path invites to walk through the mountains with thorny vegetation, full of cactus and bushes like the barba de viejo (Cephalocercus maxolii rose) and natural incense bonsai, going by several vantage points that allow you to appreciate the valleys of Salamá, San Miguel Chicaj and the Canyon of Comalapa.

The trip can be carried out by foot or by horse. The second option is the most exciting one. It doesn't mater if one has or not, experience in mounting a horse, the guides help the visitor so that they can enjoy the ride. At the beginning you can see El Calvario and later on you will see the tejeras, which are old crafts, characteristic of the region.

La barba de viejo is appreciated through out the whole ascending journey. This is an endemic species that is found from El Progreso to the Verapaces in the Valley of the Motagua River. Some of them are more than a hundred years old. It is curious to admire so many cacti in Salamá when it is up to 900 meters high.

You can make a stop to rest and observe the valley of Salamá from the vantage point under the shade of a Ceiba that was planted in 1942. There is a chapel that was built in the colonial time. Two round pillars are the only additions to it, which were built in 1950. Inside the chapel is a small altar with three crosses. It is generally used for the celebration of the Day of Santa Cruz (Day of the Holy Cross), on May 3. Although, also on other times of the year, religious rites are carried out in this hill.

According to Jorge Luis Ramírez, the guide that accompanied us during the whole journey, when the Spanish friars tried to implement the cult to the cross, they looked for a relationship that allowed them to facilitate the process. It coincided with the fact that Mayans celebrated their festivities in honor to Chac, god of the rain, when the summer solstice arrived. Through these festivities they requested him that there would be good rains as the rainy season arrived.

The Spaniards believed that they had been able to substitute this cult for the Day of the Cruz, but so far, the crosses for the cult of May 3 are painted of green and adorned with flowers, the same way as the crosses of palojiote, which originally represented the god Chac. For that reason, this celebration is important among the indigenous communities.

This hill has been sacred in the culture of the region's inhabitants. During Colonial times, people didn't ascend it because they considered it charmed. It was said that the goblin who owned the hill show up here and there. Later, with the desire of putting an end to those myths, the Spaniards placed the first cross. The legend says that every time they put up a cross, the next day it would be found laying on the floor of the atrium of the church in Salamá. Finally a friar decided to make a complete ceremony of blessing and they placed a bigger cross. This was the only way that the cross remained in its place. The one that can be seen nowadays is from the 60's.

If you continue down the road, you will arrive to a mountain that is part of the Sierra de Chuacœs and it is characterized for being a refuge for migratory birds. In the winter a lagoon is formed to which ducks and birds arrive, but in any other time of the year you can appreciate different types of birds and a diversity of orchids.

The journey to the mountain is of almost two hours long, either by foot or by horse. To arrive to the Santa Cruz's vantage point takes half the time.

A note of gratitude to: Tourism Union of Baja Verapaz, Jorge Luis Ramírez, Ecoverapaz and the legendary Hotel Real.