To visit the other two towns in the Ixil triangle, it's best to time your visit to coincide with market days , when there's more traffic around: Cotzal is on Wednesday and Saturday; Chajul on Tuesday and Friday; and Nebaj on Sunday. Buses run to an irregular schedule, but on Sunday transport returns to both Cotzal and Chajul from Nebaj after 10am. Pick-ups supplement the buses. Look out too for aid-agency and MINUGUA (United Nations) 4WDs. It's certainly possible to visit both towns in one day from Nebaj if you get an early start.

SAN JUAN COTZAL is closer to Nebaj, up to an hour and a half away, depending on the state of the road. The town is set in a gentle dip in the valley, sheltered some what beneath the Cuchumatanes and often wrapped in a damp blanket of mist. Cotzal attracts very few Western travellers, so you may find that many people assume you're an aid worker or attached to an evangelical church.

Intricate turquoise huipiles are worn by the Maya women in Cotzal, who also weave bags and rope from the fibres of the maguey plant. There's little to do in the town itself but there is some great hill-walking close by. If you want to stay , there's a small and very basic unmarked pensión called Don Polo (US$5-10) two blocks from the church, or you may find the farmacia in the corner of the plaza will rent you a room. For eating , the La Maguey restaurant, housed in someone's front room a block behind the church, serves up reasonable, if bland, food. Buses should return to Nebaj daily at 6am and 1am; at other times you'll have to hitch.

Last but by no means least of the Ixil settlements is CHAJUL . Made up almost entirely of old adobe houses, with wooden beams and red-tiled roofs blackened by the smoke of cooking fires, it is also the most determinedly traditional and least bilingual of the Ixil towns. The women of Chajul wear earrings made of old coins strung up on lengths of wool and dress entirely in red, filling the streets with colour - you'll see them washing their scarlet cortes and huipiles at the stream that cuts through the middle of the village. Here boys still use blowpipes to hunt small birds, a skill that dates from the earliest of times but is now little used elsewhere.

The colonial church, a massive structure with huge wooden beams and gold leaf decoration, is home to the Christ of Golgotha and the target of a large pilgrimage on the second Friday of Lent, a particularly good time to be here. If you want somewhere to stay for the night, the Hospedaje Cristina (up to US$5) initially looks a pretty depressing option, though the upstairs rooms are OK; alternatively, there's the basic but clean Hospedaje Esperanza (up to US$5), close to the church. Some local families also rent out beds in their houses to the steady trickle of travellers now coming to Chajul; you won't have to look for them, they will find you; alternatively, ask at the post office, where one of the workers rents out rooms.

A number of unscheduled trucks bump along the two-hour route between Nebaj and Chajul, and on market days (Tues & Fri) there are regular morning buses from 4am. Return buses leave at 11.30am and 12.30pm, and there's usually a truck at 3.30pm (you'll share the covered trailer with firewood and vegetables - not recommended for anyone who is claustrophobic.) You can also walk here from San Juan Cotzal, two to three hours away through the spectacular Ixil countryside. Follow the unpaved road that branches off to the main Nebaj-Cotzal road just before you enter Cotzal. The final uphill part of the walk is quite tough, especially if the sun is shining.