Poxte is a river and valley of the
Maya Mountains in
Guatemala
Guatemala ( ; ), officially the Republic of Guatemala ( es, República de Guatemala, links=no), is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico; to the northeast by Belize and the Caribbean; to the east by H ...
. The valley is noted for numerous
Maya sites such as
Ixtutz
Ixtutz () was an important Classic Period Maya city located south of Ixkun in southeastern Petén, Guatemala. Ixtutz is situated in the valley of the Poxte River in the western portion of the Maya Mountains. The site was inhabited during the Pr ...
and the
Petén Caves. The river is located on the southwest of the
Dolores Dolores, Spanish for "pain; grief", most commonly refers to:
* Our Lady of Sorrows or La Virgen María de los Dolores
* Dolores (given name)
Dolores may also refer to:
Film
* ''Dolores'' (2017 film), an American documentary by Peter Bratt
* ' ...
plateau and northwest of
Poptún, in the Guatemalan
department
Department may refer to:
* Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility
Government and military
*Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...
of
Petén. The source of the river is on the same plateau, near the villages of Boca del Monte and Santo Domingo. The river flows westwards through the hamlet of Poxte, it then disappears amongst the
karst topography
Karst is a topography formed from the dissolution of soluble rocks such as limestone, dolomite, and gypsum. It is characterized by underground drainage systems with sinkholes and caves. It has also been documented for more weathering-resistant ro ...
and resumes its course to the west. It continues westwards into the
San Juan River, which is a tributary of the
Machaquila River. The Machaquila River feeds into the
Pasión River, which flows into the
Usumacinta River and into the
Gulf of Mexico. The upper reaches of the Poxte River shares its drainage with the
Mopan River, which flows eastwards into the
Caribbean Sea.
The Poxte River Basin itself measures long and is wide. The river valley drainage is broken and confused, and the land has been largely cleared of forest in order to graze cattle. The Poxte valley includes modern settlements of Las Nuevas Delicias, La Lucha, Santo Domingo and Boca del Monte. The valley encompasses the Maya archaeological sites of Chaquix, Curucuitz, El Eden 2, Ixcoxol 1, 2 and 3, Ixtutz, La Lucha, Machaca 2, Nocsos, Nuevas Delicias 1,2 and 3, Poxte 1 and 2, San Luis Pueblito and Tesik. It also includes the cave systems of Balam Na (also known as Sebanal).
[Valdizón 2003, p.140.]
Notes
References
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{{Coord, 16, 20, N, 89, 46, W, display=title
Rivers of Guatemala
Usumacinta River