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Panzós
 Heading on down the Polochic valley you reach PANZÓS , the largest of the valley villages. Its name means "place of the green waters", a reference to the swam8ps that surround the river, swarming with alligators and bird life. In 1978, Panzós made the international headlines when a group of campesinos attending a meeting to settle land disputes were gunned down by the army and local police, in one of the earliest and most brutal massacres of General Lucas García's military regime. García had a personal interest in the matter, since he owned over 300 square kilometres of land around Panzós. The event is generally regarded as a landmark in the history of political violence in Guatemala, after which the situation deteriorated rapidly. Over 100,000 people attended a protest rally in Guatemala City after news of the massacre broke.
Getting to Panzós is straightforward: ten daily buses from Cobán pass through the town en route to El Estor, while two daily buses and sporadic pick-ups leave Panzós for the uphill struggle to Cahabón, from where it's easy to continue to Lanquín and Semuc Champey. Beyond Panzós the road pushes on towards Lago de Izabal, passing a huge, deserted
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