Poxte River

Poxte is a river and valley of the Maya Mountains in Guatemala. The valley is noted for numerous Maya sites such as Ixtutz and the Petén Caves. The river is located on the southwest of the Dolores plateau and northwest of Poptún, in the Guatemalan department 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 and resumes its course 7 kilometres (4.3 mi) 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.

Map of Rio Poxte, Guatemala

The Poxte River Basin itself measures 20 kilometres (12 mi) long and is 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) 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).