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 TIKAL by vaticanus
See what I mean in the brief excerpt below:
"The imagination reels. There are reliefs, pyramids, temples in the extinguished city. The damp murmur of the arroyos, voices, crepitations of the intertangling vines, the sound of flapping wings, trickle into the immense sea of silence. Everything palpitates, breathes, exhausting itself in green above the vast roof of Peten."
Miguel Angel Asturias, The Mirror of Lida Sal: Tales Based on Mayan Myths & Guatemalan Legends, p. 13-14. Leave a Comment
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Exchange Your Foreign Currency Early in the Day
The exchange rate for the Quetzal (Guatemala's currency) is calculated once a day by the central bank in Guatemala City. This is done around 3 PM. What this means for you is that many banks will refuse to change traveler's checks after 3 PM. Why? They are waiting to hear what the new rate is from Guatemala City.
Also know that not all banks handle foreign currency.
IMPORTANT: ALWAYS ask for small bills and One Quetzal coins while at the bank. Getting large bills exchanged for smaller denominations is difficult on the street! Even a 20 Quetzal bill will cause problems.
IMPORTANT: The exchange window at Aurora Airport in Guatemala is not dependable for hours open or availability of dollars if you are selling Quetzales. If you can, buy a few Quetzales at your departure airport before you enter Guatemala- especially if you will arrive at night.
Checking out the armament of the bank guards- usually some kind of shotgun- fearsome short barrel pump action models are popular- with extra cartridges worn bandolier style.
WARNING!!! YOU CAN GET INTO SERIOUS TROUBLE TAKING PHOTOS OF BANKS OR INSIDE BANKS! Leave a Comment
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 Seat of your pants descent by vaticanus
Before you get too far up-
Take a good look behind you and weigh your ability to negotiate your descent.
The Maya were not very tall and you can see here (click photo and notice my shoe at the lower left) that the width of the step is maybe 10 cm (about 4 inches)
The view looking up from the bottom is deceiving and you'll discover it is dizzingly different looking down from the top.
The Maya bound their prisoners and pushed them from the summit to bounce down to their deaths-
This shot is from IXIMCHE which is on the Pan American Highway about 20 kilometers east of Solola/Panajachel. See the travelogue on my GUATEMALA home page. Leave a Comment
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 Santa Lucia Cotzumalguapa by vaticanus
THE BILLBOARD above for Belmont cigarettes is typical of the advertising campaigns that blanket the roads nation-wide with light skinned and scantily clad women with marketing messages aimed at Westernized Ladino men.
THE UPPER of the two painted notices (apparently more effective than the prohibition on urinating) prohibits drivers (other than Luciano's) from parking their trucks and buses here.
*** I have heard claims that in Mexico this custom is a right written into the Constitution (!) Non-citizens may not have the same freedom as citizens. Leave a Comment
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 National Flag by Ken_Weaver
The Flag contains the coat of arms with a green and red quetzal bird and a scroll. That bird is a national symbol and can be more easily found in the Petén region to the north.
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 La Vista from San Marcos. by La_Canchita
The posada I stayed in while in San Marcos creates the greatest memories I have of that place. I stayed there a few times and it was amazing everytime. I guess I would say my fondest memory was when Steve and I sent there for the weekend just to 'get away from it all.' (I was living,at the time, in Guatemala in a small town called Mazatenango-not recommended for visiting...). I had so much fun there, and in the evening, after an amazing dinner, we went a layed on the docks. There are these trees that kinda loom over the docks, and at night there are fire flies in them. That night there must have been a billion. It looked like christmas lights that were twinkling all over through the trees, it truely was breathtaking. (then we managed to catch one....).
I must add that the people of San Marcos are as precious as the place itself. There are always small boys playing around the dock, willing to take you to a posada (of which there are 3) or just talk to you. They speak Spanish and their Mayan language, which they love to teach to passers-by. I had many good laughs trying to learn and remember what they taught me, and theyt hought it was great. Leave a Comment
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All of this exists against the nagging background of Guatemala's turbulent and bloody history. Over the years, the huge gulf between the rich and the poor, between indigenous and ladino culture and the political left and right has produced bitter conflict. With the signing of the 1996 peace accords between the government and the ex-guerrillas, the armed confrontation has ceased and things have calmed down considerably, though many of the country's deep-rooted inequalities remain. At the heart of the problem is the red-hot issue of land reform – it's estimated that close to seventy percent of the cultivable land is still owned by less than five percent of the population. There is also a chronic lack of faith in the corrupt and inept justice system, which has led to a wave of public lynchings of suspected criminals across the country. At the same time the economy was destabilized badly by Hurricane Mitch in 1998 and is still chronically weak. Guatemala remains heavily dependent on the export of coffee, sugar and bananas and has very little industry except the foreign-owned maquila factories which produce goods for export and typically pay their assembly-line workers under US$5 for a twelve-hour day. Poverty levels are some of the worst in the hemisphere and there's general discontent with the high cost of living.
Despite these structural inequalities, you'll find that most Guatemalans are extraordinarily courteous, and eager to help a lost foreigner catch the right bus or find the local post office. Guatemalans tend to be less extrovert than other Central Americans and are quite formal in social situations. Many will automatically assume you are wealthy, since very few Guatemalans ever get to visit another country. Though you may hear complaints about rising prices, endemic corruption and the lack of decent jobs, this is not to say that Guatemalans are not patriotic and sensitive to criticisms from outsiders. Leave a Comment
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Spread across a verdant and mountainous chunk of land, Guatemala is endowed with simply staggering natural, historical and cultural interest. Though the giant Maya temples and rainforest cities have been long abandoned, ancient traditions remain very much alive throughout the Guatemalan highlands. Uniquely in Central America, at least half the country's population is still Native American, and this rural indigenous culture is far stronger than anywhere else in the region. Countering this is a powerful ladino society, characteristically urban and commercial in its outlook. All over the country you'll come across remnants of Guatemala's colonial past, nowhere more so than in the graceful former capital, Antigua.
It's this outstanding cultural legacy, combined with Guatemala's mesmeric natural beauty, that makes the country so compelling for the traveller. The Maya temples of Tikal would be magnificent in any arena but set inside the pristine jungle of the Maya Biosphere Reserve, with attendant toucans and howler monkeys, they are bewitching. Similarly, the genteel cobbled streets and plazas of colonial Antigua gain an extra dimension from their proximity to the looming volcanoes that encircle the town. This architectural wealth is scattered to a lesser degree throughout the country – almost every large village or town boasts a giant whitewashed colonial church and a classic Spanish-style plaza. Though most of the really dramatic Maya ruins lie deep in the jungles of Petén, interesting sites are scattered throughout the land, along the Pacific coast and in the foothills of the highlands. Leave a Comment
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The diversity of the Guatemalan landscape is astonishing. Perhaps most obviously arresting is the chain of volcanoes (some still smoking) that divides the flat, steamy Pacific coast from the cool air and pine trees of the largely indigenous western highlands, with their green, sweeping valleys, tiny cornfields, gurgling streams and sleepy traditional villages. Further east towards the Caribbean, the scenery and the people have more of a tropical feel and at Lívingston, life beside the mangrove and coconut trees swings to reggae rhythms and punta rock.
The rainforests of Petén, among the best preserved in Latin America, harbour a tremendous array of wildlife, including jaguars, tapirs, spiders, howler monkeys, jabiru storks and scarlet macaws. Further south, you may be lucky and catch a glimpse of the elusive quetzal in the cloudforests close to Cobán or see manatee in the Río Dulce. On the Pacific coast three types of sea turtle nest in the volcanic sand beaches of Monterrico. Leave a Comment
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 by jio
This is a near to exploration as you get on Central America. Leave a Comment
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