by Willy Leung
Many of you have probably never met a person from Guatemala or have little idea about its culture. Are you now wondering, where is Guatemala anyway? I bet you’ve heard the name of the country without knowing much else about it. This is usually the reaction I get when I tell people that I was born and raised in Guatemala. Guatemala, meaning “land of trees” in the Toltec-Mayan and Nahuatl languages, is a country in Central America about 25% larger than Taiwan but with only half the population, about 13 million inhabitants. In Spanish, Guatemala is known as “El país de la eterna primavera,” the land of eternal spring, and there is good reason for that definition. Spring is supposed to be the best time of the year, when the weather is neither too hot nor too cold. In fact, in many parts of Guatemala it feels like spring all year long. Guatemala has only two types of weather, the rainy season, from mid-May to mid-October, and the dry season, from November to April. But aside from its ideal weather conditions, Guatemala also offers many other attractions such as beautiful landscapes, Mayan culture, coffee beans, sugar, bananas, cardamom, and many other things. A thousand years ago the remarkable Maya civilization flourished, and its ruins still dot the landscape. The ancient Maya were one of the most highly developed societies in pre-colonial America, boasting a sophisticated calendar, astronomic observatories, and construction skills. When Spanish conquerors arrived in the 16th century, they found many cities in ruins and encountered little organized resistance. Still, isolated bands of Mayan-speaking peoples avoided Spanish control for many years. After almost three centuries as a Spanish colony, Guatemala finally won its independence in 1821. Nowadays, Spanish is the official language even though more than half of Guatemalans are descendants of indigenous Maya people. Most of them live in the western highlands and are poor subsistence farmers. By contrast, the rest of the population is known as Ladinos, mostly of mixed Mayan-Spanish ancestry. Ladinos speak Spanish and wear Western clothing, while the Maya speak some 22 indigenous languages and retain traditional dress and customs. The more urbanized Ladino population dominates commerce, government, and the military. Guatemalan society grew increasingly polarized between a Ladino upper class and Maya lower class when guerrilla groups first formed in 1960 to fight for the poor majority. Warfare between guerrillas and the government forces cost 200,000 lives and displaced half a million people. In September 1996, the government and the guerrillas agreed on terms to end their 36-year-long civil war. Nowadays, things in Guatemala are very different. The country has been rebuilding itself, many improvements have been made, and technology has progressed. Even though I grew up in Guatemala, I haven’t been able to visit all of its touristic places. Besides the Mayan ruins in the northern part of the country, there are many other places worth visiting, such as Livingston, Antigua Guatemala, and Lake Atitlán. Livingston is a town in eastern Guatemala noted for its unusual mix of Garífuna, Maya, Ladino, and Indigenous cultures. Antigua Guatemala is Guatemala’s old capital, famously known for its well preserved Spanish Baroque architecture as well as a number of spectacular ruins of colonial churches; it has also been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Lake Atitlán is the deepest lake in Central America, with three volcanoes surrounding its southern flank. One of the most famous products in Guatemala and its largest export is coffee. Guatemalan coffee is revered as one of the most flavourful and nuanced cups in the world. Guatemalan coffee varies from region to region, depending on the altitude, the soil, and the climate conditions. In some Taiwanese coffee shops you may have tasted Guatemalan coffee with names such as Antigua Guatemala, Cobán, Huehuetenango, and Atitlán, all of which are named after the regions where the coffee beans were grown. Since I’ve been living in Taiwan for almost two years and a half now, I’ve seen that the lifestyle between the two places can be quite different. In Guatemala, people don’t have hectic lives, usually taking time for almost everything, and people are very friendly and passionate. In Taiwan, life is full of activity; people move and walk very fast, and life is so busy that there’s not much time to enjoy a laid-back lifestyle. Unlike Taiwanese people who go to KTVs, in Guatemala we go out dancing with friends on the weekends. I still remember being taught how to dance since the third grade, but I’m still not very good at it. I guess that dancing is in their blood, since it has always been part of their ancestors’ culture. Guatemala is a multicultural country full of many interesting things. I hope that this introduction was able to give you some idea of the country and feel free to come and explore it! ¡Bienvenidos a Guatemala! a
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May 2024
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