Day 7 May 29
Part 2
We arrived in Quetzaltenango at around noon. It was here in Xelaju (
Quetzaltenango's old Quiché name) that Tecún Umán
put up a last brave but hopeless fight against the invading Spaniards.
Today, quiet colonial-style architecture, and a magnificent view of the
surrounding volcano and mountains, belie the city's violent past. The
descendants of the Quiché defenders still walk its streets, but
after centuries of ladino oppression, they are weary, malnourished shadows of their proud ancestors.
Despite its charm, Quetzaltenango did not have much of interest to the tourist. To pass the time, we drove to some nearby sulfur springs (called Fuentes Georginas), but they were already closed. However, the view of Almolonga (shown above), a neighboring small town, more than compensated for our disappointment. Guatemala is a land that strains the imagination. Cloud rainforests, pine-clad mountainsides, spectacular lakes and rivers, dense tropical jungles, semi-deserts, and fiery volcanoes crowd together in an area slightly smaller than the state of Tennessee. This intensely compact geography forms the backdrop of the perennially fascinating Maya culture whose ancient and modern remnants endure environmental depredation and one of the world's bloodiest civil wars. Few places offer stronger testimony to nature's infinite variety and inventiveness, as well as its supreme indifference to human affairs. Perhaps this is why the country is in the must-see list of even the most jaded travellers. A trip to Guatemala can be a disquieting meditation on life itself-- with all its beauty and wonder, and the dark, impenetrable mysteries that lie beneath its surface. |
Tranquil Almolonga landscape with three hyperactive tourists.
Guatemala is famous for its coffee, which grows abundantly in the fertile volcanic soil. But one stays alert without the beverage. The cool, rarefied air and constant scent of pine are powerful stimulants. Add to these the glorious landscape, the physical discomfort, and the slight, but ever-present, possibility of lurking danger, and one is not just effectively caffeinated, but charged into a state of vital self-awareness. |
There lies our challenge for tomorrow....
Dulce regreso de aquel país lejano en medio de una nube de abalorio. El Volcán apagaba sus entrañas... y Nido, que era joven, después de un día que duró muchos siglos, volvió viejo, no quedándole tiempo sino para fundar un pueblo de cien casitas alrededor de un templo.
Miguel Ángel Asturias
[ Sweet return from that distant country in midst of a beadwork of cloud. The volcano extinguished its entrails... and Nido, who was young, after that day that lasted many centuries, found himself an old man, with barely time to found a village of a hundred huts around a temple.
Miguel Ángel Asturias |
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