Guatemala City / Guatemala

What comes to your mind when you hear Guatemala? In Japan, Guatemala is famous for coffee, but people know little about the country other than that. Guatemala is located in the south to Mexico, and is the northernmost country of Central America, a lush natural environment with a range of climates: rainforest in the northern and highlands in the southern part of the country. In the highlands, there is a very big temperature range, which is very suitable for the production of high-quality coffee. Guatemala exports a considerable volume of its coffee beans to Japan.

Another key industry in the country is tourism. The country used to be the epicenter of the ancient Maya Civilization and we can see many remains of the civilization in the country. Language is a representative example. Although Guatemala's public language is Spanish, more than twenty dialects of Maya are spoken in the provincial areas. There are many cities with a unique Mayan name. In highlands, in particular, there are many towns with nango in the latter part of their names, such as Chichicastenango and Mazatenango. "Nango" means a land where something is in abundance.

In Guatemala, which caters for tourists and has the rich heritage of the Maya Civilization and a variety of geographical features, I recommend that you visit the following three places. The first is Tikal. Tikal, an archaeological site of the largest ruins of an ancient Mayan palace, looming out of the jungle in the northern part of the country. Pyramids that tower over the 30-meter-tall jungle tress are just as mysterious. The second is Lake Atitlan, a volcanic lake in the northwestern part of Guatemala, located 1560 meters above sea level. The lake is called the most beautiful lake in the world, with clear green waters against a backdrop of three conical volcanoes to its south.

The third is the town of Antigua, which is close to the Guatemalan capital. A colonial government established the city in 1543. The central part of this well-conserved colonial city was registered as a World Heritage in 1979. In the city, women dressed in traditional Mayan costume called wipil traverse the cobblestone streets. Another feature of this city are many language schools that provide students with information on accommodation. There are more than fifty language schools in this town, which has a population of 30,000, with travelers from all over the world coming here to learn Spanish.

This country has also come under the strong influence of American culture lately, and many large-scale shopping centers and condominiums are being constructed on the outskirts of its capital. While Guatemala accepts such influences of modernization, the country continues to inherit the long tradition of the Maya. Guatemala is very much a double-faceted country.

The ruins in Tikal Streets in Antigua Shopping center in a suburban area Lake Atitlan

Marubeni Group magazine "M-SPIRIT" VOL.20 (March, 2004)