Guatemala Journal: “Where life is correct”

This is a question I usually hear when I say I’m planning a visit to Guatemala. After all, this country is being overtaken by its neighbors Mexico, Costa Rica and Panama.

Before boarding, I answered this question by mentioning historical crafts and routes along energetic volcanoes. But now, after the trip, I realize that Guatemala is bigger than that.

Despite being a small nation, Guatemala is one of the most diverse countries within the Americas, with many pure and ethnic landscapes.

I arrived in the capital on Sunday and was welcomed by Eva Lerner de Escamilla, a Brazilian who has lived in this country for forty years. Through him I found the emblematic buildings of the fashionable structure of the capital, highlighting the brutal construction of the place where the Banco de Guatemala is positioned, and the Miguel Ángel Asturias Cultural Center (also called the National Theater). The theater is named after a Guatemalan author, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1967, whose work in the field of conventional tradition is regarded worldwide.

After a few hours in the capital, Eva drove two hours to drop us off in Antigua, the colonial metropolis where we would be staying for the next few days. I kept thinking, “When will someone in São Paulo pick up a stranger in Guarulhos on Sunday, go to Vila Buarque, then go to Campinas, and be available alone again that day?”

Such generosity touched me. As time went by, I understood that this is the Guatemalan lifestyle.

Antigua is a combination of the allure of Paraty and the bossa of Cartagena and the beauty of San Miguel de Allende. The best tip is to get lost in the outdated streets and look at the corners that catch your eye.

A stop at Doña Maria Gordillo is a must: the family-run sweet shop has been around since 1872. The shops Texture, Nativos, Estúdio Gascon Cerâmica, Casa de Artes, El Telar and Colibri present the most effective indigenous crafts.

The latter was founded in 1984 to help indigenous girls’ teams during the Guatemalan Civil War. Today, the store showcases the work of more than 500 Mayan girls, spread across 25 villages across the country.

There is no shortage of church buildings and monasteries in the metropolis. My favorite was Church of La Merceda baroque building from the seventeenth century with a fully decorated yellow facade.

From Antigua we headed to Lake Atitlán, considered a particularly rich and culturally rich space. Guatemala has 22 ethnic teams, each with its personal language, several of which are represented in the varied conventional areas across the lake. Many communities in this area are descendants of mayors.

With beautiful volcanoes in the background, a great day on the lake starts with a ship trip to one of the cities, similar to San Juan La Laguna, Santiago and Santa Catarina Palopó.

It is worth going to the area to get to know the villages – each with its personal traditions and crafts – and stay within the space Castles relay Casa Palopó. With just a few rooms, the lodge offers a great lakeside location; modest and complex at the same time. The inside could be very good. Kinik, the lodge’s overwater restaurant, serves fish and seafood in a beautiful setting.

If you are in the area on Thursday or Saturday, I recommend driving to the town of Chichicastenango. This is the place where one of the most beautiful exhibitions I have ever visited took place. Food, animals, materials, flowers, toys, masks, clothing… everything is collectively mixed and blended in a gigantic, colorful dialogue.

For sports and leisure enthusiasts, Guatemala can also be a paradise: there are 37 volcanoes, some of which can be climbed despite being energetic! I climbed one of them, Pacaya, and I already want to return to climb essentially the hardest one – Acatenango Volcano – which involves pitching tents at altitude so I can reach the summit earlier than daybreak can reach and see the eruption stand still.

After this volcanic event we took a flight to the north of the country, to Flores, a metropolis within the Petén division. It is on this field that Tikal is positioned, aone of the many largest archaeological websites and concrete facilities Civilization of mayors pre-Columbian.

The ruins are so essential that they were declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1979., each its buildings and the surrounding environment. It’s actually magical to watch the wood and birds mingle among the Mayan temples. George Lucas, who fell in love with the place, selected the ruins to film part of the fourth film about the saga. star wars.

Another filmmaker who is a fan of this area is, paradoxically, Francis Ford Coppola. His personal A ship, a fascinating ten-room lodge half an hour from the ruins. We spent two nights there, amazed at how modestly good the stay was. It was clear that every element – ​​even the garments! – carefully selected, using local suppliers. It is price making Temazcal – an ancestral sauna of Mayan origin – and watch the sunset on the edge of the lake.

When I researched why Coppola ended up in northern Guatemala, I discovered that his love for the empire began in 1981 with a residency in neighboring Belize. I took advantage of the truth that we were close to the border of Belize to cross and see the empire that made the filmmaker fall in love with the empire.

Unlike Guatemala, Belize was dominated by the British. Everyone there likes to speak English. The country became independent in 1981, but maintained ties with the British Empire. It was that year that Coppola discovered Blancaneaux Lodge, his first property in the area, which had been in his sole use for a decade.

Ten years later, the filmmaker opened the lodge to the general public, keeping its splendor and hospitality intact. We stayed 2 nights and took the opportunity to explore the area a bit. We entered the darkness of a deep cave filled with quartz and stalagmites, walked to an attractive waterfall and ate in the pure backyard of the native people, consuming substances we harvested ourselves.

We didn’t have time to go to the famous coast of Belize (Coppola has the craziest lodges there!), which made me want to return even more often.

After ten days I can answer the primary question better. Going to Guatemala means appreciating indigenous works of art, in addition to resisting the institution of the world. Presented day after day with training and style. It requires another journey in time, to a time when the world was human and peaceful.

It spends a few days in life because it is supposed to.

Paula Nazarian printed a newspaper NewZ and NAZA.

Paula Nazarian