Evening star., 1934-10-07
VIVID COLORS DOT.
GUATEMALA SCENE.
Antigua Picturesque City.
EI Salvador and Honduras
Also Attractive.
This Is the third OF series OF
articles on trauel in Pan American
countries.
BY BEATRICE NEWHALL,
Assistant Editor. Bulletin of the Pan
American Union.

The tourist VINO travels III SealCA
of breath taking scenery, of vivid
color and traces of mysterious civil
izations of by-gone days pauses in
Guatemala-or passes by with regret.
The cruise steamers to California
stop at San Jose long enough to
permit their passengers to go the 70
miles by rail over the coastal noun
tain range to Guatemala City, nearly
5000 feet above sea level. They may
include beautiful Lake Amatitlan and
romantic Antigua in the days eX-
cursion. Puerto Barrios. one OF the
interesting points on the Caribbean,
is about a week by water from new
York. and only about so hours from
Washington by air.
Atlantic route travellers may make
arrangements TO stop off at Qulrlgua
on their trip to Guatemala City TO
see the famous Maya ruins. Only
few steps from orderly green rows OF
tall banana plants (bananas grow
on plants, not trees) lies a clearing
in the tropical jungle where stands a
circle of massive carved monoliths OF
brown stone, inexplicably abandoned
over 1900 years ago. In recent years
many of the carved glyphs on these
stele have been deciphered, and IL
was learned that the larger ones were
erected at five-year intervals, and
served as a kind of chronology.
Guatemala City is the third capital
of the country. The original one was
founded by that doughty conqulstaoor
Don Pedro de Alvarado, who came
down from Mexico with an incredloly
small force to defy mountains, jungles,
and Indians and conquer the territory
for the crown of Spain. The city
barely survived its founder, however,
for it was destroyed in l541 and
site nearby was chosen. Antigua, as
the second capital is known, flouriShed
for more than two centuries. In 1773,
it was so damaged by earthquakes that
it was abandoned and the present
capital, 25 miles away, selected.
Color AbOunds.
The variety and intensity Of color OF
Guatemala City is Striking-yelloW,
blue. and white houses, masses OF
vivid flowers The purple volcanoes
Fuego and Aqua dominate the city.
From nearby regions the Indians
come daily to market, and on special
feast DAYS they gather from all sec
tions of the republic. Each wears the
distinctive handWoven costume or his
own village, dress individual in ma
terial, pattern, and decorative design,
readily proclaiming to the initiated
the town of the owner. The huipl,
a kind of blouse worn by the women,
takes on an infinite variety Of designs
and colors.
The market is held in and about
modern building. but the most pic
turesoue gathering is to be found in
the street outside There one may
purchase baskets. pottery of all kinds
(Who could resist the tiny clay AMI
mails. such as lop-eared dogs and wide
mouthed frogS?) beautiful homespuns
which wear years without fading,
handwoven huipiles, and blankets.
There. also, is a surprising variety OF
foods, many of them strange and 9TH
ers familiar-the mango, the avocado,
and the papaya.
In Guatemala City there are many
fine modern buildings and handsome
houses, some with private swimming
pools Traces of colonial days are
found chiefly in the churches, whose
affairs and organs are beautifully
carved and gilded. The travellers de-
mand for creature comforts are full
filled at an excellent hotel He may
listen to dance music played on the
native marimba as he drinks the ex-
cellent native beer or sangrila, or
port lemonade.
The visitor will find that while Sum-
mer clothing is suitable for the day.
time, the chilly evenings call for warm
wraps.
Handicaps Conquered.
In one of the parks in Guatemala
City is a large relief map of the re-
public, $50 feet square, the water in
its lakes and rivers cleaning in the
Sun. There other trips may be
planned, with an understanding of
the physical difficulties overcome in
the construction of the roads and rail-
ways. For instance. Lake Atitlan, 100
miles away, is reached by highway
clinging to the steep sides of noun
tainS above raVineS a thousand feet
deep. Quetzaltenango, where Indians
gather from far and near on feast
days, is now easily accessible by an
electric railway. The market there is
famous for its handWoven blankets.
The excursion to Antigua is the one
that no visitor to Guatemala should
fail to make He will gain much more
pleasure and profit from it if he has
read beforehand the late Dorothy H.
Popenoe'S Santiago de los CaballeroS
de Guatemala" Harvard University
Press, 1880, both history and a
guidebook of unusual insight and
charm. On the way, tiny patches of
corn may be seen far off on the noun
tainsides on slopes SO steep that one
wonders how the owners can ind
foothold for cultivating them; they
are the property of Indians, who in
Guatemala are the heirs of an age
old agricultural tradition.
After years of neglect, Antigua is
slowly coming to life. AS befitted the
most important city between Mexico
and Lima, there were innumerable
monasteries and converts, now empty
shells. In one the market is held, in
others Indians have moved in, and
perhaps across a roof1ess nave one
may glimpse an Indian woman weav-
ing. as her forebears did for centuries.
Ell SALVADOR.
El Salvador may be reached by air
Guatemala City is only an hour
away-and by rail, but most OF
her visitors enter through one OF
the three ports-all on the Pacific
La Union, La Libertad, or AcaJutla.
Cruise steamers usually stop at La
Iibertad, 25 miles from the capital,
so that their passengers may visit
San Salvador, 1000 feet above.
They find the capital very modern
city, with well paved streets, fine gov
ernment buildings, beautiful homes.
good hotels and commodious clubs.
Its cosmopolitan air is due to the fact
that the children of the wealthier
citizens are generally educated abroad.
If the visit should be made in Holy
week or early in August, the two
chief fiesta periods of the year, there
~, 10 1F@ ~, T,,<I I;or,