The Coolidge examiner., 1937-04-22


ture, and very high ceilings.
If one remarks to the clerk that
the air seems trifle chilly. eyes,
the winter is just beginning" he
may reply:
Winter? In the Tropics? And
in May?
He explains that winter" in Qua
temala is the rainy season, May to
October, period of clouds, damp
ness, and dismal rains, although, he
hastens to add, part of every day
is fair and sunny" In summer"
November to April, there is little
or no rain, the sun shines through
out the day, and the people are
healthier and happier.
One may be awakened in the
morning by the clamor of church
bells, the rumble of heavy oxcarts,
and the musical chimes of carriages
bearing worshipers to early mass.
Guatemala City is compactly
built. Stand on the roof of one of
its modern buildings and you see
a clean and pleasant community,
most of whose white, blue, pink,
and buff-colored houses and shops
are one or two stories high. Only
a few concrete business buildings
and stone church towers rise above
the prevailing fiat, red-tiled roofs.
Founded i'll the year the United
States declared its independence,
Guatemala City is a comparative
youngster among the communities
of Latin America. Several times
it has been damaged by earth
quakes, and in 1917 almost the en-
tire city was destroyed. 1t has lost
its Old World air, although it still
has many Moorish-type homes with
iron-grilled windows and patios
agloW with flowers.
Fascinating as is Guatemala City,
however, it is but prelude to that
native Guatemala which is older in
race, culture, and traditions. High
in the Sierra Madre west and north
of the capital, pure-blooded Indians
still dress as did their ancestors,
worship their old gods as well as
the new, and live their lives al
most unaffected by modern civil
iZation.
Until few years ago, when the
government launched an extensive
road-building program, travel in the
highlands of Guatemala was slow
and arduous. Now one may motor
from the capital westward to the
Mexican border and east to Ell Sal
vador.
Motoring Through the Country.
Speeding along the floor of the
valley, one passes steady stream
of Indians and vehicles bound for
the markets of Guatemala City.
Stoid, earnest-faced men trot by at
a half run, their heads held rigid
by a tumpline across the forehead
that supports the heavy loads on
their backs. For miles, they have
been jogging along at this peculiar,
forWard-falling gait. In cacastes,
or wooden frames, they carry goods
of all kinds-earthen jars, furniture,
bags of grain, or fresh vegetables.
Their women hurry along beside
or behind them, arms swinging free
T., their burdens on their heads.
Sometimes it is a basket of live
chickens, a fat roll of clothing, WOW
en- fabrics, or bundle of fireWood.
Almost always baby bobs up and
down in a shawl slung across the
mothers back.
Each tribe, and almost every viii
lage, in the highlands has a distinc-
tive costume. Designs have not
changed in hundreds Of years. To
those who know the different cos
tunes, the Indians of the highlands
might be carrying signs around
their necks reading, Il am from
Solola," or II am from Chichicas-
tenango," ct cetera.
1t is regrettable, however, that
many of these costumes are disap-
pearing. Native garb has been re-
placed by blue denim and cheap
imported cotton goods throughout
most of Ell Salvador, and these ma
terials are now penetrating Guate-
mala. Under the harsh treatment
of the Indians daily toll, such fab
RIGS are quickly reduced to tatters.
Unlike the half-naked aborigines
of the jungle lowlands, or the itin-
Grant trades men and servants of
the cities, the Indians of the high
lands of Guatemala have main
tanned a proud semi-independence
as farmers. weavers and pottery
makers.
Conquered but never assimilated,
they are aristocrats among the ma
tive peoples of Central America,
and they are sufficiently we'll or
ganized to make mass petitions to
the central government when local
conditions demand it. They have
had much less contact with other
races than Indians elsewhere have
had, and are not badly scourged
with alcohol. Consequently, they
have retained their self-respect and
are neither subservient nor cring-
ing.