The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1937-04-23
Prepared by National Geographic Society,
Waeb;puto, n C-WNTI Service

NV City, you are In tne HlosI
Wv populous place in all Cen
trail America. With pop
ulation of 10000, including about
5000 foreigners, Guatemala City is
a thriving metropolis of well-paved
streets, department stores, luxury
shops, cafes, country clubs. busy
factories, garages, and modern ho-
tells. Its motion picture theaters,
showing mostly American "talkies"
with Spanish subtitles, advertise
with big electric signs overhanging
the streets in Broadway style.
At the capitals covered central
market, the largest in the country,
the array of foodstuffs, textiles,
utensils, furniture, and other COM
modities is endless. Its long aisles,
and the streets adjoining the mar
ket building and cathedral, are al
ways jammed with a noisy, restless
throng of merchants and buyers.
And the odors, strange, spicy and
heavy! The fresh scents of vege-
tables and exotic flowers mingle
with the greasy smell of cooking
food, the aroma of roasted coffee,
and the balmy fragrance of copal
incense.
Those with weak stomachs may
not like the appearance or odor OF
freshly slaughtered meat. Nor will
they find appetizing the leached
corn mash for tortillas; or arma-
dillos roasted in their shells; or
crude brown sugar pressed into
dirty blocks and balls. But Wis
itors are delighted with bright trop-
ical fruits piled in artistic disar-
ray, graceful baskets and glazed
pottery, and gay textiles woven on
primitive hand looms.
Guatemalans are proud, and just
ly so, of the fine coffee grown in
their highlands. Placards in Eng
fish and Spanish remind the visitor
at every turn that Guatemala
Grows the Best Coffee in the
World"
On the days when tourist trains
arrive in Guatemala City, the de-
partment of agriculture holds open
house. Small packages of freshly
roasted coffee, wrapped in glazed
paper, are presented to each visitor.
They are appropriate souvenirs of
a nation which is the sixth most inn
portant coffee grower in the world,
being exceeded only by Brazil, Co.
lombia, the Netherlands Indies,
Venezuela and Ell Salvador.
The second most important ex-
port is the banana, grown in the
coastal plains bordering the Gulf of
Honduras and the Pacific.
Airport Busy Spot.
One of the busiest spots today in
this busiest of Central American
capitals is La Aurora airport. Here
the trunk line of the Pan Amer
lean Anyways from Brownsville,
Texas, to Panama connects with a
half-dozen local air services to dis
tant parts of the republic.
Many who do not come to Guate-
mala City by plane, come by boat,
and dock at San Jose, sleepy little
tropical port. Between steamers
this shack door" to Guatemala
drowses in the shade of tall bread
fruit trees and coconut palms.. and
carries on a desultory commerce
with the Indians of the coastal la
goons.
Its dingy water front, ragged por-
tiers and fishermen, sitting heat,
and main street pre-empted by rail-
road tracks give no promise of
the color and activity of Guate-
mala's gay, modern capital, high
up in the cool central plateau.
The first part of the 73-mile jour-
ney to Guatemala City follows
gently rising plain, whose black vol
canic soil is planted thickly in ba-
nahas, sugar cane, cotton, cacao,
and fruit trees. Guatemala City is
nearly a mile above sea level, in
the cool and healthful terra tenn
plada, or temperate zone, and the
train must gain most of this alti-
tude in the last fifty miles.
Not far beyond Palm the line
creeps through narrow valley be-
tween two towering peaks and
comes out on the edge of mountain
trimmed Lake Amatitlon. For sew
eral miles the railroad winds along
the shore, passing groups of In
dian women washing clothes in hot
springs at the waters edge. 1t is
a convenient laundry, for clothes
may be boiled in the springs and
rinsed in the cold fresh water of the
lake without taking a step!
The train approaches Guatemala
City through verdant suburbs which
give way to warehouses and rail-
road yards, indicating the CONNER
cial activity of this busy Latin
American capital.
winter" Means Rainy Season.
From the terminal, taxis whisk
visitors over smoothly paved streets
to their hotel, frequently grandi-
Il y