Guatemala
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Guatemala: History, Culture & Economy
July 31, 2010 by A'Keiba Burrell
Guatemala (pronounced /ˌgwɑːtəˈmɑːlə/; Spanish: República de Guatemala, Spanish pronunciation: [reˈpuβlika ðe ɣwateˈmala]) is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, Belize to the northeast, the Caribbean to the east, and Honduras and El Salvador to the southeast. Its area is 108,890 km² (42,043 mi²) with an estimated population of 13,276,517.
A representative democracy, its capital is Guatemala City. Guatemala’s abundance of biologically significant and unique ecosystems contributes to Mesoamerica’s designation as a biodiversity hotspot.
From simple farming villages dating from 2500 BCE, the Maya of Guatemala and the Yucatán developed a sophisticated civilization. Its heart was the northern Petén, where the oldest Mayan stelae and the ceremonial centre of Tikal are found. Mayan civilization declined after 900 CE, and the Spanish began subjugating the descendants of the Maya in 1523. Independence from Spain was declared by the Central American colonies in Guatemala City in 1821, and Guatemala was incorporated into the Mexican Empire until its collapse in 1823. In 1839 Guatemala became independent under the first of a series of dictators who held power almost continuously for the next century.
In 1945 a liberal-democratic coalition came to power and instituted sweeping reforms. Attempts to expropriate land belonging to U.S. business interests (see United Fruit Co.) prompted the U.S. government…
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Finding Canada in Guatemala
November 11, 2006 by Renee Blodgett
I met Kathryn at San Marcos’ holistic center in Guatemala, where she moved to five years ago and works as a reike and massage therapist. She teams up with British pal Hazel (married to a Guatemalan) to offer EFT, Indian head massage and mind-healing classes to guests.
She was a wealth of information and of amusement, so much so I kept going back for more. I learned more about the area and people in a two hour massage than I ever could by reading several books or even chatting with some of the locals for the same period of time. And as we repeated this (the massage and the local news) a few times during my stay, I longed for more and more gossip.
It was here where I learned that a local makes $6 and change a day for labor, such as construction. Not surprising, the locals are not always happy with gringo behavior and if you live on-site, you may find your water supply shut off for short periods of time, when those in the hills above you may have access. This could explain the consistent trickling shower at Aaculaax.
Dealing with such inconsistencies makes it hard to…
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On Astral Travel and Controlling Dreams
September 10, 2006 by Renee Blodgett
I recently took an Astral Travel class in Guatemala at the very spiritual Las Pirimades Center, located on the lakeside village of San Marcos, which overlooked three nearby volanoes.
It is essentially an interpretation of out-of-body experiences, achieved either awake or via lucid dreams and meditation. Those who have experienced astral travel (or projection), say that their consciousness or soul has moved them in tandem with their physical body into a parallel world. Not new, the concept dates back to ancient China.
While I live my life more often than not – smack in the middle of my head and heart (although some would disagree), I try to keep an open mind to things that raise ones consciousness.
I’ve been torn over the years about my thoughts about after-life and what shape and form this takes. Have you ever had an innate grasp of a language or empathy for a culture more than another and not really have a logical reason why? Or have you ever had a lucid dream that takes you a ‘very real’ place you may have been before but physically have never seen, and yet the images and voices are so vivid that you…
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