Description

Vol. IV No. 4 … The Cover: A country of high plateaus, sky reaching peaks and incredibly blue mountain lakes, Guatemala is vibrant with life and color. Her market places are a palette of hues both gay and brilliant. Clothed in brightly embroidered costumes, the natives scurry rapidly from place to place balancing their baskets or pottery effortlessly on their heads. The sunlight reflecting from a maze of glazed bowls spread in the center of the market, creates a brilliant, blinding glare which will cause you to turn your eyes, but here, as everywhere, you will find only pleasure in the opulence of color set to the simple patterns of the Indian. Places like Chichicastenago, Quetzaltenango, Huehuetenango, and Uaxactum tinkle their toyland names at you and challenge pronunciation. Seldom does one fail to see the men scrubbing at communal washing centers, sometimes even far into the night. For the majority of the two million Guatemalans, life remains unchanged from that of their forefathers. Spanish churches, which dominate the village squares, are thronged with worshipers who still carry vestiges of their more ancient rites to the altar of Our Lady. Everywhere the visitor finds that this is a country which at every turn is a sight through an archway …. whose people and customs have been dipped into the heart of the spectrum … where civilizations meet, but never mingle ….