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A belt of fire formed by active volcanoes
entangled with the clouds.
A thick and rich vegetation that dresses in green
never-ending mountain landscapes.
A country cherishing one of the greatest histories
of all the American continent.
For more than two thousand years,
these lands witnessed the rise of a magnificent civilization
that stood out for its sociocultural evolution.
A civilization that developed
one of the few elaborate writing systems in all America
during the Pre-Columbian era.
A culture that mastered astronomy and mathematics
with absolute precision.
And also achieved great advances in its artwork,
architecture and economy.
A land with extensive natural resources,
great pristine waterfalls traveling the mountains,
feeding the rivers that nourish fertile lands.
A country whose diversity originated from the merge of two worlds
that five hundred years ago
clashed in this part of the world.
These are the lands where was found
the Heart of the Mayan World.
Guatemala boasts a variety of flora,
climate, languages,
food and fauna.
The country's main treasure is the miscegenation of its people,
and the stories carried by each and everyone of them...
Descendants of the Mayan culture that to this date
maintain their traditions,
language and culture,
and of the new people that arrived to this land
more than five hundred years ago.
They're all part of the same country:
Guatemala!
I'm proud of being Guatemalan
because I'm very aware of the richness of this country.
Guatemala is full of forests, mountains,
lakes and rivers.
A country surrounded by a belt of fire,
comprised of 37 volcanoes.
The Mayas wouldn't climb up the mountains
precisely because they worshiped them as Gods or Goddesses.
They feared them because they knew their power.
A culture that still surprises humanities with its level of development.
Guatemala is living culture,
where you can see, in such small area,
many wonders.
It's a natural paradise.
A country that preserves archaeological areas
that endorse the development
and the peak of the Mayan culture.
El Mirador is helping us
understand the Mayan social,
economical and political development.
It's amazing to see how that civilization has reached such a level of development.
Hidden within the jungle, there are pyramids, sculptures
and unique architectural facilities.
One of Guatemala's characteristics
is the abundance of a resource that's limited in some parts of the world,
water.
SEMUC CHAMPEY NATURAL MONUMENT
Semuc Champey,
or as it's translated,
"Where the river hides beneath the rocks",
is a natural bridge of limestone,
around three hundred meters long,
that lies over a huge tropical forest.
The monument's beautiful turquoise-colored water,
that travels along the small cascades of rocks,
its exuberant beauty,
and the natural landscape that surrounds it,
make it one of the most visited destinations in Guatemala.
In the Natural Monument of Semuc Champey,
time simply stops,
and Nature takes over our senses.
Guatemala's surrounded by a thick and rich vegetation.
Within this tropical forest, it's possible to travel in time
and penetrate the heart of the Mayan world.
TIKAL NATIONAL PARK
The epicenter of the Maya civilization, one of the most advanced civilizations
of the Pre-Columbian era in America, is located in Guatemala.
It's one of best-preserved Mayan cities in Guatemala,
and it's one of the greatest urban and archaeological sites
of this civilization.
More than three thousand structures
can be seen in this city.
Surrounded by endless forests,
that kept it in secret for centuries,
lies a city
that during the 3rd and 5th centuries A.D.,
was the region that politically, militarily, and economically ruled
the Mayan World.
This is where the Tikal National Park is.
Studies carried out in this region,
have revealed that its works date back to the 4th century B.C.
This city had relationship with other major cities of the era,
such as Teotihuacan,
located in what we know today as Mexico.
In 1979, it was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site,
because of both its cultural and natural treasures.
Guatemala's history, as well as the rest of America's,
has suffered a great transformation.
After the Spanish Conquest of the 16th century,
the city known today as La Antigua Guatemala,
was the capital of this country
from 1541 to 1776.
The architecture and climate witnessed as we walk through its streets,
take us back in time.
Native peoples and settlers from Europe
have gone through different processes that led to the birth of a new culture,
new customs with the same sense of belonging,
the land where they live:
Guatemala.
Throughout the last five hundred years,
its population, architecture and customs
experienced a changing process
that built the Guatemala we all know.
La Antigua Guatemala is also known
as one of the chosen destinations
for the celebration of weddings in its elegant historical monuments
This incredible city
has faced three earthquakes that nearly devastated it.
That was when the political,
economical and religious administration of the country was taken to a city
that to date is the current capital,
Guatemala City.
Upon the Spanish arrival,
Christianity spread
and its to this date the predominant religion in the country.
Although Guatemala's been a secular state since 1985,
it's the religion of most of the people.
One of the most important celebrations in the country takes place in Holy Week.
The main cities
dress in a very unique way.
In the past, when the kings visited the society,
the people would take their sacks
and laid them down so that the kings and the royalties could walk over them
without wetting their feet getting them dirty.
Just as the people did with Jesus Christ,
when he walked into Jerusalem,
the people laid down clothes, branches and flowers in front of him,
so he could walk over it.
That's how the preparation of rugs started here in Guatemala.
The rugs are generally made of sawdust.
Or sand, dyed in many colors.
Forty-two years ago my family and I started preparing rugs.
They were very simple because we were inexperienced.
We had to learn about it,
researching and asking experienced people.
It's called an ephemeral art,
because it only lasts for a moment.
Once the procession's passed, it is over.
During the same week,
Guatemala celebrates the Passion and Resurrection of Christ,
where hundreds of believers get involved in the procession.
From building the processional floats
to the procession itself.
The processions are a demonstration of faith.
Considering the mysticism,
the processional floats must not be seen
until the day of procession.
It's a gift to the people.
A procession is not merely a momentary event.
One must get spiritually prepared for it.
During the procession, there's a mixture of culture, tradition,
history and customs of the people and their families.
Guatemala is not just a Mayan culture.
The country was colonized by the Spanish.
So this is the origin
of the city's own traditions.
Almolonga is located 2,000 meters above sea level,
in the Department of Quetzaltenango,
that accommodates long meadows,
surrounded by huge mountains.
And it's where the country's agricultural activities take place.
Guatemala is known as a land of abundance,
due to the region's climate conditions
and the richness and fertility of the soil.
Around 70% of the food the Guatemalan consume,
comes from family-based husbandry,
which is why tradition is key to such activity.
There's something very interesting
about the particular zone of the country.
It's the harvest of huge vegetables,
with sizes that exceed the world's average.
Coffee has been cultivated here since 1850
and it's one of the main Guatemalan products.
Harvesting is frequently done manually.
In Santiago de Atitlán,
it's possible to see an example of the mix of traditions of the country.
Descendants of the Mayan culture
now work in this crop that was introduced to the country
years after the Spanish colonization.
At first, I only collected the coffee,
but then I realized how profitable it was.
So I started to cultivate it.
That's how I managed to feed my family and send my kids to school.
That's what the cultivation of coffee has given me.
The coffee we grow here is of very good quality
because the volcanoes and mountains around the region
provide a unique flavor
to the coffee grains.
The great Lake Atitlán
is surrounded by three volcanoes, known as The Three Giants.
Tolimán, San Pedro
and the one that is name for the Lake.
And serves as water source
for the many agricultural villages that exist around the lake.
These different villages around the lake have their own characteristics,
which is what make them unique.
San Juan La Laguna is one of those beautiful villages
known for its paintings, artwork and tapestry.
There are also plantations
that have been cropped for thousands of years.
Corn is the main crop of the Maya.
According to their culture,
humankind was created out of corn.
The Mayan calendar points out when it's a good time to plant,
and when it's not, or when it's best to prepare the soil.
So when the first rains come,
irrespective of the month,
we start preparing the soil.
Many say that when Guatemala was taken,
the Mayas were scattered.
But that's not right. The people mixed.
That's why we still take the customs and traditions we cherish.
There are four colors.
It's also linked to...
the Mayan calendar. We are also guided by the four cardinal directions.
In the Indigenous culture,
corn is consumed three times a day:
in the morning, at noon and at dinner.
Guatemala is largely covered
by a dense forest that has been protected and recovered in the last years.
Mighty rivers
flow through the green tropical forests of Guatemala.
Thousands of flora and fauna species,
among which are the orchids.
In its jungle, one can face iguanas
that camouflage among the vegetation while they eat.
Reptiles climbing trees to find their prey.
Or Rattlesnakes,
that carry the name of the sound produced by the tip of their tail.
Also found in this forest, there's the Haloderma.
A species of venomous lizard that can only be found in Guatemala,
among the Central America countries.
Guatemala forests are home for more than just lizards and serpents.
Hundreds of birds,
or monkeys that travel along the forest on top of millions of trees.
GUATEMALA CITY
The capital, Guatemala City,
is where modernity and colonial meet,
and is home for more than four and a half million of people,
who live in the city from where the country is governed.
In these mountains,
particularly in the Sierra de las Minas mountain range,
there are still Jade mines.
Jade was the most valuable gemstone for the Mayas.
Even more than gold.
Its extreme roughness ensured a nearly everlasting durability.
Therefore, for the Mayas,
the stone was associated with eternity, immortality, life,
fertility and power.
Jade was one of the main components of all the accessories
worn by our Mayan ancestors.
All the tombs that have been discovered,
if not all, the vast majority of them,
basically have remnants, carcasses,
that boast incredible Jade collars.
Jade was very valuable for them.
Some people are specialized in reading the stones surface.
They have a very trained and experienced sense
to recognize what type of Jade
is contained in a bigger stone.
Currently, many are the artist that we have been able to find.
They all have different levels of creativity and innovation.
The Archaeological Park and Ruins of Quiriguá
is an area once occupied by the ancient Maya civilization.
It has around three square kilometers of extension,
and it was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The peak of this city came a few centuries A.D.,
and the city is mainly recognized by its monumental sculptures,
known as Stelae.
Some of them can be more than ten meters high.
Important sites built by the Maya
can be found throughout all Guatemalan territory.
Tak'Ali Ab'aj
is one of the cities that flourished
for more than twenty centuries.
The archaeological findings obtained through excavation
place this as one of the greatest sites of sculpted monuments
in the Guatemalan coast of the Pacific Ocean.
The Mayan villages weren't a consolidated unit under the same government.
They were self managed villages,
and occasionally had to battle for power or territory.
The city of Iximché
was the capital of the Kaqchikel kingdom,
from 1470 to 1527,
when it was abandoned.
Such sites allowed for the understanding
of the complex, entangled culture,
and particularly the political organization
of the Mayas civilization.
Although the intention of the Spanish Conquest
was to instil Christianity into the Maya villagers,
it wasn't always possible.
In many cases,
it ended up creating a mix of such religions
where many Christian rituals and beliefs
were mixed with ancient rituals of the Maya.
This mixture of beliefs
is called religious syncretism by many experts.
For centuries, the spiritual leaders have been respected by the people
as wise beings,
capable of interpreting Nature as a whole,
to heal and care for living beings,
among other things.
My heart rejoices, my soul rejoices.
A new day comes, praised be the Creator!
CHICABAL VOLCANO AND LAKE
Chicabal Volcano and Lake is a very unique place.
In its crater we can admire a beautiful emerald-green lake,
surrounded by forest.
According to the local culture,
the volcano and the lake are protected by Nahuales,
spiritual beings that protect people since their birth.
It's a sacred place for some cultures that to this date
still use the place for rituals,
which is why entering the waters is forbidden.
The legend says that the lake was located in another place,
but as it became unprotected,
it ran away and hid within the volcano crater.
Almost everyday, at noon, one can witness a strange phenomenon:
the crater is covered with a thick mist,
that regresses just as it touches the water surface, leaving the crater.
A key product in country's economy is the cocoa.
Its importance goes back millions of years.
Mayan culture used it to prepare food and drinks.
It was also used as currency in certain occasions.
However, what makes cocoa so important
is that it's the real base for chocolate.
IZABAL DEPARTMENT
Lake Izabal is located in the east of Guatemala.
And in one of its mouths
is the Castle of San Felipe de Lara.
A majestic fortress from the colonial era
that served as customs center, military base
and even as a prison during colonial era.
It was equipped with nineteen canons,
and many warehouses where they kept the products
that were traded between Spain and Guatemala.
The National Park of Rio Dulce
is a protected area around the river that's adjacent to Lake Izabal.
This river is vital for Guatemala,
as it's connected to the Caribbean Sea.
I work as a park ranger within CONAP, the National Council for Protected Areas.
My job is to protect and preserve the natural resources.
The National Park of Rio Dulce has three thousand hectares,
equally divided between water and land.
We take turns,
patrolling the lands one day and on the next day we patrol the waters.
Along sixteen kilometers,
the river becomes narrower, little by little,
and the course becomes a real adventure.
Fifty-meter limestone walls
grow on each side of the river,
forming an exuberant canyon.
We must be aware of our acts and change our behave towards the water,
for we depend on it.
The major cities and small villages of Guatemala,
in harmony with its nature,
connect to each other through a set of routes and paths
that take us to ever new discoveries.
In Chichicastenango, the people are mostly Quiché,
an ethnic group that speaks the Maya language.
One curiosity is its cemetery,
probably one of the most colorful cemeteries on Earth.
Chichicastenango is also famous for its street market,
where we can find every type of fruit and seafood.
It's known for its culinary tradition
of street food, prepared with recipes that mix
the most ancient Mayan culture
with traditions from different regions.
Guatemalan cuisine
is precisely the fusion of two great cultures.
On one hand, the influence and tradition
inherited from the various ethnicities that formed the Mayan culture,
and on the other, the influence of Spanish cuisine
that arrived in this lands in the 16th century.
The fruit of the Guatemalan land,
is also the fruit that marks the base of the culinary culture of this country.
Such as in the Pepián,
a traditional local dish.
WELCOME THE THREE GARIFUNAS RESTAURANT
Although the predominant culinary culture of Guatemala
is the one that comes from the fusion of Mayan and Spanish cultures,
other peoples brought, or even had to develop,
other dishes that to date
are considered typical.
The Tapado, for example,
was a dish prepared by the African immigrants.
We're rescuing the culture
of the Garifuna culture through gastronomy.
In Livingstone,
the Tapado is the most traditional and typical dish in this city to date.
Guatemala is one of the Central American countries
with access to both the Caribbean Sea to the east,
and the Pacific Ocean to the west.
Its territory is rich in freshwater reservoirs,
in its rivers, lakes and ponds.
Where many sports are practiced,
such as sport fishing,
in which Guatemala is a reference among Central American countries.
There's also the ocean waters
forming many heavenly beaches
along kilometers of tropical coast.
Rum is one of the traditional beverages of Central America.
The climate conditions
are ideal for the production of sugar cane
from where the syrup is removed to prepare the rum.
Guatemalan run is one of the finest in the world,
and it's totally entrenched in the culture of this country
and its culinary culture.
We use sugar cane that are cropped
a hundred and fifty meters above sea level.
Due to the soil characteristics,
our cane has ideal levels of sugar for the production of rum.
And there's our maturing process.
Rum is a symbol for Guatemala.
For many years, the alcoholic beverages
have been part of our country's gastronomy.
In this topography of small undulations and big mountains,
the many villages and cities that settled,
keep different histories
of their origin and peak.
Cobán is a small city located in this region
where many German families settled
at the end of the 19th century,
during a time when the government offered incentives
as a means of populating this part of the country.
The ancient world, before the Spanish Conquest,
the new cities that emerged after this new era,
villages and small towns that today are reflect this blending,
are now home for around fifteen million Guatemalans.
Quetzaltenango is a beautiful city known for its academic level.
It's one of the cities with the most educational centers
for students for the surrounding villages.
It's home for 920,000 people
and the cities boast ancient architecture including churches,
cathedrals and basilicas.
ACATENANGO VOLCANO
My uncle was one of the first man
to complete the expedition to Aconcagua, the first Central American,
in 1965.
Years after the climb,
the Guatemalan government made an expedition
in 1977.
I was raised in such environment.
When I climbed the first small volcano,
the first mountain,
I was carried in a backpack.
I was five years old. And it was the hill Cerro de Oro.
As I turned fifteen years old
I already knew where...
I wanted to focus my energy when I grew up.
What I like the most about being in nature is the silence.
The more silent, the better.
We're used
to a fast paced life,
a turbulent and restless life.
In the mountains, on the other hand, we manage to be in peace
and disconnect from everything else.
The Maya didn't climb the mountains because they worshiped them as Gods.
The feared them because they knew their power.
Guatemala sits in the so called Fire Belt,
that embraces almost all countries bordering the Pacific Ocean.
With 37 volcanoes, it's the country with the most volcanoes in the world.
Some of the volcanoes are active
and frequently expel massive smoke clouds,
ashes and lava.
This whole region is precisely
where the most seismically active areas of the world are.
Petén Department is the bigger department in Guatemala.
Most of its territory is covered by forest and water.
Flores is the capital of the department.
This island, conquered by the Spanish,
was abandoned and then rebuilt.
FLORES ISLAND
From here, one can enter a forests
that hides beautiful landscapes
and the most well-preserved treasures
of the Mayan world.
Some of which are yet to be explored.
This magnificent waterfall, known as Salto de Chilascó,
is located in Baja Verapaz,
and is the higher waterfall in Central America.
It's 130 meters high.
No other animal compares to the national bird of Guatemala,
that lives in a cloud forest.
The specimen is very hard to find.
It has beautiful colors,
and a tail that measures up to 65 centimeters.
The Quetzal is a national pride,
and it's in the country's flag,
emblem and currency.
In the Guatemalan forests also lives
the largest feline of the Americas.
The jaguar is also the third largest feline in the world,
smaller than the lion and the tiger.
The Mayas considered the jaguar a symbol of power.
For that reason, people who wore jaguar garments,
were important and powerful people in the society.
The jaguar can be seen in nearly every Mayan sculpture and painting.
To the north of Petén, there's a city
that was the capital of an extensive territory
of this Guatemalan department.
The City of Yaxhá.
A center that had very strong relations with Belize
and the South of Mexico.
This city is currently considered
the best-kept secret of the Mayan world.
It's perhaps one of the most beautiful and stunning sites found to date.
By walking more than two days
through the forest,
one can reach one of the most impressive
and astonishing Mayan cities
found thus far.
This city was built in the year 800 B.C.
and was kept in secret in the forest until not too many years ago.
The first expeditions were carried out around 1930.
The La Danta pyramid is built
on a large platform that is 600m long by 300m wide,
where three other platforms and a temple stand
in the superior part.
In this city there's also the second highest pyramid of America.
And the La Danta pyramid
is considered the largest structure ever built by the Mayas.
The social, economical and political development of the Maya.
El Mirador seems to germinate such social complexity.
Germinates such economical development at a large scale.
Accessing this settlement is still not simple.
And a significant part of its structures
still lies underneath sediments and vegetation
that have covered the area over the past centuries.
There are many ways to reach a country's heart.
We can cross many wonderful paths...
Of peace...
Nature...
Landscapes that takes us to the the purest state of a human being.
There are many ways to reach the heart of Guatemala.
Through the warmth of its people.
Through its culture.
And traditions.
And through its wonderful nature.
Keeping alive the memory
and the legacy of a past that to this date
not only surprises, but also teaches us.
These lands have been inhabited
by one of the most advanced civilizations of all planet Earth.
A civilization that lived here
and that is the base where flourishes a whole population.
Within each and everyone of them is alive...
the Heart of the Mayan World.
Subtitle translation by: Fabio Galdi