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Guatemala
“The Matriarch”
Guatemala has a diverse landscape, from the Pacific and Caribbean beaches to the Mountains near Mexico to the jungle of the Peten. There are 30 volcanoes and many are still active. The people are just as diverse with 26 different indigenous groups, each with their own language, the Mextizos, and the foreigners who have moved there.
The country is still recovering from a 30 year civil war. Many of the people, especially the indigenous, are extremely poor. They cook with wood, haul water, and farm the land by hand. Workers earn US $2.50 a day on coffee plantations, doing road work, and for many other jobs. Many of the men work in other countries for a year at a time to send money home to build a cement block home and have a better life.
Where there are many tourists the people will sell their weavings and hand crafted items. This woman carried her sale items in a cloth on her back and went from restaurant to restaurant in Panahachel near Lake Atitlan’. Many tourists come to this area because of the beauty of the lake and the many small villages on its shore.
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