EIL Intercultural Learning

History

The Mayan civilization flourished throughout much of Guatemala and the surrounding region long before the Spanish arrived, but it was already in decline when the Mayans were defeated by Pedro de

Alvarado in 1523-24. During Spanish colonial rule, most of Central America came under the control of the Captaincy General of Guatemala. The first colonial capital, Ciudad Vieja, was ruined by floods and an earthquake in 1542. Survivors founded Antigua, the second capital, in 1543. In the 17th century, Antigua became one of the richest capitals in the New World. Always vulnerable to volcanic eruptions, floods, and earthquakes, Antigua was destroyed by two earthquakes in 1773, but the remnants of its Spanish colonial architecture have been preserved as a national monument. The third capital, Guatemala City, was founded in 1776, after Antigua was abandoned.

Guatemala gained independence from Spain on September 15, 1821; it briefly became part of the Mexican Empire and then for a period belonged to a federation called the United Provinces of Central America. From the mid-19th century until the mid-1980s, the country passed through a series of dictatorships, insurgencies (particularly beginning in the 1960s), coups, and stretches of military rule with only occasional periods of representative government.

Few exceptional leaders have graced Guatemala's political podium. Alternating waves of dictators and economics-driven Liberals were briefly brightened by Juan José Arévalo, who established the nation's social security and health systems and a government bureau to look after Mayan concerns. In power from 1945 to 1951, Arévalo's liberal regime experienced 25 coup attempts by conservative military forces. Arévalo was followed by Colonel Jacobo Arbenz Guzmán, who continued to implement liberal policies and instituted an agrarian reform law to break up the large estates and foster highly productive, individually owned small farms. The expropriation of lands controlled by foreign companies, a move supported by the country's Communist Party, was the signal for the CIA to step in (one of these foreign companies was the United Fruit Company, which interestingly was part-owned by the US Secretary of State). With their help a successful military coup was organized in 1954, Arbenz Guzmán fled to Mexico and the land reform never took place.

A succession of military presidents followed, and as both protest and repression became more violent, civil war broke out. Booming industrialization in the 1960s and '70s helped the rich get richer, while the cities became increasingly squalid as the rural dispossessed fled the countryside to find urban employment. The military's violent suppression of antigovernment elements (which meant the majority of landless peasants) finally led the USA to cut off military assistance, leading in turn to the 1985 election of the civilian Christian Democrat Marco Vinicio Cerezo Arévalo.

Cerezo's five years of inconclusive government were followed by Jorge Serrano Elías, who won the presidency for the conservative Solidarity Action Movement. His attempts to end the decades-long civil war failed, and as his popularity declined he came to rely increasingly on military support. On May 25, 1993, following a series of public protests, Serrano carried out an auto-coup. Lacking popular support, Serrano fled the country, and an outspoken critic of the army, Ramiro de León Carpio, was elected by Congress. Carpio's law-and-order mantle was taken up by new president, Alvaro Enrique Arzú Irigoyen, who attempted to heal his feuding and crime-ridden country with a neo-liberal technocratic salve. In December 1996, the government signed a series of peace accords with leftist guerrillas and the army agreed to reduce its role in domestic security matters. The greatest challenge to a lasting peace stems from great inequities in the basic social and economic power structure of Guatemalan society.

In November 1999, Guatemala held its first peacetime elections in nearly 40 years. Guatemala swore in a new government January 14, 2000, under its recently elected right-wing president, Alfonso Portillo, a lawyer and rightist associated with former dictator Ríos Montt. Portillo won by claiming that if he could defend himself, he could defend his people. He vowed to clean up the judicial system, crack down on crime, tax the rich and respect human rights. In March 2000, he invited UN observers to stay beyond their December 2000 departure date. However, his recent moves, including bolstering municipal police squads with national troops and sending most of his family to Canada in self-imposed exile, are particularly worrisome. In 2004, Oscar Berger from the coalition GANA won the election defeating Alvaro Colom from a left-centre coalition and Rios Montt from the ruling party FRG.

Climate

Guatemala is known as the land of eternal spring for its wonderful climate and is suitable for travel year round. The climate primarily varies according to elevation.

The northern part of the country, known as the Petén, is a lowland rain forest, an area of typical hot and humid, tropical climate with rain all the year round and maximum rainfall between May and September.

Conditions on the Pacific coast are similar in terms of the dry and wet seasons, but rainfall is heavier and there is little relief from the high temperatures at night.

The western and southern parts of the country are very mountainous with volcanic peaks rising to over 4.000 meters. Guatemala City and Antigua are located in this area with its typical and very pleasant highland climate. Rainfall here is moderate with a distinct dry season from November to April. There are warm days (20-25°C) and cool nights. At higher altitudes, the temperature can fall to 0°C in December and January; the average annual temperature is 20°C.

The best time to visit Guatemala is November-April, when there's less rain. It's always cooler in the mountains (usually between 15-22°C) and hot and humid in the lowlands (especially on the Pacific coast). Tikal can be very hot in the summer (33-37°C and humid), but take a sweater and long-sleeved shirt for the evenings and a jacket for Guatemala City. In September, when tropical storms move in from the Caribbean, it can rain for days on end.

Clothing

The Indian women dress in traditional costumes, while the general population, the so- called "ladinos" dress in a more modern way. Poverty does not prevent the men from wearing well-pressed trousers and a clean white shirts. The women usually wear dresses. Short dresses are not advisable. Light dresses/skirts are preferable. Torn jeans should not be worn.

In order to respect the population that wears traditional costumes you should not wear those clothes. Indian women coming to Antigua every day to sell their articles usually wear the traditional costumes, showing which town they come from. Only few Indian men still wear their traditional clothes, mostly in towns like Panajachel and Chichicastenango, or Todos Santos.

Very short skirts or shorts can be fine to wear on the beach, but not in Antigua or other towns.