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Introduction

Guatemala is a magical destination. The heart of the Maya world -- it offers stunning scenery, intriguing archeological sites, ancient colonial cities, art, culture, a varied global cuisine, and a wealth of handicrafts for shoppers. Magnificent volcanic peaks, picturesque lakes, lush agricultural lands, scrubby desert, and rain forest thread the countryside. Besides its physical beauty, it is the incredible diversity of the land and its people that makes this country such a captivating holiday destination.

Perched at the top of the Central American Isthmus below the Yucatan Peninsula, Guatemala cover 42,000 square miles, an area comparable to Ohio and home to 9 million people. It borders Mexico to the North, El Salvador and Honduras to the South, the Pacific Ocean to the West and the Caribbean Sea and Belize to the East.

Two-thirds of the country is mountainous, with the main mountain chains in the southwest forming a string of volcanoes, many exceeding 11,000 feet.

Rainforest, bush, and swamps in the North yields timber and chewing gum. The fertile plains of the Pacific and Caribbean are used for cattle, sugar cane, cotton and fruit plantations. The economy is primarily agricultural with coffee, cotton, sugar, bananas, and beef leading exports. Corn and beans, the staple diet, are cultivated at all altitudes. Tourism is a primary money maker.

The multi-faceted populace is intriguing. More than half of the population is Indian with a strong indigenous culture, though they have adopted some European customs forced on their ancestors more than five centuries ago. All of Guatemala's Indians are Maya, but at least 22 different ethnicity's, differentiated by language, exist within that group. The other half are divided among Ladinos, the descendents of Europeans and Indians, a handful of African immigrants, and the European minority, predominantly Hispanic, which maintain a colonial lease on power. This creates a colorful human tapestry where the people are the product of the merger of sophisticated pre-Colombian cultures with Spanish colonialism and the consumerist influences of modern America.

It is in the central highlands, west of Guatemala City that Indian culture dominates. This area offers wildly beautiful scenery alongside the many Indian villages with their endless array of fiestas and markets, all worth a visit. This is a prime destination locale for the tourist.

Antigua, the old colonial capital, devastated by earthquakes but still offering superb architecture and the remains of huge churches, is an idyllic base. There are many international flights to Guatemala City and Antigua lies 45 minutes away by shuttle or private van.

From here, day trips are easily accessible to Lake Atitlan and the vast market in the town of Chichicastenango. Tikal, the most impressive of the Mayan sites, rivaling any in Latin America, is reached on one or two-day tours; most visitors prefer an overnight stay as a flight is necessary from Antigua and the weather can delay departure.

Holy Week is a prime time for a visit since Antigua offers the most elaborate and impressive pageant of processions in Central and South America, rivaling those in Seville, Spain.

This past Easter season I delighted in a stay in a private home with a group of friends. We rented two spacious private homes a few blocks apart in the heart of this charming city of 50,000 inhabitants. Each house came with a cook and a maid, and had exquisite artifacts and decor, sumptuous bedrooms, and a serene interior courtyard garden with tinkling water fountains, all enclosed within the four walls of the spacious stucco homes. We could just step out the door of our securely locked abode to view the ongoing festivities and parades.

The local processions commence Palm Sunday and are carried out on Good Friday, culminating in a candlelit Saturday night display under the full moon, and a finale on Easter Sunday. Townspeople stay up all night adorning the streets with carpets of designs in flower petals, colored sawdust and sand, pine needles and greenery.

On Good Friday a procession re-enacts the progress of Christ to the Cross. Garbed in purple robes, 80 men carry a three-ton platform bearing the figures through the streets in an eight-hour or longer walk, stopping at 20 stations for replacements for the load. Women and children follow with smaller floats. Once the design is trampled upon, it is swept up and another different one is carefully laid down by design.

Thousands of people from here and abroad gathered this year, lining the cobblestone roads, to observe the pageantry and pay tribute to this century-old tradition. Security was intensified with three different police squads manning every corner with rifles and hat and ready smiles.

Our days were filled with local sight-seeing, side trips, and market soirees. It was just two blocks to the Plaza Mayor, the main square bustling with pink and white cotton candy hawkers, shoeshine boys, and vendors with trinkets and handicraft galore. Around every corner on this square are shops and cozy cafes featuring a range of worldly specialties.

The town market lies a block away. Here stallkeepers young and old displayed woven bags, purses, necklaces, hats, rugs, blankets, carvings and t-shirts, and bargaining with the customer was an essential reward of the sale. Young women, some with babies slung on their backs in a "tzute" (a rectangular cloth) prod the tourists, saying "I've spent enough time with you, now you must buy from me."

The many old ruined churches are worth perusing as is the Casa Popenoe, a superbly restored colonial mansion showing the domestic life in earlier times. The house, set around a gorgeous courtyard, was originally built in 1634 and is open from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Saturday. During Easter Week it was closed, due to the great number of visitors.

We took a day trip to Guatemala City by hired van to visit the Museo Ixchel, a textile museum with extensive displays representing 120 communities located in the country's highland region. The museum also features two pictorial collections, one of water colors, and another of oil paintings, on permanent display. The present contemporary building opened in November 1993 on the site of the Universidad Franciso Marroquin campus. The museum is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4:50 p.m. and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 12:50 p.m. Tickets are 25 quetzals, or $2.50 per person for adults.

The monetary unit, a quetzal, is named for the endangered sacred bird. During our stay, 6 quetzals translated to about $1.

Enroute home, we stopped at a typical local roadside eatery for carnitas, tacos, chiles rellenos, guacamole and good Gallo beer, savoring a bountiful midday repast for $5 apiece.

Another day, a drive to Lake Atitlan offered breath-taking scenery, marred only by a hazy sky due to a three-month drought an burning in the fields. At the market in Chichicastenango, bargains included a carved Saint Rafael holding a sword and fish ($45), and a wooden "flying" cherub tooting a horn ($25). Small 6-inch woven zippered bags were $2 and baggy pants $6.

Lunch at the nearby Mayan Hotel was a prix fixe menu of red pepper soup, a special plate of rice, grilled chicken, chorizos, beef strips, and guacamole, and strawberry ice cream for $7.

A short drive away from Antigua is the weaving town of San Antonio Aguas Calientes where Carolina's Weaving shop is famous for jackets, bags, belts and other weavings. Enroute we stopped to photograph the oldest church in South America, Our Lady of the Conception, built in 1534 and once buried in a volcanic eruption.

Just around the corner from our home in Antigua was a textile store and retail museum of traditional Maya dress called Nim P'ot at 5a Avenida N. #29. Its name means "ceremonial huipil" in the language of Santiago Atitlan, and the shop offers the world's largest retail collection of contemporary and antique Maya dress. A modern Maya woman may spend months weaving her huipil, or blouse, which is her statement of identity as an individual within her community. Her peers read the subtly encoded messages of design, workmanship, and materials at a glance. The extensive collection of huipils, belts, skirts, and hair ornaments, each detailed as to place origin, makes this an intriguing sojourn.

Another fine shop in town is Casa de Artes at 4a. Avenida Sur #11, open Monday through Saturday from 9a.m. to 1 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. It offers arts and crafts of fine quality, specializing in Indian weavings, jewelry, and folk art in a museum-like atmosphere.

Accommodations in Antigua offer a range of possibilities. At the high end is the lovely Casa Santo Domingo, a luxury hotel and restaurant in a converted Colonial convent. Doubles run $150 and singles $115 per night. The Address is 3a Calle Oriente #28. The Hotel Posada de Don Rodrigo, 5 Ave. Norte #17, is a well-established hotel with rooms set around courtyards, a restaurant, and daily marimba music. Prices: $68 for a double and $60 for a single.

For a delightful stay in a 400-year-old home consider the Casa de los Cantaros, a palatial mansion called a "bed and breakfast." It offers lovely semi-suites and other bedrooms around a courtyard and communal living room and dining areas. Prices range from $60 to $00 for a daily stay, less for weekly rates. Contact the charming English-speaking owner and manager, Ana Maria Pellecer, 5a. Avenida Sur #5, 03001 Antigua. Telephone: (502) 832-0674; Fax: (502) 832-0609.

Most of the country has a temperate climate of 69 on average. The elevation of 5,000 feet keeps Antigua pleasant year-round. The rainy season is May through November, but conversations with local residents suggest that any season is a fine time for a visit.

Once regarded as the cultural and religious center of the country, today Antigua is a haven of tranquility,and a quiet break from the energy of the capital. Another prime attraction is its dozens of language schools, some of the best and cheapest in all of Latin America. The tourist office, open daily from 8 a.m. to noon and 2 p.m. to 6 p.m., is on the south side of the plaza with plenty of literature for excursions and words of caution for safety.

Guatemalan fare is a blend of the Spanish, Indian and European, with such French specialties as mushroom quiche and profiteroles with ice cream and chocolate sauce, alongside such native dishes as Chiles Rellenos and Chicken Pepian, the bird cooked in a pumpkin and sesame seed spicy sauce. Other typical restaurant dishes include shrimp ceviche, red snapper with cashews, and mushrooms with garlic. Flan is a justly famous dessert and hot bananas may come with a chile-spiked chocolate sauce.

Our daily breakfasts featured a sumptuous platter of ultra-sweet pineapple rings, cantaloupe crescents, pink papaya spears and peeled bananas, plus pancakes or eggs any style and toast and marmalade. For lunch, a homemade vegetable soup of carrots, broccoli, spinach, corn, or green beans served as a prelude to a salad platter of sliced tomatoes and red onion rings, sprouts and avocado wedges, with a chicken or ham sandwich alongside. Vegetables starred at dinner -- sugar snaps, long beans, artichokes, and patty pan squash -- with rice and pork chops, chicken with mushrooms, grilled snapper, prawns in tomato sauce, or leg of lamb. Fried plantains, flan and watermelon with liqueur were sweets. The two houses joined for dining occasionally, and our kindly house waiter dressed up to serve to table wearing a colorful native costume of bolero jacket, short embroidered pants and turban hat.

Recipes

Spanish Tortilla
makes 4 servings

3 large white potatoes or Yukon Gold potatoes, thinly sliced
1/4 cup olive oil
1 onion, chopped
Salt and pepper, to taste
4 eggs
1 small red pepper, seeded and sliced
Minced flat-leaf parsley

Leave the skin on the potato, if you prefer. Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in a 9 or 10 inch skillet and sautÈ the potatoes and onion, stirring, until golden brown. Season with salt and pepper. Beat the eggs and gently mix the potatoes with the eggs. In another frying pan, heat the remaining oil and pour in the potato and egg mixture. Cook over medium heat without stirring until set. With a plate, flip over and cook on the other side until browned. Garnish with pepper slices and parsley.

Paella Marinera
makes 6-8 servings

3 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1 red pepper, seeded and chopped
1 green pepper, seeded and chopped
10 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 pound mild or spicy Spanish sausage, diced
2 cups rice
3 cups hot seafood broth or water
Pinch saffron
1 pound raw medium-sized shrimp, peeled and deveined
1/2 pound clams in their shells
1/2 pound mussels in their shells
Salt to taste
1 cup artichoke hears, parboiled
1/2 cup green olives

In a paella pan or heavy bottomed large pot, heat the oil and sautÈ the onion, peppers, and garlic until soft. Add the sausage and sautÈ a few minutes. Add the rice, broth and saffron. Bring to a boil, cover and simmer 10 minutes. Add the seafood and simmer until cooked through and the rice is tender, about 10 minutes longer. Add salt to taste and garnish with artichokes and olives and heat through.

Flan (Caramel Custard)
makes 8 servings

1 cup sugar
3-1/2 cups milk
6 eggs
2 egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
1/3 cup toasted chopped almonds or berries for garnish (optional)

Heat 1/2 cup of the sugar in a heavy saucepan until it melts and turns amber, shaking the pan. Immediately pour into a 1-1/2 quart ring mold and tilt to coat all sides. Pour milk into the pan and heat until scalding. Beat eggs and yolks until light and beat in the remaining 1/2 cup sugar. Stir in the milk, vanilla and almond extract. Pour into the mold and place in pan of hot water. Bake in a 350 F oven for 50 minutes or until set. Let cool and chill. With a knife, loosen the edges and unmold onto a platter. Sprinkle with nuts or accompany with berries, if you wish.

History notes on Antigua: The territory of Guatemala was explored by Pedro de Alvarado on Hernan Cortes' orders and finally conquered after months of fighting the defiant Maya. As part of the colonial expansion movement, Alvarado founded the city of Santiago de los Caballeros de Guatemala at Iximche in 1524. This was the first European community on Guatemalan soil, and the old trades of Europe and the natural talent of the Maya made for a perfect partnership, as their creativity gave birth to the Guatemalan
colonial style.

Alvarado was killed in an expedition and his young wife, Dona Beatriz, took over, yet her reign was short-lived. She was killed in a flood and a wash of rain and mud. In 1527 the capital moved to Ciudad Vieja, a valley a few kilometers from Antigua. Later it moved to Antigua. After the 1717 earthquake the city reached its peak with 70,000 inhabitants and 32 churches, 15 convents and monasteries, and 10 chapels. Antigua was again destroyed by the severe earthquake of 1773.

Lou Seibert Pappas is a former food editor of the Palo Alto Times Tribune and a home economist with Sunset Magazine. She currently writes food, home, and travel-related articles for national magazines and newspapers and is the author of more than 30 books.

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