I live in Guatemala... and it's such a small countrty that sometimes I wonder:
How much do other people know about Guatemala? I'd really like to know what you've heard about this 3rd world country...
It's sooo difrent to know about a country and actually live in it...

I know next to nothing about Guatamala. Spanish speaking country, Central America? I have heard that there are a number of retired Americans living there. Tell us about it?

I know it for the Guatemala Harp.

Whel I dont know about the Guatemalan Harp, but well lets see... The mayas lived here until the spanish came and conquered (it was a horrible masacre) and since then there has been a very big division in the population between the native "Indios" and the "mestizos".
There are lots of really nice architectural sites you can see in Guatemala. Tikal is a mayan city built in the jungles of Peten. Antigua is a city in Sacatepequez (a "Departamento" sort of like a state) that was flooded by the volcan de agua and has lots of old houses and churches frfom the colonial times.
In Guatemala ther is 24 diferent "languages" that are spoken, some of these ar Spanish, Quiché, cakchiquel, quchua, acateco, aguacateco, uspanteco, I cant remember all of them now... but its in a book somewhere. Ill post it later with some mor information about my country.
But still, I want to hear what YOU know. (and tell me what is the guatemalan harp, I live here, and have never heaerd it.)
There is a quiz I made about Guatemala it's called Guatemalan Facts, be sure to check it out!!

Ana moc, I think I can safely say that you are the first (and only) Guatemalan on our site. Welcome aboard, and thanks for the information about your country.

Ana_moc, welcome to FT! I have to say, I know next to nothing about Guatemala! I've wracked my brain and all I can truly say it to me, geographically, it's "down there", and it's colourful, and it's something I had to learn at school! And that's IT! That's pretty poor, really! Do enlighten us. Guatemala sounds full, and powerful and exotic to me, up here in the frozen northern wastelands of Canada! Tell us more! I'm rather embarassed at my lack of knowledge! ~Lea

I have heard references to the harp on music or geographic programs over the years. It must be something that stuck with me or it wouldn't have come so easily to mind.

Things like this always make me race for the search engines to try and educate myself a little (not an easy task! ).

I have found a few references to Central or South American music and harps. One mentions Guatemala and Equador in particular. I had hoped to find a photograph but haven't so far.

Perhaps a better term for the instrument would be the South American harp but not knowing my harps I wouldn't know how they differ from the harps in other areas of the world.

Harps aside, I have learned quite alot about your country as well. This site (Guatemala) seems very informative. What is your opinion of it?

I know a little. Guatemala tastes wonderful with cornchips and sour cream

Just kidding. What a great question. I had never heard of the place until I read a war book. It was fiction, but the author kept the geography and the social demographic accurate so I picked up a few things. Guatemala neighbors Belize to the east and Mexico to the north. I'm guessing now, but is it El Salvador to the south?

Guatemala has been subject to it's share of political unrest and guerilla warfare. I think you also have active volcanoes, the odd tropical cyclone and some realy lovely scenery:)

Would Guatemala be a safe place to visit for a holiday? Is it tropical? Do you like life there?

'Hard work never killed anybody, but why take a chance'?

Let me just state for the record that we have at least one other Guatemalan on the site. Jaggedlittlegirl is on the chatroom with great frequency, and (although she hates cats!)
is one of the most knowledgeable regulars in multi-player. She is truly eclectic and entertaining.
You will be happy to know that there is another quiz posted with at least some Guatemalan content. There is a quiz posted about Literary sneers, snits and scandals which has a question about Rigoberta Menchu. The quizmaker is a horrible man who hates SUV's and makes incomprehensible jokes about obscure Canadian provinces.
We in America know about the subversion of Arbenz' government by the CIA in the 50's, which was acting at the behest of United Fruit.. a long and sad story. An excellent American writer, Stephen Kinzer, has written an interesting book about this.
Why not pop into the chat-room in Multi one night and we'll try to link you up with jaggedlittlegirl?

Ana...welcome to Funtrivia, very nice of you to join us. We are always happy to get interesting new discussions formed on various topics in this forum (The World Around Us)...it seems a relatively neglected neck of the FT woods.

I feel that I am somewhat familiar with your country, having read about it here and there in books and magazines. Like the rest of the countries in Central America, Guatemala has lovely weather and a pleasant natural environment, if one ignores the volcanoes nearby! I would be very pleased to visit your country in the future, I think tourism has great potential there. Many Americans go to Costa Rica or Belize when the travel down to your neck of the woods, but perhaps things will change in that regard. I think that one drawback with Guatemala is that there has been some political instability, and the country has received a somewhat bad reputation through the literary works of Menchu (who has been largely discredited) and Asturias. I wonder if things are politically as bad as they seem though, based on this reputation? Perhaps you could enlighten us in that regard.

In the north of the country you have El Petén which contains some of the greatest Mayan ruins, and also houses many descendants of the Mayan tradition who still speak various Mayan dialects. If I am not mistaken, the largest of the Mayan step pyramids is located there...is that right? (I think it's called Tikal?) Also, the greatest examples of Mayan 'glyphs' are said to be found in Guatemala. The glyphs are something of a cross between Chinese characters and ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics. The Mayan written language was the only one developed in the new world, and probably one of only 4 original written language forms (the others being Chinese 'doodles', Sumerian 'wedgies' and Egyptian 'glyphies'.) I saw a documentary one time on the deciphering of the Mayan glyphs, it was fascinating. Many of the Glyphs, carved in stone, referred to the dynastic names of the various ancient Mayan kings. Experts have been able to assemble a large amount of information on Mayan history from these wonderful carvings. I'd love to go down to Guatemala and take a look!

I could go on here, but I don't want to babble all day. I'd love to hear more about what you have to say regarding your country...please continue to enlighten us!

(P.S. Maybe we should start other country discussions...please feel free to open up other threads regarding your favorite countries folks...)

Doug - who might be that quizmaker? I am just curious!

Coming back to Guatemela, all I know is that its capital is Guatemela city and that is in Central America!
Okay - time to cram up other details

WOW
I'm sooo happy that I got all these replies... I didn't think that anybody would be so intrested in Guatemala... But it is actually a beautifull country
If i'm not mistaken, we have almost 44 volcanoes (I think) but I'll get my textbook and tell you more. It's a great country if you want to come visit, there is a lot to do. I think that the best place to go is ANTIGUA. This city (as I said before) is in Sacaepequez, and used to be the capital of Guatemala until a volcano was filled with water and the crater broke and flooded the city.
Yes, Tikal is in Peten, and it has some beautifull pyramids... When I go there I sometimes can't believe that the mayas could make them. The Mayas had a solar calendar and a numerical system that included the zero (other than the egyptians, they "Discovered it"). It's really very interesting, and I'll try to find some good websites to post for you.
I still haven't figured out what the "Guatemalan Harp" is, but the instrument that is very common her is called the "Marimba"
Well please feel free to ask ANY questions about guatemala... I'll try to answer them all because Now iom on vacations YEY
But anyway, Yes I really enjoy living here, although its very difrent from the U.S (Part of my family lives there) Ther are armed police and guards at the entrences to the banks, but DON'T FREAK OUT they wont shoot unless you try to steal something. well, Ill post something tomorow... so this won't get boring, but please ask anything you want.
P.S. Just incase your'e wondering, we live in normal houses (not on trees) and we have Mc donalds and internet and stuff like that.
Thanke You for answering (again)

Damn - they tried to shoot people who steal there also (they do it here also!)
Why can't an innocent thief have his way anywhere in this world?

I have called friends in a certain Beltway town in Northern, Virginia., and have received assurances that we will not try to overthrow your government again, unless it's really, really necessary.
But then again, I guess if you have McDonald's, we've subverted you already!

And, in looking at some details of the country, I also learned that it not only touches the Caribbean, but also the Pacific Ocean!

Actually, that's the reason that the guatemalan flag is blue white and blue again (3 vertical parts). Both blue parts represent the 2 oceans (Atlantic and Pacific) and the white part represents the land, and it's suposed "purity".
Guatemala's national bird is the Quetzal, it's also the name of the guatemalan currency. Just thought it might be interesting...

http://www.sat.gob.gt/guatemala/album.asp
This is a site (in spanish) but if you click on any of the links you'll get to see very neat pictures, especially in "Nuestra gente " and in "Trajes Típicos"

These pictures (in trages tipicos) will show you some of the many ways that the Natives dress. Please don't confuse this with mayan dressing. This clothing was a way for the spanish to keep their slaves identified, that way if one escaped, you could tell by what they were wearing who the slave belonged too.

I have some Guatemalan relatives. Some are from the city and I don't remember where the rest are from (I believe it was some island). Some of my relatives are Garifuna.

I don't know much about the place besides what was already written.

In reply to:

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Guatemala's national bird is the Quetzal

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I'm ashamed to admit this, but I never realized until now that the quetzal actually existed. I had heard vaguely of the god Quetzalcoatl (a serpent with bird's feathers ) and I had assumed that the quetzal was purely mythical, like the roc or the phoenix - even though there's a picture of it in an encyclopaedia that's been on my shelves for years.

You're teaching some of us a lot, Ana_Moc.

Is it true that Guatamala has adopted the US$ as its official currency in place of the quetzal? If so, I wonder if that was a wise move. Latin American countries that adopt the US$ seem to come unstuck economically - witness Argentina.

NOOOO What really happened was that now it's also legal to have bank acounts in dollars so that way the currency exchange rate won't affect you much if you're working with dollars. (I'll be shure to figure out what exactly happened) But the country that did that was El Salvador (south-east of Guatemala) And they changed the Colones for the dollars. A friend of my parents that lives in El Salvador was shoked when se found out that what she had to pay her domestic help (thats very common in central america because the peopple without education work in other people's houses cleaning and doing lawndry and stuff,) around 75 dollars a month. She even felt guilty...
But guatemala hasn't changed it's currency yet, still it's legal to use the Quetzal but (I think) now you can use the dollar ALSO (still I'll find out in deatail what it is that hapened)

Another out of the place fact: Guatemala's national flower is the Monja Blanca (an orchid) I'll figure out it's name in english and a sight for you to see it.
I'm verry happy that I can show you something about my great country

There isn't any island belonging to Guatemala (when the english took Belize, the islands went with that as well) so maybe those relatives belong to Belize. The Garifunas are one of guatemala's many ethnic cultures, and it's not a Mayan decendant one. They mostly live in the departamento de Izabal, which is on the atlantic coast. If you look at a map, it looks like a little arm sticking out into the caribean ocean.
I found my textbook so I'll tell you about the guatemalan cultures.
In Guatemala ther is three diferent etnic identities that are well defined, the ladinos, the Indígenas and the Garífunas.
The Indigena population is the most diverse. these are the diferent linguistic groups of the indigenas: Achi, akateco, awakateco, ch'orti', chuj, itz'a, ixil, popti, cakchiquel, quiché, mam, poqomam, poqomchi', q'anjob'al, q'eqchi, sacapulteko, sipakapence, tektiteko, t'zutujil, uspanteco, xinca.
The garifunas are originated by a mixture between africans and americans (as in the continent, not just the US.) they came to guatemala around the XVIII century.
The ladinos are the ones that their cultural identity is predominated by the way of the europeans. This is because when the spanish coquered america and mixed with the indians, the children that came out were called "Mestizos" and MOST of the ladinos are sort of desendants of the mestizos. (but not all of them)
Well I'll got through my textbook to find some more good information for you. (maybe the volcanoes?)

http://www.arauz.com/~fotoreal/foto-galerias/uno/pages/monja-blanca_jpg.htm
this is the picture of the guatemalan national flower, the monja blanca.

I haven’t had a decent discussion about Guatemala for years so I’m racking my mind trying to remember what my relatives have told me.

The places I was trying to remember before were Livingston and Puerto Barrios. I thought Livingston is an island because I’ve heard that a boat is needed to get there. I’ve been told that those two places are where most of the Black Guatemalans live. There is one other place I can’t remember, but most of my Guatemalan relatives are from those three (including Guatemala City).

I know a little about the Garifuna. I have Garifuna relatives in the Caribbean and Central America. Their history was a bedtime story of sorts for me, but back then I never knew the stories were real. I was making a quiz about their history and culture, but deleted it some time ago.

I know very little of the Garifunas, except for what I've learned in school. Here in the city there is very little (if any) black people. Most of them live in the departamento de Izabal. (on the atlantic coast) In Livingston or in Pueto Barrios, or even in Rio Dulce. Iv'e never seen them for real... it's a little embarassing, since I live here.
I found this website (in english) That talks about Izabal and the garifunas, there are some pictures too. http://www.enjoyguatemala.com/izabal.htm If you click on the links ontop, there is more info. and lots of other pictures.
Please tell me what you think of the website... Ill keep looking for more of those in english.