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The land of maguey encompasses a region where many similar customs, such as the use of maguey, exist. While the most intense maguey culture has been in central Mexico, Guatemala is another place of importance. Distinguished from neighboring Mexico, Belize, Honduras, and El Salvador by international borders, the republic is made up of many geographical regions, ranging from sea level to over 14,000 feet in elevation. The Altiplano or occidente (western highlands, between Chimaltenango and the Mexican border), the central highlands (the area surrounding Guatemala City), the oriente (eastern highlands located between Guatemala City and Honduras and El Salvador), and the Verapazes (a region north of Guatemala City) are where I spent most of my time. I also crossed briefly into Chiapas, Mexico, northwestern El Salvador, and western Honduras to follow cultural, rather than political, divisions. Guatemala is made up of twenty-two departments, which are separated into municipalities; most are distinct in language, clothing, and customs. These divisions are further broken down into aldeas (villages or hamlets) and again into cantones or barrios (neighborhoods), caserios (cluster of homes), and large farms. Spain’s colonial influence, beginning in 1523, shaped large towns, which are laid out around a central park or plaza. Bordered by a Catholic church, government offices, and often a health center, market, and school, the plaza is the place where townspeople gather and community activities such as markets and celebrations take place. The biggest fiesta usually occurs on the day of a community’s (Catholic) patron saint. Activities always include fireworks, music, dances, processions, elected queens, and markets, and often horse races and rodeos. In rural areas, small separate sleeping and cooking structures made from the local materials of adobe, wood, or palm leaves are clustered in extended family groupings and surrounded by milpas (cornfields). Usually a 1 Guatemala 2 THE LAND oF MAGUEY few chickens, a pig, a couple of dogs, and a cat or two are in the vicinity . Horses and mules are nearby and they are very important as a means of transportation and for carrying products to weekly markets on long, difficult trails through the mountains, because these compounds are often located far from towns or roads. Here people depend on a diet of corn tortillas and black beans. The rhythm of life is tied to the agricultural cycle. The rainy season usually begins in May, marking the growing season. Throughout this time the milpa is cleaned, fertilized, and maintained until the harvest, which takes place around october, when the rains have stopped. From December until April the fields are cleaned and prepared for the next rainy season . This is also the time when families move to the coast or other regions where landholders of cash crops such as coffee and sugarcane are in need of seasonal workers. In contrast to the countryside, Guatemala City is a busy, noisy metropolis sitting on a high central plateau. Separated into twenty-one zones, this capital city boasts modern buildings, shopping malls, markets, museums , large parks, an international airport, impressive churches, government buildings, and substantial pollution. Urban and rural bus drivers race through the narrow, crowded streets, charging through each intersection in a game of chance. While most of my time was spent in rural Guatemala, the journey began in Guatemala City. Commuting on diesel-belching urban buses, I made contact with the appropriate personnel, collected information, and began to plot my movement around the country. When I finally headed away from the capital, on one of the major highways that radiate out from the city, I took a rural, or long-distance, bus. First-class transports or Pullmans go to large towns, but the majority of the communities that I visited are serviced by second-class transportation , better known as “chicken” buses. These are recycled United States school buses, often with the name of the school district still intact. Most are painted bright colors and affectionately named, such as La Perla del oriente (Pearl of the East), La Lila de oxidente (Lilac of the West), Monja Blanca (White Nun, the name of the national flower, one of the orchid family ), and Estrella Blanca (White Star). Loud music often blasts out through the windows and the driver will stop anywhere, for anyone, even if the bus is full. Current law states that everyone must be seated and, when police are approached, the driver will motion those standing in the aisle to kneel down, which gives the appearance that all passengers have a spot. Still, [3...

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