Port of Call: Guatemala
Of calendars and Worry Dolls

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Maya. Mountains. Markets. Magic.

Where the rain forests of Guatemala now stand, a great civilization once flourished. The people of Mayan society built vast cities, ornate temples, and towering pyramids. At its peak around 900 A.D., the population numbered 500 people per square mile in rural areas, and more than 2,000 people per square mile in the cities. It's Guatemala. This predominantly Spanish speaking country is 108,890 sq. km. (42,042 square miles, about the size of the state of Tennessee in the US) and contains 19 active volcanoes! It is bordered by the North Pacific Ocean and the Gulf of Honduras and Mexico, Belize, Honduras and El Salvador. The land is mountainous, the climate ranging from temperate to tropical and the markets are filled with many of the things the country exports: coffee, sugar, bananas, cardamom, vegetables, flowers and plants, timber, rice and rubber.

The Mayan civilization flourished in this sun-drenched paradise during the first millennium ACE. Math, writing - both pictorial and script, astronomy and architectural skills