Sea Salt
Guatemala produces unrefined natural sea salt which is much higher in vital essential minerals…and it’s inexpensive as well Wars have been fought over it. Deer in the woods and cows in the pasture love it. Gourmet shops hold sophisticated human tastings of it in elegant surroundings. If you spill some and wish to ward off [...]
Guatemala’s Unique Chachales
A second word is chachal, Quiché for necklace. The evolution of chachales in Guatemala is a fascinating tale of history, economics and anthropology. At the time of the Conquest, Guatemala’s indigenous prized red coral as component in necklaces. As easily recoverable near-shore coral became scarce, sharp traders, chiefly in Europe, manufactured substitutes and introduced them into Guatemala as trade goods. These were almost but not always red, apparently to satisfy taste here and elsewhere.
Where Am I? And What Day Is It?
Here’s a clue: If it hadn’t been for this event, the colonial gem of La Antigua Guatemala arguably might not exist. Here’s an almost contemporary account of the event, and to keep you guessing the place and, more interestingly, the date, the anwers are far below. This has been a year of much rain, and [...]
Flashback: 1937
Where am I? As you read on, see if you can decipher which part of Guatemala is being written about. The year is 1937, just when Hollywood first used Guatemala as the setting for a full-length 1938 feature film, Tarzan and the Green Goddess. Tourists from the United States had no difficulty figuring out what [...]
