fl^M Illillllliiiiiiiiilliiillllllliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiini 015 842 043 1464 194 >py 1 lohe PAN AME:RICAN UNION JOHN BARRETT : : Director General FRANCISCO J. YANES : Assistant Director Through the Marvelous Highlands of Guatemala ^7^ ^ Reprinted from the October, 1917, issue of the Bulletin of the Pan American Union yU'VW I i WASHINGTON GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 1917 f"\"'f' "f {'"""■ ""f"f"ff""^''"'f"f"'f h "%'fY"\€^ f""f"'fy- /■•"'% y X ^ FAR upon the horizon towered the twin volcanoes of Atitlan, their dark flanks wTeathed in vast white masses of cloud- hke sparkhng fields of snow. The cones, thousands of feet above, stood out sharply against the deep blue vault of the tropic skies. For five days we had been riding to them through the enchanted highlands of Guatemala, a marvelous land of fragrant pine forests, floAvers, singing birds, broad winding roads, and fer- tile fields of wheat and corn cultivated by hundreds of thousands of industrious Indians. And many pueblos we had passed, lying on the rolling bosom of the cool table-lands with their schools and temples to Minerva, goddess of wisdom, and their white mission buildings and churches from whose thick-w^alled towers the pealing bells sum- moned the devout Indians to prayer. Almost without sensing a change of scene we had plunged into the quiet depths of a giant forest, dark after the brilliance of the tropical sun, where mighty trees rose as the stately pillars of a cathedral, to find upon emerging that a turn of the road brought into view a panorama of 200 miles of magnificent mountain country, forests, plains, the silver glint of lakes and streams, and volcanic cones 2 miles high enshrouded in turbans of fog. Such is Guatemala,_land of majestic contrasts, of unwonted, almost appalling surprises. Here is one of the splendid show places of the world. Far from the beaten path of most tourists its wonders are becoming better known. n grandeur it will compare with Switzer- land, the Canadian Eockies, the Grand Canyon of Arizona, and its panorama is laid upon as vast a scale. Yet the tropic higlilands have an individuality all their own, of lights, and shades, and fleeting colors, of luxuriant masses of vegetation, of inspiring and prodigious formations of the land. Below lay cities with their public squares and white churches, fields of yellow grain like golden patches of light in the crystal-clear atmos- phere of the highlands, huge dark masses of forest, and beyond, ■extending their thousands of spurs and flanks, rose the prodigious Cordilleras. To the left the peaks of Atitlan towered to the heavens, ' By Hamilton M. Wright, author of A Handboolc of the Philippines. 2 25720-17 -p^ Qf -^^ UtC 22 191? .Lil^i:^ 4 THROUGH THE MARVELOUS HIGHLANDS OF GUATEMALA. , majestic, symmetrical, recalling in their perfect contour the famed Fugiyama of Japan. It was more than a half day's ride from this point before we came to Godines Crest and beheld, 3,000 feet below us, the deep blue waters of Lake Atitlan, and on its opposite shores, rising sheer a mi'e to a mile and one-half above the surface of the lake, seven great volcanoes, of which the two known as Atitlan are the most wonderful. Lake Atitlan, itself a vast crater lake 27 miles in greatest length and 12 miles wide, is a remarkable body of water. The Rev. Father Garcia, of Naguala, a graduate of the University of Rome, and one who has given enthusiastic study to the meteorology of the region, informed me that ofhcial soundings of this lake gave an extreme depth of more I than 1,000 feet. Its surface is 5,000 feet above the level of the sea. Its waters teem with trout with which it has been stocked and, while walking upon its sandy beach near Panajachel, we saw great schools of smaller fish and not a few of the larger. Into its shores plunge the volcanic hills, often in precipitous, forested hogbacks, often in steeply sloping wheat fields, or again ending in miie-high cliffs of bright red sandstone or perpendicular walls marked by the slate grays and pin-plish hues of volcanic ash. Such are the walls of Lake Atitlan, often called Lake Panajachel, painted by nature in her most glorious, riotous colors, and rivaling even the famed hues of the Grand Canyon of Arizona. From the shores of the lake, as we first looked down upon it, arose great clouds of steam as if the beach were saturated with boihng water. But, in this case, it was merely the afternoon sun beating upon the wet sands, for the waters of Atitlan are cool and crystal clear. Billows of mist, too, arose from the surface of the lake, only to be caught and dissipated by the sudden squalls that come almost vertically from the mountain passes, and always there were rainbows to be seen in the ascending mists. Whether one looked a half mile down upon the mirrored surface of the lake or whether he gazed at the volcanoes towering a mile above and wreathed in their streaming feather bows of shifting vapors, he felt as though great phenomena of nature were being staged for his benefit. Some splendid roads have been built in the neighborhood of the lake. One of them, broad and sweeping, leads from Panajachel on the southeast shores of Atitlan to the picturesque pueblo of Solala, which is perched on mountain bluffs thousands of feet above. The road is blasted from rocky cliffs and its sides and walls are, hterally, of granite. It is a remarkable piece of construction accompUshed by one of the generals of President Cabrera's army. So steep is the road that cascades fall at its very edge and their waters are borne beneath it by culverts. As it skirts the gigantic bluffs, the traveler obtains entrancing visions of the lake and of the many villages upon its shores. THROUGH THE MARVELOUS HIGHLANDS OF GUATEMALA. A CASCADE NEAR LAKE ATITLAN, GUATEMALA. "Some splendid roads have been built in the neighborhood of the lake. One of them, broad and sweeping, leads from Panajachel on the southeast shore of Atitlan to the picturesque pueblo of Solala, which is perched on mountain bluffs thousands of • feet below. * * * So steep is the road that cascades fall at its very edge, and their waters are borne beneath it bv culverts." We started on this journey, myself and my compadre, a genial old mule- teer, from Guatemala City, the capital of the Republic. It is, itself, a city of the highlands with an altitude of 4,800 feet above sea level, a thoroughh^ modern city with excellent hotels and clul)s and every convenience for tlie tourist and traveler. The popula- tion of the city is about 125,000 and with its well-paved streets, fine sliops, ;! I tractive churches, public edifices, and educational institutions it af- fords a thousand pleasant diversions. At 7 o'clock of a cool bright morning we clattered over the broad flagstone pavements of the city, the writer on a stout mule and his companion on a wiry little mountain horse. Cur objective for the first day was An- tigua, the former capital of the Re- public, which lies as a modern Pom- peii at the brim of the twin volca- noes, Agua and Fuego. The journey,- 30 miles, is also made by automobile and diligencia or stage. In fact, the roads in the dry season will permit automobiles to travel about 50 miles farther north, but as we contem- plated traversing some very rough country we preferred to cling to our mounts. The ride to Antigua, though a short one, is filled with interest and novelty. In the earh^ morning one passes an ahnost endless procession of oxcarts and picturesquely dressed Indians coming into market. At Mixco, about 9 nnles out, is to be seen the old conduit of flat flagstones built many years ago to supply Gua- temala City with water. The con- duit was still delivering water, and its method of construction suggested that of the old Roman aqueducts. At Mixco one obtains an excellent view O t> 03 ^ .2, ^„ 0.9 .Ss ca p.+= g ^i^ o 0) o • 'm *-* 2 ri CB 3 O g M O .^ e!.d Si" r- ^ > Si.'O r-. O •^ p,c3-i^ 3'^ i? Qi S^M^ ° ^^'^ fi o a't^ 6 ».S o s " 3 CM 0) C^ M^ c-j;S ate sr. dsti tin- ton .„ S.4 c« P p ..rt £'^\I^ yi o^ a'~ bjC'— ' "^ « t-S^cS"- lofth t afe\ ; of bi- hcl,p ?mala the leve h and no igh cliffs Panajac of Guati o M.Q (15 m >C i.it'O j2 o -^S cs a M •et ab nallei in mi ledL ighla 'I — ra bclsM illoS 1 t^ o ^ c ^ K >> 8 THROUGH THE MARVELOUS HIGHLANDS OF GUATEMALA. of Guatemala City, which lies upon an elevated plahi on the Atlantic side (jf the Continental Divide and which has the characteristic dignity and stateliness of the larger Latin American capitals, due, no doubt, to the careful city planning and to the ornate architectural forms employed. At Mixco we leave the stage road, plunge by a short cut into the hills and by 1 o'clock are in Antigua. It has been said of Antigua that it possesses the most extensive ruins to be found in any one spot in the world. The city was founded by the warrior Alvarado, w^ho w^as sent south from Mexico about 1541. It was destroyed b^ an earthquake on July 29, 1773. Although some of its ruined churches have been reconstructed, for the most part the restored city embraces the old ruins wliich have changed but little in appearance in the last 100 years. The giant arches still remain and the mighty walls give a hint of past glories. At the time of its destruction Antigua was the center of the political, economic, and ecclesiastical administration in Central America. Fifty-eight huge edifices, including the cathedral, the governor general's palace, and many handsome churches and their dependent monasteries were laid w^aste. To my mind the most beau- tiful ruin is that of the Church of the Recoleccion, which I w-as at pains to photograph. Although much of the debris has for genera- tions been covered wdth trailing vines and picturesque shrubs, these but serve to accentuate the majesty of the great pillars and arches which appear capable of enduring for centuries. Of amazing interest, to the writer at least, wns the fact that the pigments used in the decorations of the w^alls and the inner arches of the church were as bright and fresh as if the colors had been applied but yesterday. Venetian red and cerulean blue aj^peared in attractive mosaics and designs. These are probably outer decorations w^hich led to murals of religious subjects on the ceilings of the central vaults or na^es. The volcano Agua tow^ers almost directly above the city of Antigua, at least so it seems, for the gradient is very steep, but a high ridge leads down the southern side of the mountain by which the ascent is easily made by muleback in a few" hours. It is quite customary to ascend the volcano, which has an elevation of 11,000 feet, to see the sun rise. If the morning is a clear one, Guatemala City, Lake Amatitlan, 15 miles south of Guatemala City, and even the Pacific Ocean may be discerned. Ice forms near the summit of the peak and, as there are many hot springs, one ma}', as it were, turn the faucet of old Mother Earth for both hot and cold water. There are several good inns and Jiotels in Antigua, with corrals in connection w^here one may put up his horses. At the inn at which the writer stopped there were a gentleman and his wife from Valparaiso, a family from Cuba, and two ladies and their brother from Boston. Thus, it may be seen, Antigua is rather cosmopolitan in its appeal. TWO VIEWS OF LAKE ATITLAN, GUATEMALA. Lake Atitlan is a vast crater lake 27 miles in greatest length and 12 miles wide. Its surface is 5,000 feet above the level of the sea. " From the shores of the lake, as we first looked down upon it, arose great clouds of steam, as if the beach were saturated with boiling water. But, in this case, it was merely the afternoon sun beating upon the wet sands, for the waters of Atitlan are cool and crystal clear. Billows of mist, too, arose from the surface of the lake, only to be caught and dissipated hj the sudden squalls that come almost vertically from the mountain passes, and always there are rainbows to be seen in the ascending mists.'' 10 THROUGH THE MARVELOUS HIGHLANDS OF GUATEMALA. During our brief stay there we had the finest of strawberries for the table, also sweet corn, beets, lettuce, and artichokes. Inquiry revealed that almost every fruit and vegetable known to the temperate zone can be grown in the Guatemalan highlands. We passed some unusually fine peach trees at Totonicipan later in our travels. The flowers, too, were lovely, roses, hollyhocks, and crysanthemums being- cultivated in the public plaza at Antigua. Leading out of Antigua one passes on broad shady roads, sometimes through narrow ravines, again crossing meadows with running brooks and now mounting upward througli forests of pine until the plateaus are reached, great broad table-lands bordered by distant mountain ranges whose lofty volcanic peaks stand out boldly against the sky. All the highhind country is densely populated; at least all that por- tion which lies between Guatemala City and Quetzaltenango, the sec- ond city of the Republic. The mountains are intensively cultivated up to a height of almost 10,000 feet. Fine schools have been built in the pueblos and cities under direction of President Estrada Cabrera. The President, who is a patron of all the arts, has vigor- ously pushed the manual training and technical schools. They are to be found throughout the settled portions of the Republic. Education is compulsory. Electric lights and pure water piping are installed in all communities of any size. The telegraph system is admirable; I sent 10 words 180 miles for 7 cents (American currency), a much lower rate than prevails in the United States or most other countries. The telegraph, educational, postal, and mining laws were personally formulated by President Cabrera, who is a jurist of extraordinary attainments. The police system is excellent. I have never seen an intoxicated person in the Republi\ One can travel in any portion of it unarmed. Concrete has worked wonders. Every community has its public concrete washing place where the women may wash their clothes and to which water is often piped a great distance. The people ol the highlands, except in the larger towns, are mostly Indians, who are believed to be descended partly or wholly from the ancient Mayas. I had read that the faces upon the existing obelisks and monuments often bore a.striking resemblance to the countenances of the Indians of to-day. The statement I found verified in the monu- ments at Quirigua. Of all the prehistoric races of the American hemisphere the Mayas were among the most advanced. They had progressed so far in mechanics that they were able to move rocks weighing 20 tons or more over great distances. They possessed a considerable amount of written lore, and represented sounds in their hieroglyphics. Their carvings of human beings or animals had been developed beyond the profile stage of the Egyptians. We found that many of the Indians we met upon the road had but a limited knowl- edge of Spanish. Father Garcia, of Naguala, is authority for the statement that there are now 27 difi^erent dialects spoken among ^ .V^7i^ "S^ S;g a ^m ° ^-^73 +^ ^'t^ O 0) a K ^ S^ ij - S +j g^ C3 +j o S5||§ 12 THROUGH THE MARVELOUS HIGHLANDS OF GUATEMALA. the^e people. The Rev. Father Rossbach, of Totonicipan, has 40,000 Indians in his parish. He did not ]mow, he said, of a more devout or moral race. They are, too, a picturesque people, ihe men with their loose, open-sleeve Jackets, plaid skirts, sturdy bare le-s and flat straw hats of home weave, strangely resemble the natives of northern Japan. The women lend a touch of vivid color to every country side. They wear richly hued guipils, home-woven waists of purple cloth, embeUished with red and gold patterns and with sashes extending from the waist to below the knees, wound somewhat tightly yet permitting freedom of the limbs. The o-ray dawn each morning found us started on our way, the air was cool and bracing and one could make from 35 to 40 miles a day without discomfort (we made more than this at times) and with several hours to spare in leisure at the roadside or m the villages. Between Pazum and Panajachel we came to a profound barranca or chasm in the earth, where the ground at the roadside feU away m precipitous walls 800 feet in depth. As one looked down from the level surface of the plains the tallest pines at the bottom ol the chasm seemed but pigmies. This was the head of a great valley which stretched straight ahead for a score of miles. Ihere are a number of such barrancas in Guatemala, some of which have no visible outlet above the ground. While I was photograp nng one of these crevasses at its apex a huge piece of ground 40 feet long and several feet wide broke from the opposite side, not more than 100 feet away, and went thundering down to the bottom. Totonicipan, in the northwest part of the Repubhc, which we reached from the Peten region, hes at an altitude of 8,300 eet above sea level Around it on all sides but the west rise the walls ol great hills It is a well-paved city of 18,000 population with attractive shops and fine churches and pubhc buildings. AU about are vege- table gardens, grain fields, and numerous orchards. Were it not loi the lofty mountains near by, the North American here might fancy himself m the central part of New York State. r. . i From Totonicipan a fine road leads west for 15 miles to Quetzal- tenan^o, the second largest city m Guatemala, distinguished by its imposing public edifices, beautiful plaza, and fine business struc- tures There are six good hotels m Quetzaltenango and, although the city is 35 miles from the railroad at San Felipe, they enjoy a brisk patronage. . i • i ^f +Lo The stage road to San Fehpe is one of the scemc highways of the world In 35 miles it drops more than 1 mile and skirts the .anks of Mount Santa Maria, one of the most picturesque ol the Central American volcanoes. More than this: In a few brief hours it plunges from the pine-clad temperate zone into tropical jungles ol a luxuri- ance that baffles description. Here is a f oreworld. Prodigious hard- woods with branches rising from clear boles 80 to 100 feet above the 14 THROUGH THE MARVELOUS HIGHLANDS OF GUATEMALA. earth are hung with giant creepers hke enormous serpents. Clusters of orchids chng to the branches or crevices of trees or hang suspended from traihng vines. Skeins of gray moss beard the trees. Tree ferns, giant pahns, and exotic flowers are features of a jungle which, at times, one can only penetrate with a machete. In a few hours by the auto stage the traveler has plunged into a different world. Santa Maria has been the most formidable of the Central American volcanoes. In 1902 an eruption blew a strip of earth said to exceed a mile in length from its side. The ash dust from the volcano is said to have been perceived as far north as the City of Mexico and as far south as Colombia. Ashes fell in some places at Pacific coast points to a depth of 6 or more inches. Yet despite the intensity of the upheaval the loss of life was not as serious as was reported and was confined principally to Santa Maria, although portions of Quetzaltenango were damaged. No one who visits Guatemala should miss seeing Lake Amatitlan, which is much more accessible than Atitlan, although the latter can be reached by a 35-mile ride from the raikoad if one approaches it from the south. Lake Amatitlan, however, is reached in three- quarters of an hour by train from Guatemala City, the railroad skirting its shores for about 6 miles and, at one point, passing over a narrow escarpment which divides the lake in two parts. Along its shores are many hot springs, and the lake is well stocked with small fish. It is rumored the lake possesses a subterranean outlet which causes a vortex where luckless fishermen have perished. Good roads and trails extend around the north borders of Lake Amatitlan. I recall a charming Sunday spent in traversing some of them and in walking into the fertile back country, where the fine roads are bor- dered by stately cypress or by eucalyptus trees, and white-walled adobe houses are set off by morning-glories and thickets of bamboo. Lake Amatitlan has long been a popular watering place; centuries ago the Guatemalans visited its hospitable shores in winter to escape the chiU winds of the higher plateaus. From Amatitlan good roads run to Escuintla in the first foothills near the Pacific. Also Lake Amatitlan offers a wonderful foreground for the volcano Agua, that coUossal pyramidal cone whose exquisite proportions are easily recog- nized from whatever point of the compass one views it. Wonderful Guatemala, with its sky-piercing peaks, its purple mists, its vast forests, great lakes, cool uplands, and cities in the fine architecture of the Spanish renaissance, will well repay the tourist from whatever land. It is easily reached by the fine steamers of the United Fruit Co., from either New York or New Orleans and is traversed by 500 miles of modern railway. At last my trip was over. I parted from my brave compadre of the winding trail in the highlands, said good-by to my new-found friends, and sailed from Puerto Barrios. But I shall go again. .4.or(HKi ui- UUNbRESS 015 842 043 THE PAN AMERICAN UNIONS is the inter- national organization and office maintained in Washington, D, C, by the twenty-one American republics, as follows: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Domini- can Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Haiti, Hon- duras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Salvador, United States, Uruguay, and Venezuela. It is devoted to the development and advancement of commerce, friendly intercourse, and good under- standing among these countries. It is supported by quotas contributed by each country, based upon the population. Its affairs are administered by a Director General and Assistant Director, elected by and responsible to a Governing Board, which is composed of the Secretary of State of the United States and the diplomatic representatives in Wash- ington of the other American governments. These two executive officers are assisted by a staff of international experts, statisticians, commercial specialists, editors, translators, compilers, libra- rians, clerks and stenographers. The Union pub- lishes a Monthly Bulletin in English, Spanish, Portuguese and French, which is a careful record of Pan American progress. It also publishes numerous special reports and pamphlets on various subjects of practical information. Its library, the Columbus Memorial Library, contains, 36,000 vol- umes, 18,000 photographs, 132,000 index cards, and a large collection of maps. The Union is housed in a beautiful building erected through the munifi- cence of Andrew Carnegie. 16 o