Sustainable forest agriculture spawns its own verb
UAXACTÚN, Guatemala — Everyone in this village down a muddy, rutted road, 23 km past the world-famous Maya archaeological site of Tikal, knows how to “xatear.”
The verb, which would stump most Guatemalans, means “to cut xate,” a decorative plant used in floral arrangements in the United States and elsewhere.
What if there were no eco to tour
Today head archaeologist Richard Hansen continued our tour of monumental architecture, while discussing his plans for the development of ecotourism at El Mirador. Hansen is convinced that the only way to stop deforestation is to create a legally protected 810,000-acre no-cut area around the archaeological sites here, bounded by the natural borders of the [...]
Dispatch from Megan…
My trip to Guatemala began with an uncomfortable bus ride from San Ignacio Cayo, Belize through Melchor to Santa Elena where I tried rather unsuccessfully to communicate with the people around me in terribly broken spanish. Nonetheless, as I waited for my brain to wake up enough to remember how to conjugate the imperative [...]
El Mirador, first day
It’s the end of our first full day in the ancient Mayan city of El Mirador. We slogged fifty or so miles on foot to get here, over two days. The hike in took us through the muddy lowland bajos or swamp areas, then up on an ancient Mayan causeway until we reached El Mirador. [...]