GUATEMALA
82 wanderlust.co.uk September 2019
cross the car park, shamans weaved their magic.
The blood of a luckless chicken was sprinkled
on to one of a trio of fires and the air was filled
with acrid smoke and the competing aromas
of tobacco, incense and pine. Inside the simple
candlelit temple, believers waited patiently in line
to climb the stairs to the egy of Maximón (aka
San Simón) to put in their requests and deposit
their offerings of alcohol, tobacco and food.
Depending on who you speak to, this hard-
drinking, heavy-smoking deity – a moustachioed
man in a smart black suit and hat, often with
a cigar clamped between his teeth – is either a saint
or the devil. He may share his temple with more
traditionally dressed saints but the walls, plastered
with everything from yellowing drawings to marble
plaques, are devoted to Maximón’s generosity.
“The Spanish imposed Catholicism on the Maya
but they didn’t lose their own beliefs,” my guide
Mario said. “They just mixed them all together.”
While the Maya civilisation, including its
jungle-clad cities, had all but collapsed by the
9th century – historians still can’t agree why –
its age-old traditions have endured, surviving
the Spanish conquest and, more recently, a brutal
civil war. Today, around 40% of Guatemala’s
population is indigenous, the majority of which are
descendants of the Maya, divided into more than
20 groups with as many distinct languages.
The temple in San Andrés Itzapa was just the
start of my journey across Guatemala, on a new
three-night glamping trek. Over the next few days,
it took me from Antigua, up, down and along
ancient Maya trails, to Lake Atitlán, dropping
off the tourist trail and in on remote rural
communities in search of a civilisation that
seemed far from gone.
10,000 feet high and rising
The city of Antigua was half-an-hour’s drive and
a world away. This postcard-perfect colonial jewel
was once the region’s capital; brightly painted
houses topped with terracotta tiles satnextto
imposing Spanish-built churches andmonasteries,
many of which lay in atmospheric ruin.
Puppet master
The image of Maya deity and
folk saint Maximón at San
Andrés Itzapa Temple of San
Simón. Its legend has survived
the arrival of Catholicism and
remains a potent force in the
local communities, typically
seen as a dressed-up wooden
eigy sitting on a chair with
cigars and alcohol⊲