Among the Maya The Exotic Guatemalan Highlands Text and photography by Hilary Wallace  From the lakeside villages of Atitlán to the austere, windswept valleys of Paquix and the fertile green checkerboard of the milpas (corn fields), the Guatemalan Highlands encompass some of the most breathtaking scenery in the Americas. These exotic lands also harbor Central America’s most extensive Native cultures, descended from the original Maya people.
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Belize
has long been a destination for ecotourists, adventure seekers and
enthusiasts of the Maya civilization. In our litigious society—where
you can be sued if your fast food is too fattening or your coffee too hot—adventure is not an easy
thing to find. Not so in Belize. You can climb up steep stone steps of
sacred temples or down into an ancient sepulcher to contemplate the
lives of those long gone. You can view the altars used by long-dead
priests and see the bones of their sacrificial victims without a glass
shield between you and the artifacts. This is no P
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