Did You Know

Interesting Facts about Guatemala

Trivia, oddities, and curious tidbits about Guatemala.

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Did You Know?

22 curious facts about Guatemala.

When a child loses a tooth they put the tooth under their pillow and wait for El Raton to leave some money.
The national symbol of Guatemala is the quetzal - a bird that signifies freedom because it dies in captivity.
Guatemala’s name is a Spanish corruption of the Nahoa (Mexican) word coactlmoctl-lan, meaning “land of the snake-eating bird,” a phrase that refers to the country’s eagle.
In Guatemala, lemons are green and limes are yellow.

Lying northwest of Guatemala City, Lake Atitlán is famous for its beauty.
Cocoa beans were used as money in ancient Guatemala. Counterfeiters were at work even in those days: some people removed the insides of the beans and filled the beanskins with clay.
The indigenous Mayan leader Rigoberta Menchú was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1992 for her work in heightening worldwide awareness of her people’s situation.
Some homes still have an outdoor steam-bath hut or temaxcal, used since ancient times. The hut has an outer adobe shell around an inner stone structure. Bathers light a fire inside to heat the stones, then throw water against them to produce steam.
The Guatemala highlands produce some of the world’s best coffee, which is available in Canada. Much labour is still done on plantations by hand.
Mayan weavers use the indidenous telar de mano or backstrap loom to make items such as scarves, blouses and blankets. Made of sticks, the loom has a backstrap that secures it around the weaver’s hips. The weaver sits or squats in a position that gives tension to the loom’s strings.