Rainbow Countries of Central America
Cód:
491_9781406748147
RAINBOW COUNTRIES OF CENTRAL AMERICA The solitary sentinel of Mayan civilization. This Stela at Quirigti Guatemala, is one of the most beautiful aboriginal sculptures in America PREFACE FEW travelers find their way to the rainbow countries of Central America. Few books have been written about them. Yet they are the most accessible, in time and comfort, of all the unspoiled lands of the world. They are, too, countries where destiny, today, sits on national doorsteps, while tomorrow seems sure to see them not only the goal of tourists, but also centres of new and startling political and commercial develop ment. They have outgrown in slow yet charming years the era of Spanish colonial ease and wealth, and have forgotten, but for superb monuments hidden in their jungles, the time when one of the greatest Indian em pires and cultures of old time thrived there. The Indian life of native village and modern plan tation, and the heritages of mediaeval Spain that sur vive everywhere, form a background of strange scenes and colorful customs as fascinating as anything in Cambodia or Peru. Along the highways that time and race have set for them, the Central American countries are making the long, painful trek toward democracy and economic independence. Nationally and individ ually they are gentle and very wise but at the same 1 PREFACE moment, almost, they are fierce and Heedlessly destruc tive. Hindered and supported, equally, by their own qualities and By the often mistaken helpfulness of others, they are writing, today, one of the most human documents of contemporary history, upon those pages of magnificent past and boundless future. In these facts alone lies my excuse for writing this book. Behind my writing, however, has been a realiza tion that time and history are pressing on the worlds appreciation of Central America, as on a larger scale of all Latin America. In a way the situation is not uncom parable to that great moment of British history when Victorias kingdom awoke
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