To begin the morning after having a brief lesson on the history of Guatemala, we began a tour of the community of Chajul, which is part of the lxil region, with Edilma who is a local teacher and program leader with Limitless Horizons. Together we walked the streets of Chajul and were able to take in the sights of the small isolated village in the Highland Mountains. Chajul is one of the areas that continues to maintain the lxil Mayan traditions and language.
Our tour led us through a local cemetery where many of the people whose bodies were recovered after the Civil War, which lasted 36 years, were buried. We learned that all of the graves were facing toward the local church so that the spirits of the dead are able to go to the church and back peacefully to worship.
The Civil War of Guatemala had a major impact on the lives and the slow financial progress of Chajul like many of other places in Guatemala. We were able to speak to several individuals that shared the negative physical, emotional and financial impacts of the war on their families and villages.
To learn more about the Civil War, here are a few links to explore.
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