2. Guatemala
defined:
The origin of the name
Guatemala is Indian, but
its derivation and
meaning are
undetermined. Some hold
that the name Guatemala
means land of the trees in
the Maya-Toltec
language.

3. Interesing and
important facts
 Area: 108,889 sq km  Democratic
(42,042 sq miles)...slightly
smaller than Tennessee  Independence day

is September 15th
 Population: 14,655,189
(July 2005 est.) 1821

 Oscar Perdomo is the
 Capital City: Guatemala
City Pres.
  There’s about
Language: Spanish and

21 major Mayan 400,000 internet users
languages in the country!

4. LOCATION
 Guatemala is located
in Central America. It
is between
Mexico, Belize, Hondur
as and El Salvador.
The Capital of this
country is Guatemala
city which is where my
mother was born.

5. THE LAND OF THE
TREES

6. SMALL BUT IMPORTANT!!!
 Guatemala has one of the most extensive
and diverse forest systems in Central America.
The country is home to 1,246 known species of
amphibians, birds, mammals, and
reptiles, and 8,681 species of plants. The most
important of these biota is the Quetzal which
is the country’s national bird. This beautiful
bird is also the symbol of the countries
monetary system and is in danger of being
extinct due to deforestation and poaching.

7. THE TREASURE OF
GUATEMALA
 The Quetzal is the symbol
of liberty in
Mexico, Guatemala, Cost
a Rica, and El
Salvador, much like the
Bald Eagle is to the
United States.
The Quetzal's tail feathers are what
make this bird so unique. Their tail
feathers can grow to be over 2 feet
in length (that's about three times
the bird's body length!)

8. The legend of the Quetzal
 This famous bird has a long history, as it
was the spiritual protector of the Mayan
chiefs. It is said that the Quetzal would
accompany them everywhere, aiding
them in battle, and dying when they died.
Legend has it that when Spanish
Conquistador Pedro de Alvarado and his
Spaniards attacked the Mayans in
1524, the Quetzal appeared crying out
and pecking at Alvarado. At the exact
moment when Alvarado pierced Tecum
Uman [the chief], the sacred Quetzal fell
silent and plummeted to earth, covering
the body of the regal [Mayan] with its long
and soft green plumes. After keeping a
deathwatch through the night, the bird
that rose from the cacique's [chieftan's]
lifeless body was transformed. It was no
longer the pure green of jade. Its breast
had soaked up the blood of the fallen
warrior, and so, too, became crimson, the
shade of Mayan blood, as it has remained
to this day (Maslow, p.19).

9. MY FAVORITE BIRD CONTINUED

10. SERIOUSLY,
THIS IS BAD!!!
 According to an organization called Lisa’s Reef,
“earth at the present moment is now
experiencing the greatest mass extinction of
species since the age of the dinosaurs, and the
sixth in the history of the world.”
 “If we succeed in destroying the complex
genetic matrix that is the biosphere, then things
may really get strange, making the global
warming effects -the monster hurricanes and
torrid heat waves -we are currently experiencing
seem like the good old days (Lisa’s Reef).”

11. REALLY
REALLY BAD!!!
 Recently Guatemala
has been hit with a
string of natural
disasters. First, a
volcano eruption that
rained ash and debris
on Guatemala City.
And on top of that, a
tropical storm hit
Central America a
month ago. In
Guatemala, that storm
took more than 150
lives.

13. Destroying the lungs of
the world
 Today forest covers
between a quarter
and a third of the
country, but this is
fast disappearing.
Between 1990 and
2005, Guatemala
lost 17 percent of its
total forest cover
and deforestation
rates have
increased by nearly
13 percent since the
close of the 1990s.

14. There is hope
 Although the increasing
dangers of deforestation and  The largest protected
global warming has had a big tropical forest in North
impact on the country of America, the 1.7 million-
Guatemala, action has been hectare (4.3 million- acre)
made to protect its biosphere.
In 1990, Guatemala's Maya Biosphere Reserve
government established the is Guatemala’s last
Maya Biosphere Reserve to chance for preserving a
protect Guatemala's precious significant part of the
piece of the Maya Forest. forests that once covered
Located in the Petén region of all of Petén. It is gradually
northern Guatemala, the Maya gaining notoriety among
Biosphere Reserve boasts an international travelers for
astounding diversity of plant its vast expanses of
and animal life, hundreds of
Mayan ruins and communities tropical forest and the
that are managing the forest remote Mayan ruins that
responsibly, ensuring its lie buried within.
existence for future
generations.

15. Change
 The conservation of water, the
yourself to prevention of litter, the
planting of new trees and the
change the stopping of deforestation are
world!!!!! all ways that can greatly
improve the biosphere of
Guatemala, but also of our
high desert. I have reduced
the amount of water that I
waste from learning about the
severe impact that humans
have on the world. Even
though I haven't had the
chance to see these amazing
animals and the beautiful
reservations that Guatemala
has to offer, I know that one
day I would like to. I will do my
part to protect the
environment because I know
that if I change myself and my
actions, I can affect those
around me.

16. SOURCES
1. http://www.questconnect.org/ca_guatemal
a.htm
2. http://guatemalainpictures.tripod.com/
3. http://rainforests.mongabay.com/20guatem
ala.htm
4. http://www.lizasreef.com/mass_extinction.ht
m
5. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.ph
p?storyId=127405878
6. source 6 http://www.rainforest-
alliance.org/adopt/projects/guatemala