Word: mayas
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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Flanked by volcanoes and colorful Maya villages, Guatemala's Atitlan is one of the most striking lakes in the world, and there are few better places to lap up the views than Laguna Lodge, a 10-minute boat ride - but a world away - from the Western Highlands tourist town Panajachel. (Read "Jungle Gym: Maya Ruins in Guatemala...
...outdoor pursuits and cultural jaunts to indigenous villages and coffee plantations await. The ace up Laguna's sleeve, however, is its own 100-acre (40 hectare) nature reserve. Rising from the lake edge up through large cliffs to ancient ceremonial rocks and tropical dry forest, it's pure Maya magic. See www.lagunalodgeatitlan.com...
...been five centuries since Pedro de Alvarado, a homicidal Spanish conquistador, seized from the Maya the volcanic realm that became Guatemala. But his bloodlust still haunts the country, which today has one of the highest homicide rates in the western hemisphere. Guatemala's 36-year-long civil war, which ended in 1996, killed 200,000 people. Its cloak-and-dagger murders have made locals so paranoid that "even the drunks are discreet," as one 19th century visitor wrote...
...hasn't improved in the past two decades. "You can work all your life, but you can never make it in this country. I want people to have opportunities here like they do in the United States," says waiter Antonio Bustamente, 50. "The problem is the rich," says Maya Martinez, pushing through the crowd to make her voice heard. "We have a few wealthy families who own everything and don't even pay taxes. They attacked Zelaya because he stood up to them." (See pictures of the Honduras coup on LIFE.com...
...expected does not deter the hundreds of teenage girls who apply for just 40 available places each year. Many, like top Takarazuka graduate Rei Makoto, start out as fans. While still in high school, Makoto became obsessed with NeoDandyism, a Takarazuka production featuring the troupe's well-known actress Maya Miki. "I rehearsed with the DVD at home all the time," she says, dressed in jeans and a blazer - the staple ensemble of an off-duty otokoyaku...