Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
product of the enigmatic Pipil culture that flourished here from about AD 500 to 700. In
your explorations you may get to see a Guatemalan sugarcane
finca
in full operation.
The town, though benign enough, is unexciting. The local people around here are des-
cended from the Pipil, an ancient culture that had linguistic and cultural links with the
Nahuatl-speaking peoples of central Mexico. In early Classic times, the Pipil who lived
here grew cacao, the money of the age. They were obsessed with the ball game and with
the rites and mysteries of death. Pipil art, unlike the flowery, almost romantic style of the
Maya, is cold, grotesque and severe, but still very finely done. When these 'Mexicans'
settled in this pocket of Guatemala, and where they came from, is not known, though con-
nections with Mexico's Gulf coast area, whose culture was also obsessed with the ball
game, have been suggested.
