is brought to you by Swiss International Airlines.

Flying to over 70 worldwide locations.

Truly Swiss made.

Swiss International Airlines.

And by the BMW European Delivery Program.

A way to experience the roads that BMW was made to drive.

BMW European Delivery Program.

And by the Cygnet Foundation, raising funds for those in need through art-related initiatives, contributions to UNICEF and animal welfare organizations.

The Cygnet Foundation.

(glorious music) "Travels and Traditions" with Burt Wolf is a classic travel journal, a record of Burt's search for information about our world and how we fit into it.

Burt travels to the source of each story trying to find the connections between our history and what is happening today.

What he discovers can improve our lives, and our understanding of the world around us.

(Guatemalan traditional bright music) (Guatemalan traditional bright music continues) - The first human inhabitants of the Americas were thought to have come here from Asia between 35,000 and 15,000 years ago by crossing over the Bering Sea when it was frozen and walkable.

They walked down the Pacific Coast from Alaska to the bottom of South America, and whenever they got to a nice neighborhood, some of them would excuse themselves from the group and start a community.

Guatemala is a perfect example.

And just in case you were out the day your geography teacher was covering Guatemala, you should know that it is in Central America, just below Mexico.

Over the years, one cultural group would evolve from another.

One of the most interesting that we know about are the Kiche Maya.

There are over a million and a half Kiche Maya in Guatemala, and they have been here for over 10,000 years.

The word Kiche means many trees, and Guatemala means the place of many trees.

The period before the Spanish arrived in the Americas is described as Pre-Columbian, a reference to the time before Columbus accidentally bumped into the islands of the Caribbean.

In those pre-Columbian times, the kingdom of the Kiche was one of the most powerful states in the region.

They used a sophisticated hieroglyphic script and developed a functional calendar.

They understood intricate mathematics, created a highly successful approach to agriculture, constructed magnificent buildings, produced exceptional art, and perhaps most important, developed a fantastic recipe for hot chocolate.

They thought of the world as a hostile place governed by unpredictable forces, kind of like Washington D.C. (light music) The Maya had a deep respect for education and that tradition is being reborn in modern Guatemala.

Sergio Paiz Andrade was born in Guatemala in 1948.

His specialty in business was finance.

His specialty in life was his family and the people of Guatemala.

Sergio believed that the biggest treasure Guatemala has can be found in the intellectual capacity of its people, and it is a treasure that can only be extracted through education.

FUNSEPA is a non-profit foundation that was formed to uncover and activate that treasure.

Their primary focus is on technology, to give these children the essential technical skills that would make them competitive in today's and even more important tomorrow's world.

- So she's going through the list of assigned homework.

- [Burt] Salvador Paiz is Sergio's son and the president of FUNSEPA.

He has a business degree from the University of Pennsylvania and a master's degree from MIT.

But instead of going to work for a major corporation in the United States, he returned home to Guatemala to see what he could do for his country.

- It's the way that kids today engage.

They want something that interests them.

And technology does that.

It's really changing the way that they're learning.

It's providing new and interesting tools that allow them to really learn better, faster, more comprehensively.

- [Burt] There are over 3 million children in Guatemala between the ages of 6 and 15, and they attend 18,000 public schools.

Sadly, 93% of those students don't have access to the technology that would be essential for their most modest level of success in the 21st century.

But FUNSEPA is changing that, - And I can honestly say A, that we're having a tremendous difference and making a tremendous impact on the lives of these kids and improving the quality of their education.

And the second thing I would say is we're creating that impact with not a huge budget.

- We've equipped more than 13,000 schools benefiting almost half a million children that have had a better opportunity and better quality of education because of our program.

(Jessica speaking in Spanish) - [Burt] Jessica Hammer sits on the board of FUNSEPA.

- I think for me personally, what I found in FUNSEPA with technology, it's bring equality.

I think with computers, you can actually give equality of education to children all over the world.

The kids from San Francisco are gonna compete with the kids in Guatemala, so they all need to have access to the same information.

- The first objective is to get the equipment ready for the schools.

There's a reconditioning center that receives all sorts of electronic hardware.

Much of it arrives via an arrangement with the Heineman Foundation and the North Carolina Healthcare System.

The Heineman Foundation is a US charity that supports programs designed to help children think and create and communicate effectively.

The Chiquita Banana Company donates physical space in their containers and transports the computers to Guatemala without cost to the foundation.

The technicians repair and refurbish the equipment, making sure that it is fully functional, at which point it is delivered to the schools.

The Reconditioning Center serves a second function by giving at-risk youth the opportunity to work in a safe, and structured environment.

Once the gear has arrived at the school, the teachers are trained to use the tools in ways that will improve the education of their students and at the same time reduce their own administrative work.

(lively music) The best thing to do to get educated about the Maya and how they got integrated into the urban life of Guatemala as well as the architecture in the early colonial period is to visit Antigua.

Antigua was originally built in 1549 as the capital of Guatemala.

It was also the colonial headquarters for all of Central America.

But an earthquake in 1773 flattened the place, so the capital was moved to Guatemala City.

But you can't keep a good town down.

You want to quake my earth, knock yourself out.

You want to erupt your volcanoes, sock it to me.

Wanna flood me, go for it.

And even if you abandon me, I'll still reappear.

This place has had more comebacks than Brett Favre.

At the heart of the city is the Park Central lined with administrative buildings from the colonial period.

- So this is City Hall in Antigua.

On top we can see the Guatemalan flag, the blue and white.

And then the Antigua flag, the green and white and green because of the same reason why people from Antigua are called the Green Bellies.

- Green Bellies?

(speaking in Spanish) - Yes, because of the avocados.

Number one, people eat a lot of avocados in Guatemala, in general.

But Antigua specifically has a big avocado production.

Actually the first avocado tree that was planted in California was taken from Antigua.

When the people from Antigua moved to present-day Guatemala City when Antigua was destroyed by earthquakes, only a few people stayed behind.

There was no commerce.

And it is said that the people that stayed behind in Antigua survived out of avocados.

- On one side of the square is the palace of the Captain's General.

It was built in 1549 and was the headquarters for Spain's administrative officers in charge of everything that happened in Central America.

The double arched facade on the south side was part of the original building.

These days it's a cultural center.

The town is also filled with ecclesiastical structures built by the various Catholic orders that were set up by the Spanish.

Like most of us over the centuries, they have suffered a bit.

Reconstruction after the earthquake lacked the magnificence that went into the earlier structures, lower towers like decoration in the interiors.

No internet access, just not what it used to be.

The original structure of La Catedral was built around 1540.

Like most of the historic structures in Antigua, its history is somewhat shaky.

In fact, if Antigua were to select a local anthem that reflected its history, it would probably be Jerry Lee Lewis singing "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On".

♪ Come on over, baby, whole lotta shakin' goin' on ♪ ♪ Yes (playful music) Our next stop is Lake Atitlan in the Sierra Madre mountains.

Did someone say Sierra Madre.

(suspenseful music) - Up into the forbidding majesty of the Great Madre range go men.

Men with greed in their hearts.

- We are Federales.

You know, the mounted police.

- If you're the police, where are your badges?

- Badges?

We ain't got no badges.

We don't need no badges.

I don't have to show you any stinking badges.

(suspenseful music) - As I was saying, the lake is in the Guatemala Highlands.

About 85,000 years ago, there was an enormous volcanic eruption.

The hot magma under the volcano flew out creating an empty chamber.

The mountain above the chamber collapsed into the hole.

The cauldron-like depression, is called the caldera, which means cooking pot.

When water filled the pot, we ended up with a lake which became Guatemala's most visited tourist attraction.

On the eastern shore of the lake is a small bay considered to be one of the most beautiful parts of Guatemala.

(gentle traditional music) The surface of our planet is made up of 17 major tectonic plates that float on a hot soft layer of magma.

From time to time, one plate bangs up against another plate and the earth's crust is broken.

A volcano is formed and hot lava, ashes and gas escapes to the surface.

Guatemala has 33 volcanoes.

They run along the west coast forming a hook at the base and turning into the center of the country.

That's Pacaya one of the youngest most active and unpredictable volcanoes.

Basically, it has a teenager's mentality.

A while back it had a temper tantrum and flipped its lid.

A popular way of classifying the activity of a volcano is tracking how often it erupts.

If it erupted in historical times, but seems to be quiet now it's called inactive.

And if it hasn't been heard from for hundreds of centuries, it's called dormant.

Quite frankly, those designations are almost meaningless.

They use the word dormant to describe a volcano that's sleeping.

Well, it may be a volcano that just likes to sleep late and it will wake up and cause havoc like a teenager.

Guatemala has three additional volcanoes of extraordinary beauty, and all three of them rise out of the emerald surface of Lake Atitlan.

(light music) Our next stop was an ancient Maya ceremonial center and one of the most visited architectural sites in Guatemala.

And it's easy to see why?

The site is enormous and the buildings have been magnificently restored.

The Maya have been here since 600 BC, but the high point of their activity took place in the 1700s AD.

Over 20,000 people lived here in over 500 buildings.

- Bur we're coming in one of the great areas of Yaxha, one of the most sacred precincts of Yaxha.

- [Burt] Richard Hansen is a prominent American archeologist and a specialist in ancient Maya history.

These days, he's directing the Mirador Basin project, which is investigating the unexplored territory in Northern Guatemala.

He was kind enough to take a chopper in and talk to us.

- The Maya are one of the five founding civilizations of the world.

A founding civilization is a society that develops its own script.

It has writing and it has all the processes that lead to that complexity.

We have the Chinese, you have the Indus Valley societies of India, the Harappans.

You have the Mesopotamians, the Egyptians, and Meso America, principally the Maya.

What the Maya figured out very early in their history were a system of what we call civales.

They're a grassland marsh that the swamps of the Northern Peten now, and there's some just farther north from here, are covered with trees today.

But anciently, they were wetland marshes.

And those, those marshes had a rich organic mud.

And the Maya were harvesting that mud by the thousands of tons and bringing that into their cities and building complex and elaborate terra systems, which let them produce the agricultural wealth they needed to do this stuff.

(gentle music) - Next stop is Tikal, which is a giant Maya complex with over 100 temples, pyramids, and ancient stone slabs.

The Maya settled here in about 700 BC.

It had a number of things going for it.

First, it was high enough to be out of the swamps.

Second, there was a lot of flintstone in the neighborhood.

Flint was used to make spearpoints, arrowheads, knives and clubs.

- They spent about 800 years working on this site, which makes me think that the guys who are working on my kitchen are descendants of a Maya construction company because they are certainly working on the same schedule.

- We are looking at the heart of Tikal.

This became to the most important ceremonial and political center of Tikal during its golden age, during the great years.

The ceremonial and political center of Tikal is 16 square kilometers or 6.5 square miles.

Obviously after the abandonment, the vegetation just grew up.

The purposes of the Maya pyramids, there could be four purposes.

They could have astronomical purposes.

They are aligned.

They could have funeral purposes, they could have political purposes and religious purposes.

And we can hear now the monkeys there in a distance, the howler monkeys.

(monkeys groan) (playful music) (playful music continues) - [Burt] At one point in our trip, we had a guide who invited us to meet Maximon.

Maximon is the God of drinking and smoking.

And to be admitted to his secret hiding place, they had to bring a good cigar and a bottle of rum.

- He used to manifest into human form, and he liked to smoke cigars and there was always a trail of smoke wherever he went.

Beyond that, now all the time, all day long, shaman come here and do ceremony for their clients.

But as an offering, the shaman will then give alcohol and cigarettes to Maximon and he will consume them.

And then in turn, he gives the blessing.

- When the Spanish arrives in Guatemala, they try to suppress all of the gods of the Maya.

But the Maya were pretty cool.

They picked out one god, made him into a saint, hid him in a house, and every year they move him from house to house and no one knows where he is unless you've got a friend who will tell you.

And today is his birthday.

(upbeat music) - And today we will have marimba music playing all day long until about 1:00 in the morning.

A lot of people will come by and give offerings.

- Even today, the image of Maximon is hidden and protected by a family for 12 months.

And each year a new family is given the honor.

I understand he has been nominated as the patron saint of the US Bureau of Alcohol and Tobacco.

Is that a Lucky Strike or Camel?

(upbeat music) The most colorful mode of transportation in Guatemala is the chicken bus.

They're used school buses purchased in the United States and driven to Guatemala where they're decorated by their owners.

Each bus becomes a unique work of art expressing the talent of the operator.

Drivers scoot around the country and pick up people at agreed upon bus stops, but they scoot around pretty fast because the first bus that gets to the stop, gets the passengers.

So it's kind of like the Grand Prix of busing.

They're called chicken buses because when they were originally introduced, passengers traveling with chickens put their chickens on the roof of the bus.

These days they are called chicken buses because anyone who is not willing to ride in one is called a chicken.

Next up is a visit to the local market.

My guide is Mirciny Moliviatis.

She's a TV chefs and beloved celebrity.

- Have you tried this?

- I don't know what it is.

- it's called perulero.

- It's sticky.

- Yes.

- It's called perulero.

- Perulero.

And we make it in soups or in only boiled, and it's very, very good.

So our food in history are beans and corn and a lot of herbs.

But when you make the sauces, that's called (speaking in Spanish) you will use this pepitoria.

This is like a pumpkin seed.

Ajonjolí.

- What is that?

- Eh, sesame seed.

- Sesame.

Okay.

- Yes.

And this kind of peppers, Chile Pasilla and Chile Guaque.

This is like more smoky flavor.

And this is more hot flavor.

- What's that?

- Chocolate?

We used to drink.

We used to drink chocolate even from ancient times.

We drink chocolate.

It's the beverage of the kings and gods and they put it with a little bit of sugar in these days and in the stove they put it like that and they're made in stoves.

- Giant ancient M&M.

- (laughs) Yes.

Imagine you eat it like this.

- Gracias.

- Gracias senor.

Here the food is a mixture between the Guatemala and the Spanish.

So it's called hybrid cuisine.

Pepian is the most typical dish in Antigua, Guatemala.

It's made with different kinds of pepper, but it's not hot peppers.

- It's the sauce.

- It's the sauce.

The sauce is called Pepian and it's (speaking in Spanish) a thick sauce.

Then we have the Chile rellenos.

- Right!

- It's a hot pepper stuffed with meat and then passing a egg.

Chojin.

It's a radish salad that you eat it with a soup or with a tortilla.

You eat everything with a tortilla.

- I see.

- Everything.

That's Revolcado.

It's the whole, the head of the pig in a stew.

- You have to be careful.

You might find out what you're eating.

(bright music) Next up was Guatemala City, the capital of Guatemala.

Guatemala City was founded in 1776, the same year that the United States was founded.

People of the United States wanted to get away from paying taxes to the British.

People of Guatemala wanted to get away from earthquakes.

It has many of the nation's best museums.

It has over 30 galleries exhibiting Guatemalan artists, painters, photographers, sculptors.

When the Spanish conquistadors were building their cities, they had a more or less standard plan, which always included a plaza in the center of town.

On the east side would be a church or a cathedral, just in case the governor had to consult with a heavenly authority.

The other two sides would have additional government buildings or the homes of the rich and famous.

On the north side of the Central Park, Guatemala city has a presidential palace.

My favorite room in the palace is the banquet hall.

It has stained glass windows illustrating the virtues of good government.

I'm planning on taking a photograph of each and sending it to Congress.

Just a suggestion.

Now, this is really cool.

There's a monument in the courtyard at the spot where after 35 years of civil war, a peace accord was signed in 1996.

There are two hands holding a rose.

Once a month, a military guard arrives, puts in a fresh rose and tosses last month's rose to one of the ladies in the audience.

(upbeat classical music) Ah, but wait, there's more.

Whenever we edit one of our programs, we always end up with more good material than we can fit in.

Interviews, stories, recipes.

So we decided to put 'em on our website: burtwolf.com.

(upbeat classical music continues) (upbeat classical music continues) - [Narrator] "Travels and traditions" with Burt Wolf is brought to you by Swiss International Airlines.

Flying to over 70 worldwide locations.

Truly Swiss made.

Swiss International Airlines.

And by the BMW European Delivery Program, a way to experience the roads that BMW was made to drive.

BMW European Delivery Program.

And by the Cygnet Foundation, raising funds for those in need through art related initiatives, contributions to UNICEF and animal welfare organizations.

The Cygnet Foundation.