“Saqarik ajtijoxelab’, ¿Que tal? ¿Cómo están?” Guatemala has 25 distinct languages. One is Garifuna, spoken by descendants of enslaved Africans primarily on the coast. Xinca is spoken by descendants of a South American tribe that immigrated upwards to Guatemala. There are 22 Mayan dialects which are spoken all across Guatemala, and the final one is Spanish, the official language in Guatemala. I started this paragraph with a sentence spoken in a mixture of K’iche and Spanish, which are the two main languages spoken in my community. That sentence says: “Good morning, students. How is everyone feeling today?”
The currency of Guatemala is called the Quetzale or q, named after Guatemala's national bird. Q comes in the form of paper bills and coins. Paper bills come in 5’s, 10’s, 20’s, 50’s, 100’s and 200’s. Coins are for things that cost 1q, .50q, .25q, .10q, and .5q. Unlike in the U.S., most people do use cash in Guatemala, and it is not uncommon to see someone pay in coins. Although you will be hard-pressed to find someone who takes 10 or 5-cent coins.
