La Democracia
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East from Santa Lucía Cotzmalguapa, a turnoff near the town of Siquinalá heads south to this small town.
There’s little to see and do other than admire the peculiar Olmecoid heads adorning the town’s small central plaza. There is a certain Far Eastern mystique to these large grinning heads with swollen eyelids, some of which are attached to smaller, rotund bodies and known as barrigones because of their swollen bellies. They bear a striking resemblance to Olmec sculptures found in the Mexican lowlands of Villa Hermosa, near the Gulf of Mexico.
The stones date to the middle Preclassic period sometime around 500 B.C. and come from the nearby site of Monte Alto, located on the outskirts of town.
Also on the central plaza, a small museum, the Museo Regional de Arqueología (8 a.m.–noon and 2 p.m.–5 p.m. Tues.–Sun., $1.50) harbors some more stone heads, carvings, pottery, grinding stones, and an exquisite jade mask.
© Al Argueta from Moon Guatemala, 3rd Edition. Photos © Al Argueta www.alargueta.com
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