Tour of Book of Mormon Lands

Here are the highlights:

We landed in Guatemala City. I was impressed with the flowers--azaleas, bouganvilla, purple jackaranda trees. Uneven sidewalks, sweet natives, armed guards everywhere. We stayed in an elegant hotel for four nights. I loved the food. Plantains and black beans for breakfast and lots of fresh fruits.

From our hotel window

Guatemalan flag in front of our hotel

We saw the temple but it was closed for maintenance. We took two taxis to the Central Park. They laughed at us when Cherrie and I were bargaining for hats and they finally took over and bought them for us at a good price.

On Sunday we went to Sacrament meeting which we couldn't understand. Their pianist didn't come so I played (a bit tricky to play in Spanish).

Then we drove out to Kaminaljuyu, a good candidate for the City of Nephi. People were already living there when Nephi arrived. There has been a lot of excavation done there. Then we visited the National Museum of Archeology and closed the day with a steak dinner at an Argentinian restaurant.

 On Monday we got up early and flew in a small plane to Tikal. That spreads over a large area and we walked a lot and got very hot. We saw coatimundi running around and spider monkeys in the trees and a crocodile in a pond.

Tuesday we visited Antigua and toured a jade factory.

We walked into an old cathedral and a withered old Mayan started showing us around. Then he charged us an unexpected exorbitant fee at the end.

We visited a school in Patzicia which was started by some returned missionaries. We visited several classrooms and met some of the children. They were very sweet. We were invited to sponsor the stake president's two children, so we and the Blakes each took one of them.

We stopped for lunch in a small village and watched a girl make the tortillas and cook them over a wood stove. They were delicious.

Our hotel that night overlooked Lake Atitlan, a candidate for the Waters of Mormon.

View from our balcony

On Wednesday we took a boat ride on the lake. It is surrounded by three volcanoes. Our tour guide invited Maria, a friend of his, to come on board and sell us some of her wares. She carried her baby on her back. I bought a pillow top.

When we landed on the other side we were invaded by young vendors who should have been in school.  I bought some little beaded quetzal birds for Christmas tree ornaments for the kids.

On Thursday as we left the lake, we stopped by a waterfall feeding into it. It looked very like the Freiberg painting.

Then we drove to Quetzaltenango, which means "Place of the Quetzal." We saw how the women do their laundry together and dry it on the grass.

We did a session at that temple. It was a full session of wonderful Guatemalan people.

Our hotel that night was overlooking the town square. Its dining room had a stained glass window of a quetzal bird. (It's on their money too.)

On Friday we drove to Almolongo, a good candidate for Helam. We visited the market place where people bring loads of food on their backs to sell. It's the agricultural center of Guatemala.

They irrigate by shoveling water from the ditch onto the garden.

While crossing the border into Mexico our luggage was searched. We stopped at Izapa where the Tree of Life stela is located. (This would be a likely candidate for where Lehi landed.)

We stayed at a hotel in Tapachula. Dinner consisted of a creamed corn soup, chicken cordon bleu, and flan for dessert.

The center courtyard of the hotel

On Saturday we took taxis to the bus station for a 6-hour drive to Tuxtla Gutierrez. We were stopped seven times for security checks. I saw a sign to Oaxaca. We stayed in a posh hotel there.

On Sunday we went to church in Tuxtla and saw the temple next door.

We went to a regional archealogical museum and zoo. There were quetzal birds in the zoo. In the evening we went to the park to hear the marimba players and watch the people dancing. There was no smoking or drinking and whole families came. It seemed very wholesome.

On Monday we went to the Chiapa de Corza archealogical zone, a candidate for Sidom (where Zeezrom lay sick with a fever.)

At the town square we saw a huge Seiba tree. This is the national tree of Guatemala. The Mayans called it the tree of life.

We took a boat ride on the Grijalva (a candidate for the Sidon River) and saw crocodiles, birds (lots of vultures), and monkeys.

Our motel was in Villahermosa (the land of many waters.) There was a mall upstairs where I had ice cream with the Blakes.

On Tuesday we visited Palenque. We saw the stella with the "it came to pass" glyph on it. The fact that these people had a written language and no one else in this hemisphere did at the time of the Book of Mormon, is a convincing argument that  the Book of Mormon took place in Mesoamerica.

Bennetts, Blakes, Olsens, and Blake Allen, our guide, at Palenque

On Wednesday we visited the La Venta museum. It had the original artifacts from the Olmecs (the Jaredites) and also animals and a cool aviary.

Then we drove to La Venta itself where they have replicas of the artifacts. We climbed a mound there.

We saw the Villahermosa Temple and the Hill Shim (now called Cintepec). Both words mean "corn."

Our hotel that night was a resort on Lake Catemaco. We had a balcony looking over the lake. There were fisherman throwing their nets. We took a boat ride out to an island and fed bananas to some obese monkeys. There were lots of birds.

On Thursday we took taxis to the Eyipantla Waterfall.

I was fascinated by the fences. They would put poles in the ground to make a fence and some of them would start sprouting!

We stopped at what is thought to be the Hill Cumorah. (Called Hill Vigia today.) An Olmec head was found at the base of it. It was called Ramah in Jaredite times and Cumorah in Nephite times. Both of their last great battles were fought there. Reasons for thinking this is Cumorah: it's near (one-day journey) from an eastern seacoast (Gulf of Mexico or Ripliancum), near the hill Shim and the narrow neck of land, it overlooks a plain, it is located in a land of many waters, has underground water springing forth, it's large (about 2400 feet high), and it is free standing (Vigia means "lookout.") We could picture Mormon looking out over the valley and lamenting the loss of his people. After the last battle Moroni wandered for 20 years hiding from the Lamanites and taking the records with him up to New York.

We saw the Veracruz Temple.

We stayed in a beautiful hotel on the Gulf of Mexico in Veracruz. We walked along the sandy beach.

View from our balcony

On Friday to flew to Mexico City. We went to Teotihuacan and saw the flying Mexicans and the pyramids of the moon and sun. This place would have been during the time of the apostacy (Gadianton robbers).

We went to the shrine of Guadalupe which involved climbing a lot of stairs. There was a procession of people paying her homage.

Our last day we visited the National palace and saw the large murals painted by Diego Rivera depicting the history of Mexico.  Cortez is portrayed as an ugly man because they didn't like him.

Eldon by a prickly pear cactus

We went to the National cathedral where we heard some magnificent organ playing. We also saw the remains of an Aztec temple right in the middle of the city.

Then we went to the national museum of anthropology and archeology which was a fine museum. That gave us an excellent review of the whole trip. We had our last lunch there.

Courtyard depicting the tree of life

Blake explaining about Monte Alban

Then we went to the Mexico City Temple where we and the Blakes did a session while the Bennetts waited outside with our guide. Another full session of faithful Mexicans. A very good way to end our trip.