Q 01/05

Chicle, tapped from sapodilla trees in Guatemala's northern jungle, was long the natural base of what?

A) Chewing gum

B) Car tyres

C) Shoe polish

D) Church incense

Answer · why

A) Chewing gum

Chewing gum relied on chicle until synthetics largely replaced it by the mid-20th century; the village of Uaxactún grew up beside a jungle airstrip as...

Q 02/05

What is the national currency of Guatemala?

A) Peso

B) Quetzal

C) Lempira

D) Colón

Answer · why

B) Quetzal

It was introduced in 1925 under President José María Orellana, whose portrait is on the one-quetzal note; the ancient Maya used the bird's tail feathe...

Q 03/05

The Castillo de San Felipe de Lara, a Spanish fort where Guatemala's largest lake drains seaward, was built to stop whom?

A) Pirates

B) The British navy

C) Maya rebels

D) Dutch traders

Answer · why

A) Pirates

Pirates, many of them English, sailed up the river to raid the Spanish warehouses on the lake, and the fort meant to stop them was itself sacked and r...

Q 04/05

What is the national flower of Guatemala?

A) Bougainvillea

B) White Nun Orchid

C) Hibiscus

D) Bird of Paradise

Answer · why

B) White Nun Orchid

The White Nun Orchid (Lycaste skinneri var. alba) became the national flower by a 1934 decree of President Jorge Ubico, after a Miami Beach flower-sho...

Q 05/05

What is the highest point in Guatemala, also the highest peak anywhere between Mexico and Colombia?

A) Volcán Fuego

B) Volcán Acatenango

C) Volcán Pacaya

D) Volcán Tajumulco

Answer · why

D) Volcán Tajumulco

Volcán Tajumulco, in San Marcos near the Mexican border, rises to about 4,200 metres, yet unlike its lower neighbours it has no confirmed eruption: th...