On the eve of my honeymoon to Turkey, I bought my fiancée a book on Hellenic myths. That way, when we visited the Temple of Artemis in Ephesus and other once-sacred sites, she would know about the fanciful deities honored at them. Honeymooners and others who come to Guatemala with an interest in Mayan lore now have a similar book they can buy.

If you are even just an amateur archeologist, there is nothing in Viaje Inolvidable a Tecpán (“A Memorable Trip to Tecpán”) that you do not already know. But this comic-strip book presents facts that belong on a test that anyone living in Central America should have to pass.

Al Thompson, a retired American educator living near Antigua, tells the fable of two boys placed inside a room piled high with manure as part of a social experiment. As scientists watch the pair from behind a window, one of the boys starts ranting about the intolerable stench and is let out. Eventually the remaining boy suddenly begins digging furiously through the piles, tossing clumps of manure in every direction and yelling, “There’s so much here, there’s got to be a pony inside.”

Great plays have book-width “programs” you can take with you back to the world beyond the exit turnstiles. Good programs extend the experience with details and anecdotes we would never have imagined during the performance. Atitlán Basin, a spectacular show of natural and cultural exotica, finally has a program that is worthy of its splendors.

Dr. Al Thompson’s latest book COFFEE: From SEED to BREW is colorful, readable and informative—without telling you more than you want to know. It will occupy a place of dignity anywhere coffee is enjoyed. The book was written at the urgings of Transitions of Guatemala, a private and voluntary organization whose mission is to enable those with disabilities to lead happy and productive lives. Profits from the sale of the book will contribute to their work.

BOOK REVIEW by Dwight Wayne Coop

If someone tells you that your current destination is all the way out "in Fifth Hell," then you'd better not try to go on foot. The phrase is one of some 200 modismos (idiomatic phrases) that are common in - and mostly peculiar to - Guatemala. Until recently, they were never compiled in a lexicon. But now, any student hoping to grasp Guatemalan Spanish - for whatever motive - would be well advised to find a copy of Modismos Guatemaltecos. This book is the professional-caliber work of a talented amateur linguist, Quetzaltenango restaurateur Adolfo López Sosa.