Guatemala is located southeast Mexico, or middle America. Between Honduras and Belize, it borders the Caribbean Sea to the north east; the southwest portion of the country is bordered by El Salvador, Mexico and the North Pacific Ocean. Coastlines total to 400 km and land borders total at 1,687 km, however there are no natural harbors on the west coast. Size wise, Guatemala is slightly smaller than the state of Tennessee. A tropic land sounds like heaven, on the contrary Guatemala has several climate tribulations. Guatemala is mostly mountainous (many of the mountains contain active volcanoes), susceptible to hurricanes, tropical storms, and the occasional violent earthquake.

A warning to the Visitor: A very high level of violent crimes are committed against foreigners in Guatemala, so travelers should always be alert to potentially dangerous situations. Incidents of bus and car jackings are quite common, and many of the larger cities become more dangerous after dark. Kidnappings, rapes, and assalts do occur during daylight hours, but are more frequent after sunset also, but sometimes affect entire groups. Also, health risks include Cholera, dengue fever, malaria, hepatitis, typhoid, and dysentery.

As of July 2002 the population of Guatemala was 13,314,079, with a growth rate of 2.57%. That makes the birth rate 34 births and 6 deaths to every 1,000 people. Infant deaths are mildly common as well; there are 44 stillborns infant deaths for every 1,000 successful live births. The sex ratio at birth is 1.05 to 1.00. In other words, for every twenty women that are born, twenty-one men are born. The population is comprised for three age groups. Guatemalans from ages 0-14 make up 41.8%, ages 15-64 comprise 54.5%, and 65+ are the remaining 3.7% of the people. A common killer in Guatemalan society is HIV/AIDS. As of 1999 there were 73,000 people in Guatemala living with HIV/AIDS. And each year, 3,600 of those people die because of the disease. The adult prevalence rate of the disease is 1.38%. Ethnic groups in Guatemala includ

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