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In late November and early December, when thousands of tourists made reservations for Southern Mexico and Guatemala, hoping to see the end of the world,  predicted of the Mayan in their country, representatives of Amalipe and 6 organizations from Macedonia visited Guatemala . The visit was organized by the Centre for Equality and Health System Study(Centro de Estudios para la Equidad y Governanza en los Sistemas de Salud - CEGSS) in Guatemala and the "Open Society Institute" - New York. It was not part of the flourishing tourist industry related to the end of the world expectations "appointed" for  December 21 2012. We visited Guatemala looking not to the past of the ancient Maya, but to their descendants’ presence; we did not expect the end of the world, we saw how the community monitoring of health services in indigenous communities at a grass-root level is and will continue to be made.

"El Corazon del mundo Maya" - "The heart of the Mayan world" with this sentence Guatemala welcomes thousands of tourists every day landed at the airport in Guatemala City. Accompanied by a photograph of the pyramid of Tikal, the sentence shows that the country keeps the ruins of the most ancient cities of an ancient civilization that captivates the minds of millions around the world with its splendor: the most accurate calendar in the world, exceptional knowledge of mathematics, amazing architecture, unique in its depth in space vision and mentality.

Guatemala is a country of contrasts. We met the both faces of the country: the shine in the big modern hotels in the center of Guatemala City, where well-dressed white women and their caballeros have breakfast without losing a drop of aristocracy, and on the other hand the woman bent under the burden on her head, or 7-8 year polishers who instead of having happy childhood during the holidays fight each other for the attention of the white gentleman who wants to have his shoes mirror polished , that face, blackened by the sun by the burden of time or just because they are children of God, he has baked them in the oven of human history. In this game, however, the Lord plays with two queens ...

Guatemala is a country of contrasts. It greeted us with colours woven on looms by skilled female hands, which do not miss the thread of tradition; colors, tucked in the skirts, in hair and in the hospitable people’ smiles, regardless of grayness of hopelessness in which they live. On the first day we were in the heart of this color - Chichicastenango market, which striked us with its syncretism: religion, traditions, languages, beliefs, and most of all - the ability to preserve the richness of their culture and ... to survive. You can feel it just standing in the center of the market, close your eyes and just listen - buzz, intonation, blend of languages ​​and dialects ... You can see it when you open your eyes and look up - not to the Lord – the Gods, Christian or pagan seems to have forgotten these people, even though they desperately and persistently try to pray for their blessing in pagan and Christian way. In the center of the market is located the big Catholic church of Santo Tomas. In the past - in that other time – it has been mayan temple. The stairs to the entrance were also strewn with colours - not by the flowers that women sell but by the diversity of their clothes. Men and women were kneeling everywhere - in the church, around the church, in the foot of the church and quietly whispered pagan and Christian prayers, burned incense and herbs, offered gifts in sacrifice, crossed themselves and quietly returned to their everyday lives. We squeezed through the narrow gaps between stalls dotted with colorful hand-woven clothes that are an attraction for tourists, but for locals they are more than life - livelihood, necessity, tradition that women are trying hard to preserve in order to convey the vanishing proud to their children and to preserve their identity.

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