Yesterday we returned from Copán, Honduras, to camp at La Caballeriza Hotel in Guatemala. Nice place for one night or longer. In the morning we set off towards Mexico. Curious about old Mesoamerican basalt sculptures, we stopped on the way in La Democracia.

Large stone sculptures are displayed around the square of this small town. The sculptures were discovered in the nearby Monte Alto farmlands and are characteristic of the Pacific lowlands. When were they carved? Archaeologists are not sure. Some evidence suggest that they may come from the Late Preclassic period (500 BC to AD 100) when Monte Alto was the regional center.

Two types of statues can be distinguished among the sculptures from Monte Alto. The first is a group of human heads that closely resemble the Olmec colossal heads. The other sculptures are human bodies with a decidedly corpulent in appearance, they are often called potbellies.

The sculptures from Monte Alto resemble those of the Olmec civilization, which predates and coincides with Monte Alto. Similarities to the colossal Olmec heads suggest that the two cultures are somehow related. Did the Olmecs migrate to the Pacific lowlands or simply influenced the arts in the region? Archeologists do not have answer to this question yet.