Revue Magazine 2010-11 (November)

On the other side of the Motagua Valley a series of switchbacks took us up into the
mountains of Verapaz. Gradually, the sweltering desert gave way to pine forest and
then cool evergreen broad-leaf forest. An hour later we stopped in the little town of
Tactic and had lunch.
of “New Spain,” described how the great
Montezuma, when he came to meet Cortés,
was shaded by a huge canopy of quetzal
feathers. But Montezuma made a fatal
error. According to ancient texts left by
the Mexica, Quetzalcoatl, man or god, had
promised to return from the East in the year
1-reed (1519), and this was 1-reed.
Assuming that the Spanish who landed on
the coast of Veracruz were the returning
gods, the Aztec emperor failed to prepare a
defense. Before he knew what had happened,
Cortés and his mangy army of 400 had
defeated and sacked Tenochtitlán. And
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along with plundered gold, silver and gems,
sent back to the courts of Europe were the
exquisite plumes of the quetzal.
Before long there was a growing demand for
the feathers. No longer would the serpent
bird be protected. The new rulers declared
them to be free game.
By the 16th Century central Europe had
been largely deforested and the Spanish
found a ready market for fine tropical
hardwoods. And so they began a process of
desertification that continues today.
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