Above the steaming Guatemalan jungles rise the temples of Tikal, an ancient Mayan city now in ruin. A thousand years ago a mix of population growth, famine and war contributed to the collapse of Mayan civilization.

Five hundred years ago, Spanish conquistadors descended upon Guatemala seeking gold and savage souls. With muskets and missionaries they destroyed what was left of Mayan civilization. Disease wiped out much of the population.

Those left were enslaved and converted to Catholicism at gunpoint.

Today the descendants of the conquistadors still rule the country, ensuring the flow of its modern gold—coffee, bananas and sugar. Missionaries still come to Guatemala, and churches are the most prevalent buildings in every village.

About 60 percent of Guatemala’s population is Mayan, living in poverty outside the economic, social and political mainstream. Isolated in mountain and jungle villages, the culture has survived by assimilation. They now practice Christianity, as well as worship Mayan gods. The Spanish language helps unite a people who speak 26 different languages.

The cultural environment in Guatemala is changing, spurred by the double-edged sword of globalization. After decades of massacring Mayan villages to root out rebels, the Guatemalan government signed a peace accord in 1994. Now, instead of trying to systematically eradicate Mayan culture, the government is reaping the financial rewards of it.

More tourists visit Guatemala than any other Central American country except Costa Rica. Thousands of wealthy foreign tourists flock to Guatemala annually to gape at the beauty and antiquity of the Mayan people, spurring a modern Mayan renaissance. But with globalization comes rapid change as once isolated villages are introduced to television and consumerism. Advertisements for Coca-Cola are now more prevalent than icons of Jesus and the Virgin Mary.

As the Mayan people rise from centuries of cultural colonialism, their challenge now is to prevent globalization from sapping what is left of their culture. And the challenge for tourists is to learn the lesson of Mayan civilization, which grew so large and consumed so much—so fast—it collapsed.