La Democracia

From Santa Lucía, the next town along the highway is Siquinalá, a run-down sort of place from where another branch road heads to the coast. Nine kilometres south along this road is LA DEMOCRACIA , home to a collection of archeological relics taken from the site of Monte Alto to the east of town and now displayed around the town plaza under a vast ceiba tree. These so-called "fat boys" are massive stone heads with simple, almost childlike faces, carved in Olmec style and thought to date from the mid-Preclassic period, possibly from as far back as 500 BC. Some are attached to smaller rounded bodies and rolled over on their backs clutching their swollen stomachs like stricken Teletubbies. Also on the plaza, the town museum (Tues-Sun 8am-noon & 2-5pm) houses carvings, a wondeful jade mask, yokes worn by ball-game players, pottery, grinding stones and a few more carved heads.