People in Reu are modest: they keep another nickname of their city – “capital of the world”. An etymology of the name “Retalhuleu” seems to come from the Maya Quiche words: signal, and earth, which means a signal in the ground or, with some imagination, The Earth Signal. There is also a fairly widespread legend known historically but without confirmation, that when Pedro de Alvarado asked the Indians to divide their land between Mam and Quiche nations, asked for his sword and waved right and left. And Retalhuleu stayed in the middle, like a signal of that division.
Reu is surrounded by forests, a bit further big plantations of sugar cane, and also rice, cotton, and palm trees. There are some Mayan archaeological sites, among them Takalik Abaj as the most important one. There you can see very early Mayan period during which newly emerged culture mixed with the one of Olmeca’s.
Reu is famous in Guatemala because IRTRA’s two water parks are here.
