flights are on Mexicana; connecting (stop, change of plane) are offered on Continental, Mexicana, American, Delta, Copa, US Airways and LACSA. Restricted round-trip fares begin at $565.

From Guatemala City to Flores (near Tikal National Park), connecting service is available on Tikal or Aviateca. Round-trip starts at $109.

TELEPHONES:

To call the numbers below from the U.S., dial 011 (the international dialing code), 502 (country code for Guatemala) and the local number.

WHERE TO STAY:

Guatemalan hotel bills include a 22% tax. Most rates below do not include this charge.

European river cruise giant Viking, already gaining a high profile in the United States with its sponsorship of popular PBS television shows, announced Tuesday that it will make New Orleans its first North American home port for Mississippi River cruises expected to begin byhis sayings. But it seems to me that people were doing well without hadith during the time of Umar.

There’s also the interesting view of Shi’a on this.

Muhammad lived in the hearts of his companions and friends. After his death, they wished to preserve all their recollections of his life. These recollections were of two kinds – his words and his deeds. The two together formed his Sunnah (the trodden path). Anything he said, and was quoted by a companion, is called a hadith or ‘tradition.’

But Umar did not want the companions to preserve any recollection of the words and the deeds of the Prophet. He, apparently, had many reservations regarding the usefulness, to the Muslim umma, of these recollections. He, therefore, forbade the companions to quote the sayings