Guatemalan quetzal on August 20, 2007. The Bank of Guatemala has also introduced a 5 quetzal polymer banknote on November 14, 2011. Guatemalan quetzal The quetzal (; code: GTQ) is the currency of Guatemala, named after the national bird of Guatemala, the resplendent quetzal. In ancient Mayan culture, the quetzal bird's tail feathers were used as currency. It is divided into 100 "centavos" or "lenes" in Guatemalan slang. The plural is "quetzales". The quetzal was introduced in 1925 during the term of President José María Orellana, whose image appears on the obverse of the one-quetzal bill. It replaced the peso. Until 1987,
Ruta Quetzal Ruta Quetzal The Ruta Quetzal ("Quetzal Route") is a trip taken yearly by hundreds of Latin American, Spanish, and other Spanish and Portuguese-speaking students. The full name of this study and adventure travel is Ruta Quetzal BBVA, or formerly Ruta Quetzal Argentaria. In 1979, Miguel de la Quadra-Salcedo, Quetzal Route currently director since the beginning of the "Ruta" (as it's called by the routers), proposed to the king Juan Carlos I of Spain his idea to form a trip for teenagers from Spain, Latin America and other countries of Asia and Europe, one which would promote intercultural exchange between the