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Guatemalan author Miguel Ángel Asturias, Nobel Prize in literature, wrote a book called Week-end en Guatemala (that is the title in Spanish). I have enjoyed the reading of this novel and its “novel structure” where there are series of stories that are happening all at the same time and they all have the weekend as the meeting point. The best way, I can think of, to describe the structure of this book is that we have several stories on outer circle and they all move at the same time towards an inner circle called the weekend. I recommend this book very highly.

La Antigua Guatemala is such meeting place for the weekends. People from all walks of life come to Antigua on the weekends and the meetings that take place are short stories. The picture above catches the moment of woman, a tourist, and a child from Guatemala City and walking backwards meet at my viewfinder. The both are staring with awe at something that is happening on the Central Park.

What are they looking at? Surely you want to know. Well, come back tomorrow for the answer. Have a nice day!

Balconies are not very common in Antigua, yet there are some like this one on Calle del Arco. I think it is a great location to watch the pedestrians stroll on Calle del Arco, or the giants dance to listen to live music. In my case, it is an opportunity to photograph a great yellow wall against a blue sky.

Sidenote: Without knowing I have done another series that begun on Saturday. This series is about things that happen a little strip of Antigua known as Calle del Arco. There two more photo and then onto something else.

Here is another humorous shot taken at Calle del Arco. I wish all of you an easy and slow start on this coming week.

Live marimba music at Calle del Arco in La Antigua Guatemala is one those things you can enjoy on the weekends. Besides, how can the Giants dance if they don’t have music?

On the weekends, Calle del Arco, Antigua’s most famous street, becomes a pedestrian strip. There is live music, tourists and locals walk the three block street up and down again and enjoy of the festive mood. Here you see the Giants that come out to dance and have a good time. Obviously, these giants do not drink coffee.

Related article:
The Giant Maker from Revista Recrearte (in Spanish/or in English through Google Translate)

Here is a typical arched doorway. You can all see the plants are growing wild. Often you see as you walk around Antigua plants over walls, over doors, over windows, over rooftop tiles, over posts, over you if you stand still for too long. Now you understand my concern over who is watering all those plants.

With the shot of some tourists walking by a doorway I finish the first part ofAntigua’s Door Series. For other doors around the planet, please, visit Doorways Around the World. There you can find other doors from Antigua as well.

Tomorrow, I will bring to you the dance of the giants. Yes, I said giants and just the other day I said people here were short because of all the drinking of coffee at an early age.

It is very common to see plants above the walls and doors in Antigua. The Land of the Eternal Spring is Guatemala’s slogan; it is quite true and even more so for Antigua. Here, the flowers are ALWAYS blooming and it does not matter when you come, the gardens will give you their best fruits and flowers. Yobabe reminds us that the old house on August 3rd is located in a beautiful place with beautiful weather and excellent atmosphere and thus whatever we pay for the property it is well worth it.

The answer to the question who water all those plants is the May 11th post.

You may ask yourself, what are those Arab style doors doing in a Spanish colonial town in Central America? Well, if you blow the dust away from History 101 books or read the Wikipedia entry on Spain, you may recall that all the Iberian peninsula, was under Muslin (Moors) control since 718 CE. The Arab rule on Spain lasted until 1492.

That was a very long time and the Muslin had a profound influence over the Iberian cultures. At its best it produced exquisite architecture and art, reads the Wikipedia entry. This why we can enjoy these gorgeous doorways in La Antigua Guatemala.

Gratitudes: I want to thank Lillian and Upandcomer for their donations toward the hosting bills. Also, I want to thank all the regular visitors for your continued support and feedback. We have reached another step toward a better blog; this photolog now runs on top of a more stable and versatile platform known as WordPress. There will be some hiccups in the next week or two, please, let me know if you see anything wrong or out of place.

We can derive three facts about Antigua from this photo. 1: Maids wear an apron all day long. 2: Many doorways in Antigua have one or two lamps to the sides. 3: Many doors in Antigua are framed by concrete and plants.

On the other hand, all entries were imported to this new blog. Chances are you can do quick search and find what you need. I will be cleaning up all the links in next few weeks. The last thing I want is for you to lose your time with broken links. Please, forgive the inconveniences in the mean time and thanks for your regular visits.

If you have paid any attention to doors that have appeared on this site, you might have asked yourself, are Guatemalans giants? Quite the opposite should be the answer for most Guatemalans. People here start drinking coffee at a very early age and thus do not grow very tall. So, why do Guatemalans in Antigua have big doors? so they can enter the house mounted on the horse. That is right, I said horse. Not many people come into their homes riding on their horses at present time, but if you remember this is a colonial town and in colonial times that was how people came into the houses.

On July 2nd, I told you that because all the positive feedback and comments I had received so far, I had decided to purchase a Canon Powershot A620 so I could take better photos or at least take the photos that way I choose. Well, I have to admit that I have taken most photos in assistive mode, but with this camera I have the option to take full control over the process; like I did on this photo. Rain is very difficult to capture and you have to use a very slow shutter to be able to show it. This day, the rain was very heavy, yet I had to use a 1/50 to 1/30 shutter speed to make it show on the photo. There is one more photo which shows the rain as silk.

Don’t forget that tomorrow I will start the Antigua’s Door Series. For other doors around the planet, please, visit Doorways Around the World.

Izote tree with branches, originally uploaded by rudygiron.

Patsy found this tree very interesting. It is called Palo de Izote and it is related to the Joshua Tree. I have posted several photos where the tree shows up; click on the following links to see the photos (f1, f2, f3).

Door knocker, originally uploaded by rudygiron.

I am prettry sure this is not what Bob Dylan had in mind when he wrote his now famous song. Marie has a fascination for the doorways around the world, I can tell you I get my kicks for the door knockers on Antigua’s doors. Okay, next week I will do Antigua doors series and a little history and inside information about the doors. I hope you don’t think is boring. I will start collecting door knockers for future series.

My apologies for posting so late today. Difficult day, we all have them.

Buying a house in Antigua is a proposition beyond the economic means of most Guatemalans, sometimes, even so for foreigners. On June 15th I told you that Antigua’s building code does not allow for two or more floors houses, and because Antigua can not grow beyond its original 10×10 block grid (maybe a little more), real estate is in very high demand. Thus, the price of real estate has gone to the sky. Real estate in Antigua can be as expensive as in California or New York.

You ask yourself, so what is the big deal? Well, if you consider we are talking about a tiny town in the mountain range of Central America, Guatemala to more specific, a third world country, with all the problems in justice, education, public transportation, infrastructure, safety, et-cetera. Then, it becomes obvious the real estate is over valued. But, the laws of supply and demand pay little respect to reason.

In real estate they are three laws you have to follow to make your best purchase: location, location, location. We all heard it before. The house on this photo is exactly two blocks from the Parque Central (main square), which is reason enough to make this house into a very expensive proposition. If you are still interested in having an idea about the prices of real estate in Antigua, visit the two main realtors: Carstens and Casa Nova.

So, how much would you pay for this old house?

Yesterday 28 people from sister cities around the world posted self-portraits at their favorite places. I did not participated because I try to keep to focus of this blog on La Antigua Guatemala and its people and surroundings, but because I have received an email asking to tell a little about myself, I have decided to make an exception. Sort of, the focus of the photo is still a butterfly. Besides, self-portraits are very difficult and how can one match the powerful image of Edwin at Kuala Lumpur, or the wit of Nuno at Porto; if I was going to do a self-portrait, it would have to be as Chris’ of Newcastle Upon Tyne. Great work done by all the City Daily Photos.

About me: First of all, Lillian made me do it. I have lived in Mexico, the U.S. (this is where I did my high school and college education), and at present in Guatemala. My first language is Spanish (isn’t it obvious through my horrible English). I moved to La Antigua Guatemala in 2002 as part of job offer, which I still do. I work as the Art Director for two magazines published from Antigua. Revue Magazine is a monthly periodical in English, targeted to tourists and the English-language-speaking community in northern Central America. Recrearte Magazine is a Spanish monthly publication which covers the cultural and leisure activities in Antigua and Guatemala City, as well as traditions, interviews, book reviews, etc. all with a local focus. This is how I made you believe I am smart and sharp. I just happen to have access to the great resources these two magazine provide. Both of them are available as PDF downloads.