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In December, Antigua’s main plaza or Parque Central puts on a ‘light dress’ over the tree branches. I wish I had the photographic skills to capture this beautiful show of lights, all over the trees around Parque Central. Tomorrow I will bring another shot of the illuminated trees.

On August 3rd, I have said that La Antigua Guatemala is a very small town (about 10×10 block grid), but there is nothing like a map to put it in perspective. You have to click on the image of the map to get a larger size, so you can see all the details. Many people are not aware that by clicking the photos that appear above the captions they can see a 200 percent enlargement to dive into the texture, grain and details of the images.

On August 12th, the entry about The Dance of the Giants, I mentioned that on the weekends Calle del Arco, Antigua’s most famous and photographed street, becomes a pedestrian strip. It is nice to see dogs and cyclists take advantage of the extra space.

On September 1st, I posted one of my best shots yet, which goes by the name of Framed Shadow. That photo was the first glance at Iglesia de La Merced, Antigua Guatemala’s most famous and photographed church. Then, I showed you the dome and the atrium and moved away onto other subjects. Looking at yesterday’s picture, it occurred to me that I have shown the façade of Antigua Guatemala’s Cathedral 5 times and that there is not a single shot of the façade of Iglesia de La Merced.

So, how is it that La Merced is the most often photographed church in Antigua and I just come around to show it to you? Well, my apologies first; then a little explanation is due. I have tried not to show you the most obvious places and the most often photographed sites. That is why it took me over 120 days to show the first Indigenous photo as the subject, even though Indigenous people are everywhere. It took almost the same amount of time to bring a shot of Calle del Arco. There are other popular places that I need to show you, but I will do it slowly and with many other images in between. Remember, this is not a tourist-oriented site (well, at least I try not to make it one).

Please if you have the time, pay a visit to these fine cities with a Daily Photo:

• Houston Daily Photo
• Minneapolis Daily Photo
• Nelson Daily Photo
• Sydney Daily Snap
• Tenerife Daily Photo

The quality of the light has been fabulous. I feel the urge to re-shoot almost all the buildings, houses, churches and ruins all over again. It’s been only two weeks since our last look at the Antigua Guatemala’s Cathedral, but the colors are a-changing so I figure I shoot it again. Here are other photos of Cathedral; if you care to look at the building from different angles and weather conditions click the following links:

1. Illuminated Antigua’s Cathedral at twilight
2. Requiem for the Rain
3. Antigua Guatemala’s Cathedral
4. Taxis at Antigua’s Cathedral

Here is a slice of a frozen moment and life on a Sunday morning right after mass. This image could illustrate a meeting at the atrium of a town’s church anywhere in America, the continent, but in this case the snapshot was taken in San Miguel Escobar, a village about 3 kilometers from La Antigua Guatemala.

I do not know exactly why I like this image so much. Maybe it is the rhythm or the smiles of the old men. Please, help me discover what it is that moves me in this picture.

Best wishes for this upcoming week. Please, do take it as easy as the folks in this picture. Also, before you go, listen to When I am Sixty-four by The Beatles.

For the celebrations of the Virgin of the Immaculate Conception on December 8th, many towns have float parades. In this photo, we have “McGyver” raising his hands with pride and his campesino (farm worker) effigy float getting ready for the Ciudad Vieja float parade that goes by the convite name.

With the season’s celebrations comes the ever-present traditional fair food. Here we have a shot of Guatemalan mole and buñuelos in the foreground and Pirujos, the name for Guatemalan sandwiches, in the background.

Guatemalan mole is very similar to mole poblano, which is a chocolate and chili based sauce (over simplification of the ingredients). One big difference is that mole poblano is a meal with chicken or turkey, while Guatemalan mole is a dessert of plantains ladled with chocolate sauce or mole for short.

Guatemalan buñuelos are kind like round French toast and they are served with a lot syrup made from water, sugar, cinnamon sticks, all-spice just to name the main ingredients.

Both of these sweet desserts are welcome for the chilly and windy season. Bon appetite!

The Burning of the Devil right before the celebration of the Virgin of the Immaculate Conception marks the beginning of the Christmas Season. In this photo you can see a small altar for the Virgin of the Immaculate Conception in the Barrio (neighborhood) de la Concepción in La Antigua Guatemala.

All year long he hides under the bed or in the junk piled up in the corner, casting misfortune or worse on helpless mortals. But on Wednesday, December 7, at 6 p.m. sharp, the Devil gets his comeuppance, as he is tossed out of the house along with the trash and set ablaze in the Quema del Diablo (Burning of the Devil), a tradition in many Guatemalan towns that literally sparks the beginning of the Christmas Season.

The origins of the Quema del Diablo in Guatemala can be traced to colonial times, when the well-to-do adorned the fronts of their homes with elaborate lanterns on the eve of the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, explains historian Miguel Álvarez Arévalo. Unable to afford lanterns, poor denizens instead lit bonfires made of kindling and the trash from their homes. The practice over time evolved into the Quema del Diablo. (Quoted from Juan Carlos Ordoñez’s article The Devil Gets His Due in Revue Magazine—click the link to continue reading the article.)

I am publishing today’s photo a little later so I can include the Burning of the Devil photos on its celebration day, December 7th. Instead trying to explain what this celebration entails, I decided to quote and link to the excellent article my friend Juan Carlos Ordoñez wrote last year for the Revue Magazine. Please, do read the article if you want to understand what does burning the of the devil means.

Here are the supporting photos: 1. The close-up of the Burning Devil 2. Meet the Devil in Person 3. Devil Piñata #7.

The Game:
Play to win the grand prize of any of the today’s four photos turn into a postcard and mailing, with Guatemalan Coffee stamps, anywhere in the world. The first person that translate into English the text on the yellow sign underneath the devil on the Meet the Devil in Person photo becomes the winner. Spanish speakers and Spanish bilinguals are not allow to play. Sorry Ale!

We continue the music journey at Jamtigua International Music Festival with Ranferí­ Aguilar and his Rain Maker show. Hacedor de Lluvia or Rain Maker could be classified as new age music created with pre-hispanic music instruments. I know this short explanation does not really explain Ranferí­ Aguilar’s music, so I decided to present two videos clips that might give you a better idea; look for them below.

Ranferí­ Aguilar must be one of the best musicians that have come out of Guatemala. For starters, he was a founding member of Alux Nahual, Guatemala’s most famous rock band. I talked about them on my entry for July 19th, 2006. Actually, when Alux Nahual broke up, a great band was lost, but several solo projects emerged from these great musicians and Ranferí­ Aguilar was one of them. Here is another shot of Ranferí­ Aguilar at the Jamtigua concert.

If I am not mistaken this is the first time I embed a video clip in this blog. I know this is a Daily Photo site, but I believe the usage of other multimedia is fine so long is supports the subject at hand.

Here is a second video clip of Ranferí­ Aguilar and his Rain Maker concert at Jamtigua 2006 that shows a little bit more of his music.

Please, let me know what you think about including video clips every once in a while?

The best time of the year to visit La Antigua Guatemala, or Central America for the matter, is now. The months of November through February are the coolest—in some places even as low as under 0° C/32° F (and even Canadians complain)—; there is no rain or very little downfall; there are all kinds cultural and traditional activities and celebrations; and the light is the best.

Here you can see the sunset on Saturday 18th at the Jamtigua International Music Festival, with Volcán de Agua (Water volcano photos) in the background, as well as Guatemala’s ever-present beer company. As the frame, I am using one of Pancho Burga‘s metal sculptures made from recycled metal scraps. Here is a link to check other works by Pancho Burga.

Very Interesting Reading:
Thanks to El Blog Diablógico I learned that Xeni Jardin, BoingBoing co-editor has been trekking through Guatemala and posting her impressions on her online travel log. Not often are we so lucky to have a professional writer, journalist and blogger publish a detail-rich travelog about Guatemala and her coverage of recent events, including an earthquake. After reading a dozen or so entries on her journal, I just come to realize that my attempts at documenting life in Antigua Guatemala are at best childish and plain basic. If you really interested in getting a feeling for what is like to live in Guatemala, I recommend that you read her travel reports. I leave you with a small sampling of her recent entries:

1. Guatemala: Menchú forms indigenous political party
2. Guatemala: veladoras (video clip)
3. Guatemala: Terremoto [Ed. Earthquake]
4. Guatemala: snapshot studies in Petén
5. Guatemala: Medical aid for Mayan communities near Lake Atitlán
6. Guatemala: Film – Killer’s Paradise
7. Guatemala: Film – Estrellas de la Lí­nea
8. Guatemala: some headlines in news here this week
9. Guatemala: thousands of women protest wave of “femicides”
10. Guatemala: Haciendo tortillas (video clip)
11. Guatemala: 15 die in marketplace fire

El Parque Central (Central Park click the link to see all the previous photos related to the park) is one of the nicest places in town. You can do many fun things around the park, spending nothing or so little money. You can have a cup of the best coffee in the world; you can have your shoes shine while you read the newspaper; seat in a bench and watch the sunset; you can hear the roaring of the motorcycles on the weekend; you can buy folk-art and textiles; if your thing is architecture, you can admire the Cathedral a twilight; or you can just enjoy the beautiful days around the park. In short, Central Park is a meeting place for many people, tourists, foreign residents and locals alike; and the best place to watch and live the life of Antigua Guatemala and its people.

My best wishes to all of you on this Monday morning!

You may remember this red wall from the Pick your color #1 entry. These are some of adjectives our visitors use for this wall: It’s warm and an old color, red is more passionate—alive, red is like blood, rojo sangre de toro, et-cetera (you can read all the comments by clicking the link Pick your color #1). After receiving such great feedback, I decided to give this wall a second shot.

Other things we can observe in the photo are: 1. Guatemalan families are very tight, especially the Indigenous families. 2. Most Indigeous women wear their native hand-woven clothing, and men do not. 3. The wall is due for a new paint job.

Jamtigua is a music festival, now in its second year. Jamtigua is the merging of the words Jam and Antigua and the creation of Javier Burga. This year the music festival included paintings, sculptures, belly dancing, tap dancing and salsa dancing among other activities. The show started at noon on November 18th, and lasted about 12 hours. I was happy to see people from all walks of life. I will come back to Jamtigua in the next few days to tell a little more about it. Stay tune!

Today is my sister’s birthday, so I want to ask you for a favor, please can we all scream at once: Happy Birthday Sandra!