Can you name all the seeds in the photograph? I will help you with the one my finger is pointing to: Chile Cobanero. You may need to click on the photo above to zoom into the details. Good luck!
Numerical Sidenote: For many Western cultures the number 13 is bad luck; thus Tuesday 13th, Friday 13th. For the Maya, the number 13 was good luck. Check the 13 Moon Mayan Calendar for more details on the number 13.
Fact #1: Right now is winter in Guatemala as it is located in the Northern Hemisphere. You might not be believe this by looking at the photo above. Fact #2: Guatemala is a tropical country with a temperate weather. The reason for the pleasant temperatures is the high altitude where most of the towns are located; somewhere between 1,000 to 2,000 meters above the sea level (See the satellite map of Southern Guatemala). Fact #3: The rainy season last well over six months, thus it provides enough water to keep the whole country with a million shades of green year round. Fact #4: There are 33 volcanoes in Guatemala, a tiny piece of land of 108,890 km² (42,042 sq miles), which provide all the rich volcanic soil for the coffee and vibrant vegetation. Fact #5: Guatemala has large underground waterbeds which provide enough water for the plants and flowers to bloom constantly. The photo above is a tiny sampler of greens.
According to Wikipedia, translucent emerald-green jadeitite is the most prized variety of jade both now and historically. Quetzal jade, or translucent emerald-green jadeitite, was treasured by Mesoamerican cultures. Guatemala and Burma are the principal sources of modern gem jadeitite.
All the jadeite in Mesoamerica, used by the Olmec, Maya, and all other cultures since ca 3,000 AD, comes from the Motagua river valley in Guatemala, and it was one of the most valuable objects in those cultures, a bead of Jade was worth 2 loads of gold for instance. The Spaniards, thirsty for gold, did not appreciate it. Mining stopped and the sources were forgotten until the 1940′s. Today, Guatemala produces fine jadeite in colors that range from soft translucent lilac, blue, green, yellow, and creamy, brilliant black; and is the source of new colors such as “rainbow jade,” and the unique “Galactic Gold,” a black jadeite with natural incrustations of gold, silver and platinum. (Source: Jade at Mesoamerica from Wikipedia)
I am sorry the light or my poor skills behind the camera did not allow me to capture the different shades of green. I will come back soon to the subject of Guatemalan jade, I promise.
This is a close-up view of a Huipil, sort of a blouse worn by the indigenous Maya women and sometimes even the tourists get in the mood for wearing one. To fully appreciate the colors, the patterns and the threads, please, do click on the photo above to zoom in.
This photo is dedicated to Meg and her daredevil mom who actually flew in from Japan to take a closer look at the Guatemalan textiles. I had the pleasure to meet with her for a few minutes. Just another case of Six Degrees of Separation.
We continue the color tour around Antigua with something simple and utilitarian like kitchen gloves. I am sure Meg would love a pair of these since she loves textiles. Here you get to see how the Indigenous people can have such wide palette of colors and yet the whole piece be harmony. Also, you can see Indigenous motives: the bird looking shape represent the Quetzal, Guatemala’s national bird and the name of the currency. It is common belief that Quetzals can not live in captivity; thus they represent freedom.
I hope you are enjoying the color trip. We are raising the intensity of the colors. Tomorrow there will be a close-up shot of textile patterns and threads.
Do I love yellow or what?
To appreciate an old colonial town like La Antigua Guatemala you need a new set of aesthetic values. See the beauty of many things in Antigua reside in their many imperfections; sometimes they are made to look like that. For instance, forged metal railings are hammered while red hot to to lose their perfect round or square shapes. New houses are built to look old and used. The same applies to brand-new furniture. The natural paint use on the façades of houses peels almost yearly and new coat is put on the old and after so many years you get really awesome looking textures. Besides, many things are still made completely by hand, thus it is impossible to get two items to look the same; quite the opposite to modern assembly and manufacturing lines where item one million looks exactly the same as any of the previous items. People actually appreciate the very old, antique and used-looking, with a few imperfections; the older the better. The harmony of all these elements, used, old, antique, imperfect, rusted, unfinished, peeled makes for the magic of walking around Antigua.
In the photo above you can see I am sucker for graphic, illustration like elements in photographs. I like the texture of the terra-cotta bricks, the wall, the window and warm yellow color. A tripod was necessary to get this shot. I hope you like it; make sure click on it to get the larger version.
Plagiarism Side Note: Last week today elPeriódico, my favorite Guatemalan national newspaper, published a photo from this site without permission and credited the photograph as one of their own. Here you can see a scan of the newspaper page, including the photo they took, published and credited as part of their archives. The photograph appeared in December 12th in this humble blog as Antigua’s Cathedral at Sunset. After I wrote them a few emails and posted about the plagiarism in my Crónicas efímeras Spanish blog (click to read the original entry in Spanish or in English through Google translator.) they publish a tiny apology in the last Saturday’s edition (click to the see the scan). Even though I wrote to them directly to let them know that the photo belonged to me and to this site, they never wrote directly to me to apologize for the plagiarism. After being told about the apology on Monday by a friend, I decided to not continue demanding a direct apology or compensation for violating my copyrights. The irony of the whole incident is that publish my photos with enough resolution so you can view them and use them, so long you credit me, you make no money off of them, no derived works are done from them. Most of the time a simple email requesting permission to use a photo is all it takes; I am easy fellow, you know.
Sometimes when you start a series you don’t know where to begin. I have colors, rich saturated colors for you. But, I will start slow; raising the intensity as we progress; kind of like rising the volume. Which remains me of another photo with lost of colors: Pump up the color.
In the Daily Photo Cities, we all have different approaches to documenting the life in the cities we happen to live. The same can be said about the subject we pick and the kind of photography each of us like. Street photography is my thing because I like to capture people, their interactions, their clashes, their feeling, their thoughts, et-cetera. I also like to capture color and texture. If I am lucky I can get all of that in one photograph. Today’s photo meets my criteria to the t. What I like about this photo is how little noise there is, the flat color, two people enjoying their fresh-fruit ice cream, the warm color of the late afternoon, the composition. Well, I don’t have enough words to describe the feeling or “puncture” I derive from this photograph as Roland Barthes calls it in his book Camera Lucida. The interesting part about photography is that we are all affected or tickled by different things. This photo might not do anything for you.
Today’s photo is one of the better examples, I’ve seen, of why people leave bewitched after spending some time Antigua and Guatemala. They feel an urge to return, as Christine put it (by the way she will start the Omaha Daily Photo— you go girl!). Some of them, actually come back for a long stay after taking a trip to learn Spanish.
So what’s in the spell? Well you need start with sunshine, lots of it in the morning and in the afternoon—even in the rainy season; a nice warm and temperate weather; add tons of color and texture to that; don’t forget to include the exotic element; stir up culture and tradition from the many flavors of Guatemalans (Indigenous, Xincas, Garífunas, Mestizos, Whites, Catholics, Evangelicals); don’t forget great Mayan, Colonial, Modern and vernacular architecture with many contrasts; mix-in fresh fruits, vegetables, and Guatemalan dishes; you now have about half the ingredients of the magic potion. I will continue with this recipe as we progress—keep the flame on low for now.
You can see the previous color series by picking the Color Palette category on the sidebar.
We are not in Kansas anymore!
The informal economy is the basis for making a living for most Guatemalans. That is why you have shoe-shining boys, orchids sellers, furniture sellers, textiles sellers, handicrafts sellers, vehicle watchers, ice cream handcarts sellers, market merchants and a very long et-cetera. As matter of fact, Guatemala’s SAT, IRS equivalent, has a tough time collecting the minimum tax required which is 12% of the Gross National Product. By the way, 12% is Guatemala’s sale tax and most people that do pay taxes are under a 5% income tax. The biggest problem with a poor tax collection system is that there are little social security benefits for the majority of the population. Things like health care, retirement plans, unemployment insurance, accident and death insurance are nonexistent or cover so little that the for the effect is the same. I know this is touchy subject for most people up-north, especially Canada and Europe, but believe it, paying taxes is what makes the difference.
For the next few days, please pull out your sunglasses because Antigua Guatemala Daily Photo will have an avalanche of rich and saturated colors for you. Come back to see a continuation of Guatemala’s Color Palette.
There’s an unspoken rule against publishing photos of your cats on your blog. I am breaking the rules on the request of my lovely sister. Here two my cats: Camilo the large black and cat and Lolita, the little white pussycat in the background. Oh, how I wish I could live worry-free as these two. Both of them were rescued from a no-kill animal shelter by the name of Aware.
Happy Sunday to you and your family.
I must confess, I have a weak spot for colors and patterns. Maybe it is the fact that I am, after all, a graphic designer that makes me set the view-finder on colors or patterns. As a matter of fact, three my favorites photos were basically that: 1. Shadow Casting Lamp, 2. Antigua’s colors, post #100 and 3. Palo de Izote Tree.
Best wishes for this weekend to all of you!
Cobblestone streets are yet another characteristic of La Antigua Guatemala’s life-style (see photos 1, 2, 3). They are hard on the automobiles, trucks, bicycles and humans. Cobblestone streets require a lot maintenance. In the photo above you can see just one of the workers responsible for the streets’ repairs and if you follow the next link you can look at the whole group.
Today is Friday, take it easy… the weekend is just around the corner.
Many of the streets of La Antigua Guatemala are owned now by people who ask and demand to take care of your vehicle while parked. They ask in return for a small tip. So far so good. If you tell them you don’t need to have your car looked after, some of them will scratch it or somehow damage it. Sometimes they demand a high fee for having your automobile parked on their street. Some people say these people actually work in tandem with the thieves as look-overs; I can not say that is true, but I can not deny it either. This is one thing that really annoys me about La Antigua Guatemala. The streets are public and we pay taxes to have them clean and available for walking, driving or for parking.
52 Daily Photo sites are participating in the February 1st theme: “What really annoys me about my city”, please use the links to below to visit them.
Due to time zone differences and other factors, the theme photo may not be displayed until later if you are viewing early in the day.
1 (Porto (Portugal) ) -2 (Stayton, OR (USA) ) -3 (Albuquerque, NM (USA) ) -4 (Tenerife (Spain) ) -5 (Greenville, SC (USA) ) -6 (Dubai (U.A.E.) ) -7 (Evry (France) ) -8 (Jakarta (Indonesia) ) -9 (London (UK) ) -10 (Sequim, WA (USA) ) -11 (Buenos Aires, (Argentina) ) -12 (Seattle, WA (USA) ) -13 (Minneapolis, MN (USA) ) -14 (Stavanger (Norway) ) -15 (Joplin , MO (USA) ) -16 (Nelson, New Zealand ) -17 (Milano, Italy ) -18 (Singapore (KeropokMan) ) -19 (La Antigua Guatemala (Guatemala) ) -20 (Nottingham UK ) -21 (Singapore by Zannnie (Singapore) ) -22 (Budapest (Hungary) ) -23 (Not Strictly Seattle, ) -24 (Bandung (Indonesia) ) -25 (Vantaa (Finland) ) -26 (Hyde (UK) ) -27 (Madrid by Dsole (Spain) ) -28 (Oulu (Finland) ) -29 (Saarbr?cken (Germany) ) -30 (St. Paul [Carol] ) -31 (Sydney (Australia) ) -32 (Tokyo (Japan) ) -33 (Kyoto (Japan) ) -34 (Trujillo (Peru) ) -35 (Shanghai (China) ) -36 (Rotterdam (NL) ) -37 (Chicago, IL (USA) ) -38 (Nice, (France) ) -39 (Naples, Florida (USA) ) -40 (Hong Kong ) -41 (Santa Clara, CA (USA) ) -42 (Quito, Ecuador (South America) ) -43 (Cottage Grove, MN (USA) ) -44 (Paris, (France) ) -45 (Manila (Philippines) ) -46 (Brussels (Belgium) ) -47 (Auckland (New Zealand) ) -48 (Newcastle upon Tyne(England) ) -49 (Houston, TX (USA) ) -50 (Sydney by Nathalie (Australia) ) -51 (Mumbai (India) ) -52 (Anderson, SC (USA)) -
AntiguaDailyPhoto in an invaluable way to maintain our connection to Guatemala, until we can visit again. We love the themes that capture daily life--people, places, culture, activities, idiosyncrasies, etc. This includes controversy and politics. We love your just showing us what you see and think. Love the music, videos and maps. NEVER enough food!! —SJBJ
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