Welcome to La Antigua Guatemala’s blogumentary through daily photographs and descriptive narratives of a Spanish Colonial Town embedded between coffee plantations, flower farms and volcanoes.
This is another shot taken from our garden which shows the harmonious relationship that flora and fauna can have. There are about four or five photos from our garden, a mini-series if we may call it that way, including one that shows some of edible weeds and/or herbs that our very popular in Guatemala. But, first we have to take a break, on September 1st, to be part of the Theme day of Daily Photo Community. The theme for tomorrow is street light or street signs and I have a great capture, with rain and all, from La Antigua Guatemala that show both of them.
There has been a lot of rain lately in Guatemala and so the photo taken process has slowed down a bit; at least for me. Still, I have to go out on the rain to make the daily quota of photos from La Antigua Guatemala so I can keep you guys happy. The comments have dwindled to the point where I think nobody is interested in these photos anymore, except for you, my permanent visitor. I continue to take photos and do this daily routine for you…
You just have to be a bit more creative with the rain and the white and gray skies. For instance, a visit to our garden for some macro photos gave us this close-up shot of two rain drops on top a nopal penca (cactus pad) to be used as a possible wallpaper for your desktop computer. If you would like other Antigua Guatemala wallpapers for your computer, please, take a look at the wallpapers category. I hope you like options available there. Let me know either way.
Unless you have taken the path of La Marche de l’empereur, you haven’t heard about how everyone is living a virtual second life through a community web site. Well, old and retired school buses from the U.S. get to live a real second life as camionetas (the street name for public transit buses in Guatemala). Revue Magazine had an in-depth article about The Birth of a Camioneta (available as a PDF download) which detailed step-by-step how an old retired school bus became a powerful camioneta ready for the curvy roads of the mountain ranges of Guatemala. It is a great read and I recommend that you download the PDF to learn about the shops that make the miracle. The article is between the pages 1-33 in case you don’t want to download the whole magazine.
It is at one of this reconstruction shops, that an old and retired school bus from the use get its powerful second wind to ride in the roller-coaster roads of Guatemala. Interestingly enough, there are quite a few shops around La Antigua Guatemala that make the miracle of transforming the old yellow buses into the colorful exotic rides known derogatorily as chicken buses.
The waves are getting closer to La Antigua Guatemala. So it is no surprise to find a “surf shop” in a Spanish colonial town embedded between coffee plantations, flower farms and volcanoes.
Actually, you can get straight down to the Pacific Ocean in about 45 to 60 minutes (depends on your safety level while driving) through one of the most beautiful stretches of road in Guatemala, known simply as Carretera 14 (road #14) and then the highway in Escuintla. Two prime beaches for surfing are Monterrico and Sipacate, both of them about two hours from La Antigua Guatemala.
Imagine that instead of having a regular glass window, you could have a fish tank window to see your back yard. That is exactly what they sell here. I like how it almost feels like that fish are swimming in the air around the búcaro (new word for you).
It is nice to have a mellow picture to initiate the week; don’t you think so?
Signs, signs, signs, I sure do like them. If you browse the Signs category you will find 27 different samples of the many signs that adorn the walls of La Antigua Guatemala. Almost a month worth of signs.
For those of you who have visited La Antigua Guatemala, do you remember this sign and can you tell us more or less where it’s located?
A simple old and weathered arched doorway in Calle de Chipilapa. Believe it or not, there’s a matching window photo belonging to the same house… can you tell us under what name or date was published?
Have happy hunting for an old matching window and great weekend everyone!
Last year on May 25th, I showed you hugh stacks of wood logs to be use as fuels. Back then I told you that Guatemala’s name means land of forest (check the entry for the whole story behind the etymology). This a fact that is changing very rapidly because many people cut down the trees to use as fuel for their comal stove.
Recently while reading the National Geographic en español, I learnt that not all instances of the use of wood as fuel are bad. According the article about barbecuing; wood and charcoal do indeed pollute the atmosphere with smoke and ashes, but it is a recycled-type of energy when compared to other energy sources like gas or electricity.
In La Antigua Guatemala, wood can be used as fuel as a by-product of the coffee industry. Let me explain, if you recalled the photo about Coffee bushes and Gravileas trees, you would remember that gravileas trees (the large trees on the photo) are used as shadow trees for the coffee bushes. Well, after a while the gravileas trees get to be so big and they need to be trimmed. The trimmed branches and old trees can provide the necessary wood to be used as fuel. Now if there was a system such that the trimmed gravileas trees end with the people that still use wood as fuel, we could get somewhere; don’t get me wrong some of these wood does indeed get used, but it would be much better if all the trim from the gravileas trees was used. This would prevent the cutting down of the trees on the rolling hills. These trees provide the much-needed root system which prevents landslides.
Calzada Santa Lucía gets overcrowded with all the stands of the 11 candidates for the La Antigua Guatemala City Hall or Muni as we call it here. They all have their booths, their chants and songs, their promises, their colors, their flyers, their visual and hearing pollution, their trash, et-cetera.
They all tell us that they will change La Antigua Guatemala and/or Guatemala. I hate how all of them over use the word change and they leave it empty-ended. Does change really equals better? I don’t know where they get they dictionaries and thesaurus. Was the change from the Clinton to the Bush administration a change for the better? Is the world better now or even the U.S?; Just put an example that may be more obvious to all of us.
For those who are unaware that Guatemala will voting for new residents in the presidency and vice-presidency, city mayors offices and congress seats on September 9th, all I have to say is: Come on people read more Blogschapines or if you like dinosaur-blogs read La Hora, Siglo XXI, elPeriódico or Prensa Libre.
The marimba (pronunciation) has to be Guatemala’s most popular musical instrument. It is found in every single town’s fair, party and cultural event (almost). La Marimba, as it’s known in Spanish, is a type of xylophone with various origins. Guatemala claims to be THE origin of the marimba and, I believe, it is Guatemala’s National Music Instrument. For sure, Guatemala was indeed one of the origins of this particular percussion instrument and its sound.
Marimba music is so deeply rooted into the Guatemalan psyche that even the few of us that do not like it, recognize it and feel it; especially if we are abroad, as far as Kinshasa, Congo or in the good old U.S.A. For sure, you can hear marimba music on Calle del Arco on the weekends in La Antigua Guatemala.
For those chapines living abroad and for those who do not know what marimba music sounds like, I leave you with two samples of Guatemalan marimba music below. Dancing with the person nearest to you is allowed and encouraged. You can also check out a video clip of the marimba band playing at La Fonda de la Calle Real on the weekend in La Antigua Guatemala thanks to Xeni Jardin.
We are back to coffee beans, again, in the form of table available in the patio area of Fernando’s Kaffee. I believe La Antigua Guatemala is blessed because most days you can have your breakfast in the patio and most patios are so full of gorgeous and exotic (for the rest of the world) plants and flowers. I recommend that you have breakfast and a good cup of coffee at Fernando’s Kaffee if you come to La Antigua Guatemala. For those who only want to have access to this fabulous coffee, Fernando confided in me that very soon, in the next couple of weeks, he will begin exporting his in situs roasted selection of Guatemalan coffee beans. You will be able to order any amount of coffee (starting at 3 pounds, I believe); so keep an eye at coming-soon Fernando’s Kaffee web site.
It is official: The California avocado if from La Antigua Guatemala. I had mentioned a couple of times the antigüeños are known as Panzas Verdes (green bellies) because of all the avocados they eat (see trivia 2) and that one Wilson Popenoe took the antigüeño avocado to California (see trivia 3). Thanks to an email from Guy from Inner Diablog, a Guatemalan blog published from the U.K., who alerted me about an avocado monument around El Calvario Church on the Walter Williams road to San Juan del Obispo. Well, I drove several times around the area and I did not find such monument, but I did find the Walter William Road monument just outside El Calvario Church. So back to hunting for the avocado monument I asked my good friend and ever-flowing source of antigüeño trivia, JM Magaña, about the location of the avocado monument and he told me it was right there in Central Park, right across the La Antigua Guatemala Cathedral. Boy oh boy, Parque Central is full plain-view secrets. Okay, so this is the short version of how I found out that the California Avocado is really from La Antigua Guatemala. Below you can see the plaque planted right in Central Park and its location relative the Antigua Guatemala Cathedral.
I guess not all the gossip around Antigua is untrue. Another piece of hearsay is that the novel El Papa Verde (The Green Pope) by Miguel Ángel Asturias, 1967 Nobel Prize in Literature, based its main character in Frederick Wilson Popenoe, who worked for the United Fruit Company and lived at Casa Popenoe. The Green Pope is part of Miguel Ángel Asturias The Banana Trilogy, three books (novels) about what the horrible things the United Fruit Company did in Central America. From avocados to bananas, history repeats itself. Read on Citizens for Boycotting Chiquita at Immigration Orange to learn what the UFCO, now known as Chiquita Brands International, Inc. is doing at present in Colombia. Please, don’t eat Chiquita Bananas!
Many of the ingredients present in the Guatemalan Kitchen Colors are necessary for the red and green sauces you see here. In the picture above, we can see another version of the typical Guatemalan breakfast, this one from Fernando’s Kaffee. On August 1st, I showed you the fast-food version of the typical Guatemalan breakfast by Pollo Campero. Before, on November 6th, I described what’s included in the typical Guatemalan breakfast and how the sauces are made. Furthermore, on the entry Guatemalan Cuisine: Chapin Breakfast, I shared the etymological background for Guatemala’s most often used sauce: The Chirmol. By reading all those previous entries and the linked entries from them, you can get a better idea on how the Guatemalan breakfast came to be. Good luck on your reading.
Fernando’s Kaffee is one of Xeni Jardin’s favorite coffee porn joints in La Antigua Guatemala. Fernando, a long-time acquaintance, has a passion for freshly-roasted coffee and maps. I was lucky to caught both in one single shot. You can check Xeni’s Guatemala: Coffee Porn (video clip and photos) for an overview of how you can get a cup of Guatemalan coffee made fresh from the coffee beans. Take that Starbucks!
These are some of the most often used ingredients in the Guatemalan kitchen. This photo was taken on Calle del Arco in front of La Fonda de la Calle Real at a booth that the restaurant put out to showcase their flavors and the ingredients they use in their kitchen. You can take this photo to your local Latin market and start cooking some of the recipes found in this site under the Food and Drinks category. Bon Appetite!
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