La Antigua Guatemala Daily Photo

1. Antigua’s Cathedral and Central Park Illuminated, 2. Partners in Adversity, 3. Public Water Distribution System, 4. Desfile nocturno del Día de la Independencia, 5. Street Lamp and Street Sign, 6. Grafito de Rigorberta Menchú, 7. San Cristobal El Bajo Church, 8. Guatemalan Sweet Bread Sampler, 9. Monk in San Francisco Church In Antigua, 10. Children Procession, 11. Jacarandas at Central Park, 12. Volcanes de Fuego y Acatenango Wallpaper

Any top list is bound to be subjective and there can be as many top list as there are people to make them. So with this in mind, I present you: my Top 12 Photos of 2007. Why a top 12 and not a top 10? Simple, I just pick my favorite photo for each month of 2007 and so that is how I arrived to these top 12 photos of La Antigua Guatemala Daily Photo of 2007.

I am sure YOU can come up with a different list of photos or entries as your to 12; there are plenty of entries to choose from for 2007 (365 to exact). Please, share with us which photos or entries were in your top 12 and let us know what was your criteria to arrive at your Top 12 Entries of LAGDP. Thanks everyone for sharing your top 12 with us.

New Year’s Eve Celebrations in La Antigua Guatemala:
For starters there are many things that make New Year’s Eve similar and different than Christmas’ Eve. If Christmas’ Eve is celebrated with the family at home at your parents’ home; New Year’s Eve can be celebrated anywhere: a discotheque, a park, the beach or La Calle del Arco, a popular venue in La Antigua Guatemala. At Calle del Arco, two fireworks signs are put on each sign of the clock at the arch: one for 2007 and the other for 2008 and fireworks are burnt right at midnight to celebrate the arrival of the new year. As Christmas’ Eve, everybody stays up all night long (or mostly all night) awaiting the turning of a new year at 12 o’clock. There is plenty of hugs, food, partying and dancing. New Year’s Eve is less religious than Christmas’ Eve and there are many more parties to go to. There is a particular song which is played at every single party and danced to… El Año Viejo. I leave you below a section of the song which is sang by everybody as reminder of the good things in life. Further down, I leave you a awesome version of El Año Viejo by Los Socios del Ritmo. I am sure this song most be the most-often-played music throughout Latin America on New Year’s Eve. Please, if you are Guatemalan, I don’t want to hear you cry… better sing …Ay yo no olvido el año viejo with your friends and family. Enjoy pues!

My best wishes to everyone and please have the happiest New Year Ever!

For a more detail explanation of the New Year’s Eve celebration, check out last year’s entry which describe with luxury of detail all the stuff that happens at New Year’s Eve.

Yo no olvido al año viejo (I don’t forget the old year)
Porque me ha dejado cosas muy buenas: (Because it left behind good things for me:)
Me dejó una chiva, (It left me a goat,)
Una burra negra, (a black donkey)
Una yegua blanca (a white female horse)
Y una buena suegra… (And a good mother-in-law…)

The Casa del Conde doorway is bound to bring some tears and sweet nostalgic memories to many of LAGDP visitors. See, La Casa del Conde or Café Condesa as it is widely known is one of the La Antigua Guatemala landmarks and of the places to get a cup of the coffee in town. It is interesting that for being a landmark of this colonial town, I just barely show it to you… I guess I like to take the long way home. But others have mentioned it before in Antigüeño Breakfast at Rainbow Cafe and Chef Salad from Café Concepción (BTW, this restaurant does not exist anymore).

Like I said, many visitors to La Antigua Guatemala Daily Photos have memories of this place; would you mind sharing your experiences at Café Condesa or at any of the businesses at Casa del Conde?

Okay, I promise this is the last shot of La Antigua Guatemala’s Central Park at night for a while. I just thought I needed to show all the angles and besides and I also wanted to show what is possible when you are walking around and the lighting conditions don’t allow for photographs to be taken without a tripod. See, thanks to the mini tripod LAGDP received from Santa Claus, a tripod is always present for those photo opts that do require a little more than a steady hand (and boy, because of all the coffee drinking I do, a steady hand is one thing I lost long time agoooooo).

But, before I move away from the night photo series, let me know your opinion of it; did you enjoy it?

I figured you would like to see the illuminated angels a little closer, so I took a few more shots. This one has a couple making up (you guys are voyeurs!) by the fountain and this next one you could use it as a post card since it is only the two angels slightly out of focus. I hope you enjoy them both!

Even smaller parks, like the one in front of the Escuela de Cristo Church, get their light dress for the Christmas season in La Antigua Guatemala. Yet the best and most expensive lighting is reserved for the Parque Central (Central Park) as you have seen in the previous days’ photos.

On the December 8th, It was Carmen who said, “Baby Jesus was put in his spot within the Nacimiento after we came back from the Misa de Gallo…” in the comments of the entry about the Nacimiento Shrine Niche at Capilla de Belén. Well, I am glad to know that our fellow readers and visitors are eager to fill in all the details and ephemerides that I leave out (out of ignorance). Follow the link if you would like to learn about Nacimientos tradition in Guatemala.

Above you can see a tiny Nacimiento de barro (baked clay Nativity scene) I found below a cheesy Christmas tree at the veterinarian’s office in La Antigua Guatemala. Once again, this photograph was possible through the support of a tiny tripod donated by Carolyn from Modley, Minnesota.

With the help of a little tripod and an out of focus shot, you can turn even the most banal and commercial Christmas tree into an awesome Christmas card. I hope you like it even though it is not to easily distinguishable as a Christmas tree.

Feliz Navidad and Merry Christmas to all the visitors to La Antigua Guatemala Daily Photo!

Since this is an unusual Christmas tree, it needs an unusual Christmas carol. And since LD and Manolo love salsa music and salsa dancing, I leave here a very unusual Christmas salsa song entitled El Tren de la Navidad by Feliz del Rosario. Right below it you can find the Discotheque version of Feliz Navidad (remix). Have a Happy-Christmas-Salsa-Dancing night everyone!

El Tren de la Navidad by Feliz del Rosario

Discotheque version of Feliz Navidad (remix)

Come back tomorrow and share with us you experienced this Christmas and what are the rituals for this day in your neck of the woods.

Christmas’ Eve or Noche Buena in La Antigua Guatemala is celebrated by staying up all night burning firecrackers and fireworks, eating tamales or turkey and drinking real fruit punch or hot real chocolate, visiting family, friends and neighbors for the respective abrazo de Noche Buena and buenos deseos (Christmas Eve hugs and best wishes); many even go to midnight mass. At midnight the presents under the Christmas tree, around the nacimiento (nativity scene), are opened and everyone laughs and hugs indiscriminately everyone around. These celebrations rate the highest on the nostalgic memory scale; everyone who is living abroad wishes to be in Guatemala for this season and for this night in particular.

A todos los chapines en el extranjero, y en especial a mi familia, les envío mis más sinceros abrazos de Noche Buena y mis mejores deseos. Les prometo que por ustedes, este día no haré dieta alguna. ¡Qué tengan unas felices fiestas!

Best wishes and Noche Buena hugs to all the visitors to La Antigua Guatemala Daily Photo.

Well, what do you know, even Santa Claus pays a visit to the illuminated Central Park. LAGDP’s Santa Claus lives in Motley, Minnesota and she paid a visit earlier in December as a response to the entry where I requested support for this web site through the Amazon Wish List that I maintain for La Antigua Guatemala Daily Photo. Carolyn was kind enough to wear a red fluffy dress and bring the following presents: a mini tripod, a book on Wordpress and a set of rechargeable batteries and charger.

Everyone, please, let’s thank Carolyn from Motley, Minnesota for such kindness and because starting with yesterday’s photograph all the upcoming photos were taking using the mini tripod and the rechargeable batteries. It’s incredible what a little tool like the mini tripod can do for photo opts. I will also improve on the layout and functionality of this web site as soon as I get through reading the book on Wordpress, the software engine behind LAGDP. It is a great feeling to know that you guys support all the work I put on this site through your comments, post cards, gifts from the Amazon Wish List and donations towards the hosting bills.

Thank you all for your continued support!

Post cards request update: I forgot to mention that last week I received a post card from Iceland thanks to Andre, a Norwegian living in Iceland at the moment. I have a soft spot in my heart for actual really real post cards and letters, so please keep ‘em coming! If you don’t know what I am talking about, please do read the entry Postscript.

La Antigua Guatemala’s Central Park gets a light dress for the Christmas season. If you remember some of the photos from last year, like Tree branches of Fire or Lit Branches at Central Park, you would know that taking photos of the illuminated park is quite difficult since the resulting photos hardly capture the magical atmosphere of the trees with thousands of Christmas lights. I promised I have tried my best. This year, I have a few more takes on this gorgeous light dress for the La Antigua Guatemala’s Parque Central.

By the way, I was lucky enough to have one of my photographs be the December 2007 cover for Revue Magazine. Oops! it is December 22nd, I just telling you about it even though this issue of the magazine has been on the streets and online since December 1st. Oops!

So after the tortillas are cooked on the comal and if they having been bought in the meantime, they go to a basket which has all kinds of towels to keep them hot until you go the tortillería and buy them. The picture above shows the usual arrangement for the Guatemalan tortillas inside the basket.

Right now, the going price for tortillas is 6 tortillas per one quetzal (Q1 = US$0.13). This fact brings me to another interesting aspect about tortilla selling in Guatemala: tortillas are sold by units and not by weight, which means some tortillas could be tiny or really thin or worse yet use maseca flour in the mix.

Well, for starters you need ‘real’ nixtamalized maize dough (nothing of the maseca flour that Manolo uses), a ‘real’ comal (baked clay griddle) and you need to use ‘real’ leña (wood logs, quite possibly pine). After that, you need a good pair of hand to tortear (hit into shape) a real looking tortilla. You don’t need no stinking mold to shape your tortillas ma’am.

Okay, go ahead now and make your own Guatemalan tortillas! Easier said than done, certainly.

Dobladas (turned over) is our last meal at the Virgen of Guadalupe Celebrations. Dobladas are made from nixtamalized masa (maize dough) like tortillas, but other ingredients are added before the masa dish is folded over itself and cooked. The ingredients that are added to the doblada are normally ground pork rinds, cheese, mashed potatoes, whole beans, et-cetera, but could be anything really. For instance I would like to find dobladas with cheese and loroco flowers; that would be very tasteful. Dobladas are normally fried or cooked over a comal (griddle made from cooked clay); just like tortillas. Dobladas are very similar to pupusas, except they are turned over. Check out the giant pupusas or Mayan pizza photos. Once dobladas ared cooked they are top with repollo salad (cabbage salad or coleslaw), tomato sauce and/or chile sauce (hot and spicy sauce).

Bon appetite everyone!

Well, chiles rellenos are not just a Christmas seasonal food since they are available everyday, 24×7 in Guatemala. Last year I described Guatemalan chiles rellenos like this:

Guatemalan chiles rellenos are basically, stuffed chillis, normally bell pepers, jalapeño peppers, and huaque (sp?), depends mostly on what is on season and how spicy you want your chiles rellenos. The stuff in Guatemalan chiles rellenos is a mixture of minced meat, carrots, green beans and other spices; all of that covered in an egg batter, and fried.

But I am sure Claudia and other can do a much better job describing it and perhaps, providing recipes in English. Please, if you know how to better describe it or would like to share your family recipe for making chiles rellenos or any of the Guatemala dishes I show here, please, do so in the comments. We all benefit from sharing… I’d like to think I am already doing my part.

Okay Carmen, this is not rellenitos, but it sure gets pretty close. I promise I post your rellenitos dessert pretty soon.

Bananas, including plantains, are native to Africa. Yet it is the Central American republics, but specifically Guatemala the tiny third-world country that is known as the Banana Republic. And no, we are most definitely not talking about the middle-class clothing store; although Guatemala is now a Maquila Republic too. We are talking about the Banana Republic created by UFCO and that Kyle called on to boycott. Yes we are talking about the United Fruit Company, now known as Chiquita Brands International, Inc. that created such a havoc and devastation in Guatemala that we are still recovering from its CIA operation PBSUCCESS.

But like in anything else in life, something good emerged from such a tragic history. Fried plantains, rellenitos (fried plantain dough filled with black beans), atol de platano (plantain-based hot and thick drink) and even the wrappings of traditional Guatemalan tamal came from the banana trees. Man, I could on and on talking about bananas recipes and dishes in Guatemala like Bubba did in the Forest Gump film about shrimp.

Bubba: Anyway, like I was sayin’, shrimp is the fruit of the sea. You can barbecue it, boil it, broil it, bake it, saute it. Dey’s uh, shrimp-kabobs, shrimp creole, shrimp gumbo. Pan fried, deep fried, stir-fried. There’s pineapple shrimp, lemon shrimp, coconut shrimp, pepper shrimp, shrimp soup, shrimp stew, shrimp salad, shrimp and potatoes, shrimp burger, shrimp sandwich. That- that’s about it.

Enough said!