AntiguaDailyPhoto.Com

It is incredible that one time women, nuns to be more specific, were not allowed contact with the outside world. The Arco de Santa Catarina, one of La Antigua Guatemala’s landmark was built to prevent the nuns to be seen by the outsiders, quite possibly men, while they move from side of the street to the other side where they eat or pray; don’t know for sure which one.

I am glad to know that now nuns are allowed to walk freely in search for the best Wi-Fi spot in town so they can update their blogs.

That is exactly what Guatemala needs from the new Social Democratic government: Real people making real miracles (or at least real positive changes)!

Selecciones is the name in Spanish of the Reader’s Digest magazine. In the picture above, you see a Real lady reading the aforementioned magazine in her lunch break, or was it in her siesta time?

Even though the new Guatemalan President Álvaro Colom Caballeros, a 57-year-old industrial engineer and textile businessman, was sworn in for a 4-year term in Guatemala City in a ceremony at the Miguel Ángel Asturias National Theater, ceremonies and celebrations were held in the rest of the country too.

In La Antigua Guatemala, for instance, a big television was broadcasting the swearing in ceremony of the new Guatemalan President while music was being played in front of the Palacio de los Capitanes and people began to gather around to see and hear the speeches. The live music coming out from the loudspeakers was bait enough to bring Guatemalans and foreigners alike towards the stage.

Below I leave you with short video clip so you can get a feel for the event held in La Antigua Guatemala’s Central Park:

Like these two ladies, many Guatemalans sit to talk about the future under the new Social Democratic Government that will take office tomorrow, January 14, 2008. Like these two ladies, many have esperanza (hope) in the future with a new Social Democratic president. Like these two ladies, many wonder if the new Social Democratic cabinet will be more inclusive and responsive to the needs of the masses and hope that just having one woman Ministra and one indigenous Ministro (Secretary of an executive department) in a country where 60% of the population are indigenous and at least, if not more, 50% of the population are women, will not be a handicap when the times comes to address the needs of the aforementioned people, which in turn represent the majority of the population. Like these two ladies, many Guatemalans hope for an end to the violent crimes, femicides, insecurity, discrimination on the basis of gender and ethnic background and injustice; just to mention the most pressing issues. Like these two ladies, Guatemalans just want the promised “Solid and Everlasting Peace” in the Peace Accords of 1996.

Let’s hope for the better…

Grandma and granddaughter caught while doing mandados (errands). Above we can see the close relationship between the grandparents and their grandchildren which in Guatemala is one of the strongest links between humans.

Unfortunately, I lost my last grandparent alive last year. I will miss my abuelita (grandma) very much. I am reminded of her often when I see vistas like the one above.

A group of women met at Parque Central to discuss how expensive all the útiles escolares (school supplies) are for this coming school year and to pass tips on where to get the best prices. Just like Black Wizard says, school supplies should also be free.

Bookstores and stationary stores are jam-packed this time of the year in La Antigua Guatemala and throughout the country since the new school year is about to start. Yes, that is right, you read correctly, the Guatemalan school years begins sometime in January and ends sometime in October.

Boys and girls have been given their school supplies lists already and they need to purchase them before the first day of classes.

Public schools are free in Guatemala, minus some administrative fees. But, everything you need for school is not free; you need to buy a every single pencil and sheet of paper as well as any book or notebook, cuaderno in Spanish.

In the picture above, we can see parents with their children making the queues to purchase all the necessary school supplies at Librerí­a Castillo in La Antigua Guatemala; librerí­a is the Spanish term for bookstore or stationary store.

If you have lived for a while in the ‘first world’, make sure you know how to read this sign. Sanitarios is the Spanish word used in Guatemala for bathrooms. Make sure to memorize it, otherwise you will be running like this little girl.

Don’t you just love this Sanitarios sign… see how can I not suffer a fetish for signs in La Antigua Guatemala when even the most mundane sign is made to look aesthetically pleasing.

Street photography is my thing because I like to capture people, their interactions, their clashes, their feelings, their thoughts (yeah right!), et-cetera. I also like to capture color and texture. If I am lucky I can get all of that in one photograph. —rg

I guess that many tourists like the opportunity to eat rich ice cream in the winter season in the open in La Antigua Guatemala’s streets. Last year I showed you two tourists taking a break in the late afternoon to eat ice cream in Enjoy it while it lasts!

Would you like to go out for ice cream just about now? I wish I could take my little sister Jamie for some ice cream because she turned 21 today.

I will let you in a little secret: I was caught taking the photo of the watchers (the guard and the photographer) so I pretended I was not taking their photo, but rather they were actual visual noise on my attempt to capture the street lamp, the stop sign and the roof detail. It worked, they continued their voyeuristic activities and so did I. Boy oh boy, the things I do for you guys!

So yesterday and today’s photos are the resulting images of the pretense; I hope you like them a bit and not think less of them now.

Have I told you about my sign fetish… I don’t know if a cure exist for this sing disorder, but for sure La Antigua Guatemala signs do not help; there are SO MANY of them.

Do you know the etymology of fetish? If not you can find in this site… go happy hunting!

I don’t know who had the bright idea to rent the clean body of almost-new vehicles for advertising, but many vehicles receive a monthly quota for allowing advertisement on their cars while they drive around the country in their daily routines. I sure think they’re ugly and offensive to the eye, but everybody wants to earn a buck whichever way possible.

Does anybody know when will the Christmas decorations will be put away? The answer is in last year’s entries… go happy hunting now.

Sometimes you just have to ask yourself what kind of strange brew are the Canadians brewing way up north, heh. See, first they steal our bright minds; then they take our gold and buy out our postal service; they insert strange things into our antigüeño breakfast (bacon they call it); even our money is now Canadian (it reads Canadian Bank Note on the brand-new Quetzal bills); just to name a few things. In return they send salsa-dancing-craze Spanish students and the horrible and hostile weather. Come on, this is Guatemala, a tropical country in Central America, you know, the tiny land that impedes the Caribbean Island from moving over the Pacific Ocean. So what business does it have freezing-cold-ice-capping winds in La Antigua Guatemala. See, we don’t need no stinking ice-capped mountains and volcanoes in our gorgeous temperate-always-sun-shining-eternal-spring weather. Those volcanoes you see in the background are ice-capped (see larger image).

We will most definitely need stricter migration rules for all things Canadian; don’t you think so?

The photographer was capturing fleeting emotions, split-second gestures, temporary smiles or pensive introspections, passing pedestrians, et-cetera. Stealing souls, pues!