La Antigua Guatemala Daily Photo

Certainly there are other kind of buses in Guatemala, so, please can someone explain it to me, what is the fascination that Guatemalan feel for the old-looking chicken bus?

By the way, did I mention that you can now buy prints from any photo available at La Antigua Guatemala Daily Photo and in the process help support my efforts to keep and maintain this site. Thanks!

I know I have a problem… what can I say, I like to photograph shadows. Shadow Casting Lamp and Before Sunset in La Antigua Guatemala are just two more samples of my addiction.

Should I look for help?

By the way, from this point forward, you can buy prints from any photo available at La Antigua Guatemala Daily Photo and in the process help support my efforts to keep and maintain this site. Thanks!

Very little remains from the Hospital Real de Santiago, also known as Hospital San Juan de Dios because it was under the administration of the San Juan de Dios brotherhood. This hospital was the sixth house built in Santiago de Guatemala, now La Antigua Guatemala. The Hospital Real de Santiago was built by Bishop Francisco Marroquín in 1553 to served the Spaniards and Criollos (Spaniards born in Colonial América).

The remaining ruins of Hospital Real de Santiago or San Juan de Dios can be found on the corner of 3a calle oriente and 2a avenida norte.

Information source: dates and names taken from a recent article about El Hospital San Juan de Dios en Santiago de Guatemala by JM Magaña in the April edition of Recrearte Magazine {ñ}.

Cellular telephones are so inexpensive in Guatemala that I used to joke with a friend who did have a mobile phone that was such a shame since even shoe-shinning boys had cell phone nowadays.

If you are planning a trip to Guatemala and you need to stay in touch, these are your options:

1. Buy the most economical pre-paid mobile phone which can be obtain for about 100 Quetzales (Q before any amount for short), which includes a basic cellular telephone and number and quite often over Q150 or air time. In other words, the actual telephone is free. The three main carriers are Tigo (best signal everywhere), Telefónica (best rates, but worst signal outside of urban areas) and Claro (in between the other two).
2. Bring your chip-based cellular phone and just buy a chip which includes a cellular number for about Q25 to Q35 range. You can buy a chip in most places where they sell cellular phones or pre-paid air time card. You can pick the chip from one of the companies listed above. If you take this route, make sure your cell phone is flashed; meaning it can take a chip from any cell phone carrier.

Nowadays, brand-new cellular telephones can even be purchased in the local markets when you see the promotional girls selling them. You want to buy a pre-paid cellular or tarjeteros or pre-pago as they are known here because you don’t need to sign for a long-term plan and you’re ready to make a call with seconds from the purchase. You can add pre-paid airtime cards from Q5 to Q100; or more.

Often when you buy a pre-paid airtime card, you get double, triple or even quadruple the airtime as you enter the code on the card. Make sure you look for the promotional posters or just ask the clerks if they have a promotion. Often, by simply asking this question, you wait one day or two to enter your airtime card code and you get up to quadruple airtime.

Cellular calling rates to call the U.S. and Canada are usually cheaper than local calling rates or the same most often than not. If you remember the entry I am not conTigo where I humored the irony that is cheaper to call Manolo in Toronto, Canada than to call his brother Mauricio in Guatemala City. The average rate for calls is a little over Q1 per minute, local or to the U.S. and Canada.

Once you have your Guatemalan cellular, you dial 001+area code+telephone number to call the U.S. and Canada or 00+country code+number to dial other countries. Just dial the phone number to call any Guatemalan telephone number. Guatemala has no area codes, or rather, the one-digit area code is part of the telephone number. Thus, Guatemalan telephone numbers are 8-digit. To receive calls from abroad, you must provide the Guatemalan country code (502) and your number; for instance 502-4569-4419. People calling from abroad must dial the international codes first and then the 502+your number.

Do you find this cellular/telephone guide useful, please, let me know?

It is not unusual to find people selling handicrafts, furniture, orchids, telephones, pens and pencils and anything really; so it comes as no surprise to see an indigenous woman selling paintings with La Antigua Guatemala motifs.

These costumbrismo paintings are done by local painters sitting on small stool right on the streets.

I am sure one day I will find one of my photos as a painting… I know for a fact that’s already happened since a couple of artists from abroad asked permission to use them as reference.

Now, here’s a little surprise I am going to let you in… beginning next Monday, I too will be selling my photos through this site. You will be able to order very affordable signed (or not) 4″x6″, 8″x10″ and 11″x14″ prints in color, black and white or sepia on glossy, matte, luster or metallic paper of any photo available at La Antigua Guatemala Daily Photo. Stay tune for more details or contact me if you just can’t wait.

It is good to know you can move inside the dining area in case you can not stay in the patio due to rain or if it’s too cold outside.

I have only have a couple of items from the Quesos y Vinos Restaurant menu: Paninos and Pizza and I was delighted with both options. As a matter of fact, it’s widely known secret that the best pizza in La Antigua Guatemala can only be found at Quesos y Vinos Restaurant.

DISCLAIMER: I have not receive any economic or otherwise incentive for this review. It is only my opinion thus far. However, if they do offer a free lunch after reading this entry, believe me, I will not turn it down.

800 PAGES MILESTONE UPDATE: Shoot, I forgot to mention that with this entry LAGDP has published 800 pages. Oh well, it’s just another number to go by…

All kinds of textures are available at the tables in the patio of Quesos y Vinos Restaurant; from the ceramic table tops to the chairs cushions wrapped around Guatemalan textiles. Texture is everywhere you look.

As you can see, just because you are having a meal in an Italian restaurant in a nearly 500-year old town, doesn’t mean you can not have some hi-tech comforts like WIFI and wireless table command so you can alert the waiters that you need something else or the bill.

If I was meeting for lunch with you today, I would suggest we do it at Quesos y Vinos Restaurant, just half block away from La Merced Church. See, Quesos y Vinos is a real italian restaurant with some of the best italian food in Guatemala. To top it all, ever since they moved to its present location away from where they were at Calle del Arco, you now great food and at great place. They have a patio dining area which is a delightful place to have lunch, if it’s not raining.

This is how the inside of the San Pedro Apostol Church looked like last night as the last repairs were being done. As you can see, the whole church received a paint job, including the terra cotta floor tiles. Today, the whole town of San Pedro Las Huertas is having a party… as a matter of fact, I can hear the sounds of the town fair and firecrackers in the background as I write this line.

Do you really want a long name, here’s one: “Parroquia San Pedro Apostol, San Juan Bautista of San Pedro Las Huertas, La Antigua Guatemala”

If you remember at least one of the photos of the former San Pedro Apostol Church, you may say, “wait it a minute, this is not the same church, is it?”

Well, it is after over 600,000 Quetzales (US$80,000) have been spent in restoration works and a new paint job. You could say that’s not much, really, for the amazing new facelift and restoration. Well, you know how atmospheric temperature is now given in two forms: what the thermometer reads and in parenthesis (what is feels like). Okay, US$80,000 feels like half a million bucks in Guatemala; that’s how you explain the complete transformation.

This amount does not include the spot lights system and the paint job which was donated by the Novella Foundation (one of the 20 wealthy families of Guatemala). This amount does not include the thousands of man-hours donated by the San Pedro Las Huertas neighbors.

You guys are so lucky, and don’t even know it. Well, that is whoever comes to see this photo tonight. See, this image is quite possibly the one of first photos taken of this church now that it’s been restored to its former glory. This church opened its doors in 1672. As a matter of fact, they were still painting the terra cotta floor tiles tonight, running against time, since tomorrow morning they will have a big procession, mass service and at 11a.m. and right after the inauguration of the new Parroquia San Pedro Apostol, San Juan Bautista of San Pedro Las Huertas, La Antigua Guatemala. You are also lucky because I am making available this photo as a computer wallpaper for your workstation at 1600×1200 pixels.

Next week, it’s going to be the San Pedro Las Huertas Town Fair.

Today, however, was a-wonderful-first-day of the Summer season and even though we’ve been having lots of rains and floods lately, today was a gorgeous dry day with the most amazing light. To me, the quality of days is measured by the quality of light; what can I say. With this nice weather, I felt like taking a walk to the park for un atolito. I am so glad I did and that I took my camera with me.

With the atol de habas in my hand, I walk a few steps towards a gathering of men, all standing up and enjoying the beauty of their newly restored church. I shook the atol while exchanging a few words with these proud neighbors. That’s how I found out how much they have spent in the restoration; that Q400,000 of it was donated by the only factory in town (Sacos Agroindustriales); that paint job and spot lights system was donated by the Novella Foundation; that 10 construction workers were hired since January and that almost all neighbors were required to help with their own labor or donate money towards the restoration; that floors and ceiling were repaired; that tomorrow they will be having a procession, mass and inauguration, that the name of this church is very long and confusing; that these people are very nice and friendly (my neighbors, you know). All of that transpired while I shook my atol to cool it down.

That short while with the neighbors of San Pedro Las Huertas and the dozen photos I took are my highlight for the week: what a delightful time!

If you would like to see other photos with the former San Pedro Apostol Church in San Pedro Las Huertas, check out the following entries:

1. Guatemalan Fair: The Ferris Wheel
2. Guatemalan Fair: The Church and its Saint
3. Altar Inside San Pedro Las Huertas Church
4. Mobile Library Chicken Bus
5. San Pedro Las Huertas Cathedral
6. Bell ringer
7. Guatemalan Women & Killer’s Paradise

You can also browse the over 40 entries about San Pedro Las Huertas. Boy, I need to turn San Pedro Las Huertas into its own category; don’t you think so?

P.S. Today’s entry is number 796… counting up to 800 pages in La Antigua Guatemala Daily Photo.

Can you guess what this is? Hint: it is not a weapon.

Photography 101: capture contrast. Well, that’s another easy task around La Antigua Guatemala. Here you can find contrast in color, between the old and new, between hi-tech and lo-tech, between local and foreign, between being safe and unsafe, between the wealthy and the rest of us, and between the betweens.

Contrast is one of the key adjectives people take away from Guatemala after a short visit. So, next time you come around Antigua Guatemala, make sure you look for it and take its many manifestations in your memory chip.

Photography 101: capture repetition. Well, photographing repetition is not difficult in La Antigua Guatemala; quite the opposite. This is a simple image of repeated arches and beam horizontal lines, I know, but thought you might enjoy it.

To me, the misaligned chair in front of the lonely desk provokes the feeling of person who just got up and went quickly somewhere; I don’t know, perhaps I am reading more than what really is there.

What kind of sensations does the image produces in you, if any?

The indigenous people of Guatemala rarely show their love in public; affection yes, but kissing kind of love, very seldom. Perhaps, this reservation is another aspect of the Guatemalan identity.

What do you guys think?

Before what we know today as Guatemala vanishes into the fragile realm of memory, I am glad I can take some mementos to help me remember once I become yet another winter sleeper.

I know it is very difficult to love or even understand this tiny banana republic, full of contrasts and contradictions. I know, it makes no sense to mourn it, to lament all the stuff that is being lost as I type this sentence. I know.

Cazuza was right: Time doesn’t stop! (O Tempo Não Pára)

I came across this 7-minute video tour about Guatemala. I would like to share it with you. Below the video, there is a fragment of Luis Cardoza y Aragón’s poem Why do we lover our land?!

We don’t love our land because of its great size and power,
because of its weakness or tiny size,
because of its snow and white nights or its solar rain,
We love it, simply because is ours.
— Luis Cardoza y Aragón (fragment from the entry Why Do We Love Our Land?

I dedicate this video and poem to Sompopo, who, one day, will find the means to visit this land.

I hope you guys and gals enjoy them and let me know your feelings about them.