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I was lucky to get some pictures of the representation of the Leaders of Guatemala’s Independence Movement (actually, to be fair, I should say Central America’s Independence).

There were about twelve or so young people dressed up like in colonial times, just about Guatemala’s Independence date of 1821, who represented the Próceres de la Independencia (leaders of the independence movement) who were being filmed by some local television channel.

Have a happy Guatemala’s Independence Day everyone!

Let me know what do you think of this photo; should I have done it in sepia?

This is what La Antigua Guatemala’s Central Park looks like as people get together to celebrate Guatemala’s Independence. If you don’t like crowds, stay away from Parque Central around September 15th.

This has been Rudy, doing an eye witness live report from La Antigua Guatemala’s Central Park in a sunny weekend morning, back to you Jerry in the studio in Texas.

Guatemala’s public educational system is divided as follows: Pre-Primaria (Pre-primary also known as párvulos and kindergarten), Primaria (Primary school 1st to 6th grade), Secundaria (Secundary school, 3 years known as 1st basic through 3rd basic or Básicos) and Diversificado (3 years corresponding to the last years of High School; also known as Preparataria in other parts of Latin America).

Okay, with that in mind, the schedule for Independence Day Celebrations begins with celebrations and parade for Pre-Primaria on the 13th of September; celebrations activities and parade on the 14th for Primaria and last but not least, on September 15th the full blown party, activities, parades and firecracker burning for Secundaria and Diversificado.

FREE EDUCATION ASIDE: Today it was made official that in Guatemala public education will FREE starting 2009 school year. Until now, parents had to pay for registration and other miscellaneous fees even though it was mandated by the Guatemalan Constitution that everyone had the right to free education. This mandate of the Constitution had been broken since 1968 when it was permitted to charge for student’s registration. Finally I see a sign of the Social Democrat government we voted into office.

Here is gift for those of you who like to collect the desktop wallpapers for your computer (18 so far). From here you can download the Guatemalan Flag wallpaper to help you get in the mood for the Guatemalan Independence Day celebrations. Don’t ever say I don’t give you presents!

Okay Rudy, I don’t get it, why did title this entry Libre al viento tu hermosa bandera…? What’s the meaning?

Well, I am glad you asked. Below you will find the Spanish and English lyrics for the National Anthem of Guatemala, courtesy of Wikipedia (follow this link if you want to listen to National Anthem of Guatemala). Free into the wind, your beautiful flag is the translation for Libre al viento tu hermosa bandera.

Himno Nacional de Guatemala en español e inglés (más abajo)

¡Guatemala feliz…! que tus aras
no profanen jamás el verdugo;
ni haya esclavos que laman el yugo
ni tiranos que escupan tu faz.

Si mañana tu suelo sagrado
lo amenaza invasión extranjera,
libre al viento tu hermosa bandera
a vencer o a morir llamará.
CHORUS:
Libre al viento tu hermosa bandera
a vencer o a morir llamará;
que tu pueblo con ánima fiera
antes muerto que esclavo será.
De tus viejas y duras cadenas
tu forjaste con mano iracunda
el arado que el suelo fecunda
y la espada que salva el honor.
Nuestros padres lucharon un dí­a
encendidos en patrio ardimiento
y lograron sin choque sangriento
colocarte en un trono de amor.
CHORUS:
Y lograron sin choque sangriento
colocarte en un trono de amor,
que de Patria, en enérgico acento,
dieron vida al ideal redentor.
Es tu enseña pedazo de cielo
en que prende una nube su albura,
y ¡ay de aquel que con ciega locura,
sus colores pretenda manchar!
Pues tus hijos valientes y altivos,
que veneran la paz cual presea,
nunca esquivan la ruda pelea
si defienden su tierra y su hogar.
CHORUS:
Nunca esquivan la ruda pelea
si defienden su tierra y su hogar,
que es tan solo el honor su alma idea
y el altar de la Patria su altar.
Recostada en el Ande soberbio,
de dos mares al ruido sonoro,
bajo el ala de grana y de oro
te adormeces del bello quetzal.
Ave indiana que vive en tu escudo,
paladión que protege tu suelo;
¡ojalá que remonte su vuelo,
más que el cóndor y el águila real!
CHORUS:
¡Ojalá que remonte su vuelo,
más que el cóndor y el águila real,
y en sus alas levante hasta el cielo,
Guatemala, tu nombre inmortal!

Guatemala’s National Anthem in English

Happy Guatemala, may your altar
Never be trampled by the tormentor
Nor should slaves lick the yoke
Nor should tyrants spit in your face
If tomorrow your sacred soil
Is threatened by foreign invasion
Free into the wind, your beautiful flag
To victory or death it will call
CHORUS
Free into the wind, your beautiful flag
To victory or death it will call
Since your people, with fiery soul
Will die before becoming slaves
From your old and hard chains
You forged, with an ire-driven hand,
The plow that fertilizes the soil
And the sword that saves honor.
Our fathers fought one day,
Lit up in patriotic burning
And they were able, without bloody clash,
To place you on a throne of love.
And they were able, without bloody clash,
To place you on a throne of love,
That our Nation, in energetic assent,
Gave life to the ideal redeemer.
Your emblem shows a piece of the sky
In which a cloud gets its whiteness
Wretched is he who dares in madness
stain your colors
Well, your brave and proud sons
who admire the peace within
will never avoid the rough battles
if they are to defend their land and their home.
CHORUS
They will never avoid the rough battles
if they are to defend their land and their home
that honor is the idea that reigns their souls
and the altar of the mother country their altar
Lying in the magnificent Ande
with two oceans at hearing distance
under the wing of seeds and gold
you become entranced from the beautiful quetzal
Native bird that lives in your seal
protector that protects your soil
hopefully he will fly high
more than the condor and the royal eagle!
CHORUS
Hopefully he will fly high
more than the condor and the royal eagle
and in his wings, raise up to the sky:
Guatemala, your immortal name!

Source: Wikipedia.org

Maybe we will get it right this election. —The Brunscheon, Oregon

We hope so. —The rest of the world

Well, as some of you may already know, my birthday falls on September 11th and like everyone else, I like to receive presents. I was very lucky to have received sweet and nice wishes from many of you. I was also fortunate to have spoken with my mom and sisters who lived in the United States. My beautiful, rich and famous sisters decided to give me an iPod Touch as present for my birthday (Thanks). Besides an ordinary day at work, the day progressed quite peacefully, which is to me, one of the best gifts from life. My wife and I had a lovely dinner and talk.

On my way to the office, I stopped to pick the mail at our post office box and there I received the very first present of the day. My very dear friends from Oregon sent me a hand-written post card and an Obama button. Interesting enough the card was sent on August 11th, but it was not in the p.o. box last time I checked on the last days of August.

I am going to take this opportunity to let you know why La Antigua Guatemala is Barack Obama‘s territory. Regardless of their background or economic status, just about every expat I have spoken to, tells me that for the first time ever, they will make every effort to either go to the U.S. to cast their Obama vote for a positive change for the United States and for the rest of the world. Those who can not travel to U.S. for election time will be able to cast their vote at Doña Luisa Xicotencatl (I believe so).

That’s right, synchronicity is real and not just a The Police song. See, yesterday I posted a photo of Guatemalan Independence Day Bunting I photographed at the doorway entrance of Doña Luisa Xicotencatl. I know there’s a campaign in La Antigua Guatemala to provide voting information for U.S. citizens living in Guatemala through the www.VoteFromAbroad.org web site.

I do hope you guys living in the U.S. and those living abroad get it right this coming election; that would be the best birthday present ever!

As the Guatemalan Independence Day approaches, one begins to see all the bunting in windows and doorways around Antigua Guatemala.

Since Jeff would like to know what kind of festivities are planned for Guatemala’s Independence Day, I figure that instead of providing a straight answer, I will put some questions up and l will you find the answers in the archives. Once you found the answers, come back here and share them with the rest of us. Whoever comes back with the most answers will receive a series of 4×6 Independence photos. The hunt is on!

• On what date is Guatemalan Independence celebrated?
• What are two main activities in the Independence Day celebrations?
• Out all the possible shades of blue, which one is the official and legal blue color for the Guatemalan flag?
• Why were school bands forbidden after 1996?

You can browse the archives for 2006 and 2007 to find the answers.

By this coming weekend, the area around this fountain will be so crowded that you won’t be able to see the fountain. You can browse the archives for 2006 and 2007 to find out why there will be so many people around La Antigua Guatemala’s Central Park.

I hope you enjoy the trip back to the past!

Regardless what you may be thinking right about now, this is not edible. Believe it when I tell you this is not a close up Antigüeño cake. However, it’s a sweet view.

On the other hand, do you remember what church the close-up above belongs to?

Some of you may still remember the image behind the Typical Post Card from La Antigua Guatemala, right? Well, today’s entry is yet another classic post card from La Antigua Guatemala.

Okay, let’s dissect the vista above into its architectural elements and tell me how many of these pieces are needed to be present to turn a photo into a classic post card from La Antigua Guatemala.

Boy oh boy, I am losing it… now the best I can do is to capture post card worthy images.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. That’s certainly the case for the window above. This is not everybody’s cup of tea, you know.

Sorry for being absent the last few days. I do have the photos for the missing days and I will be updating tonight. I needed a short break; I hope you forgive me.

I have a food series coming up in preparation for the Independence Day Celebrations. Stay tune!

Just two weeks ago I introduced you to my good friend Nelo, who in turn was introducing iPhone 3G in La Antigua Guatemala; remember? Anyway, back then I said that starting on “… Friday 22nd of August, La Antigua Guatemala will be joining the cities of the world with third generation (3G) cellular networks …” I also mentioned that “… for now, only Claro (Telgua) will be sporting the 3G cellular network. But MoviStar (Telefónica) is said to be right behind it. Tigo (Comcel) is rumored to be in their last testing phase.” Well, guess what in less than three weeks all three mayor cellular carriers are sporting third generation (3G) mobile telephone networks.

In the picture above you can see who this mobility helps the voluntary firemen department in Antigua Guatemala who now can be present at high density concentration of human beings and be on call for any other emergency around Antigua. Not too bad for a quincentennial colonial town, don’t think so?

Antigua in Black & White Photo Exhibit Invitation

I would like to invite those of you who are now in Antigua or will be in the next few weeks to visit my first solo photo exhibit Antigua in Black & White which will be on display at Café No Sé starting September 6th, 2008. This will be my fourth photo exhibition in less than a year. The first photo exhibit was Feast of the Senses: Central American Cuisine Exhibit. Then came Guatemala, Visiones Diferentes. República Paraí­so was the last photo exhibit in which I participated in July 2008 at Museo Miraflores.

I hope you can join me on Saturday and celebrate with me the showing of these photos, your photos, which you got see in full color before anyone. This time the photos will be real prints in black and white. For those of you who can not attend, but would like to get an actual print in color or black and white, you know you can always Buy a high quality print and have it delivered to your home or office. Anyhow, you can click the invitation below to get all the details. Also, let me know what do you think of the design.

Can you guess which 40 photographs will on display?

It doesn’t matter what kind of meeting it is, the ice cream men and their carts are always ready to sell you gratification. Sure, ice creams are healthy as a diet and should not be around for a celebration of physical activity, right? Wrong. This is Guatemala and as such there is no better place for the ice cream carts to be than among hundreds of thirsty children.

Hey Rudy, did you forget about the obesity numbers you were going to give us? Well, to be honest, I haven’t. But, I do think this is a matter to be better handle by Edgar and his fabulous and always insightful Guatemala en números (Guatemala in numbers). Nevertheless, here are some figures. According to an article on Prensa Libre {ñ}, the last obesity figures in Guatemala point to an alarming fact: Guatemalans are getting fatter. The overweight and obesity in women is near 66% and 44% in men with children following very close at 38%. This is especially true in urban areas. There’s no consolation in the fact the top three countries with overweight and obesity problems are the U.S.A., Spain and Mexico; more or less the three main role models for Guatemala.

Now let me share a music video with you guys which shows normal, ordinary, average people from Guatemala. Big thanks to Pacunar for sharing the link to this video at the photo group FlickrGT. The name of the song is Just Like A Drummer by the band The Wave Pictures. The video was shot by Eduardo Benchoam of Colectiva; check out the link for more amazing videos from this film collective.

What better way to promote physical activity than to put kids to jump to their hearts’ content.

Once again, La Antigua Guatemala’s Parque Central and the streets around it served as scenario for a celebration. This time the Central Park was taken by the physical education teachers for La Antigua Guatemala and Guatemala City to celebrate physical activity as a way to live a healthy life with the family.

Since I took several shots, I think we will use some of the other photos to talk about obesity in Guatemala in comparison with the figures for the U.S.A., Spain and Mexico. Unless you tell me otherwise, I will do a mini series on the celebration of physical activity and education in La Antigua Guatemala.