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In this photo you can see how some simple details and their repetition turn a utilitarian architectonic device like the stairway into a gorgeous piece of every-day beauty. You take the bare stairway, add the martirinado effect (hammered and chipped-away) to the huella (the run), some repetitive patterns in the form of ceramic tiles to the contra-huella (the rise) and the zócalo (the skirting or baseboard) and you finish it with a very pleasant martirinado forged metal handrail and you’re set to go up and down with style!

In the Casa Antigüeña you often find stairways or staircases. Quite often you find forged metal handrails beautifully worked by the antigüeño blacksmiths.

Wait a minute Rudy, you’ve had said before that the building codes in La Antigua Guatemala prohibit new two-storey constructions. Oops, that’s right I said that. But, I did not mention at the time that architects are very creative and they figured that they can build a one-storey house with very high ceilings and then they can split some of the height and turn what would be the attic into a loft. Creative, I tell you! These architects always find a way where there is a will.

Now, I don’t know if the fireplace was an element of the original house from La Antigua Guatemala, but in recent years it looks like, under the influence of the expat community, the fireplace has become commonplace inside all the new houses. I say that I am not sure about the fireplace being an original architectonic element of the casa antigüeña since the weather in and around Antigua is always Spring season year-round.

The word for living room in Spanish is sala and the word for fireplace is chimenea which also applies for chimney and chiminea.

Can anybody say for sure if fireplaces were common in the original colonial homes?

The area for el comedor (dining room) in the casa antigüeña has always flowers nearby, light, lots of it and usually at least a window. Sometimes you also get to see arches or domes or both in the dining area of the houses from Antigua. In this case, the dining area is clean and elegant with three sources of light and a nice arched ceiling with bare terra cotta brick textures.

Who wants to join me for a cup of the best coffee in the world and champurradas any given afternoon?

The kitchen area in the casa antigüeña usually has a high ceiling provided by cupola which in most cases served as chimney, but in most recent times and design is simply a decorative architectonic element. You normally find arches inside the house, the kitchen being no exception. The counter is usually cover with ceramic tiles and, of course, you will find real authentic wood kitchen cabinets.

Disclaimer: All the photos in the Casa Antigüeña series were taken at very new construction, perhaps a couple of years old, designed by professional architects and with a liberal combination of architectonic elements taken from the original house from La Antigua Guatemala. The series itself is trying to show exactly how a set or combination of architectonic elements can turn a fairly new and modern construction into the look-and-feel of the original casa antigüeña. The houses in La Antigua Guatemala are all different, but you can pull together many elements that make them similar and quite possibly unique as a whole. So, please, don’t waste any time thinking about this particular house; rather, think on the distinctive architectonic elements.

Casas antigüeñas normally have at least one corridor or hallway, usually next to the garden and fountain. Omnipresent are the terra cotta floor tiles and wood beans and columns.

Now Stephanie asked how typical is the house that will be shown in the Casa antigüeña series on the first entry. Good question. Well the house is not for the middle class, it is a rather a house for expats or wealthy Guatemalans since it’s located in a very exclusive colonia (neighborhood). Nevertheless, just about all the elements of the house that would be shown are emblematic of the Casa Antigüeña, which by its very definition is for the wealthy. The only middle-class or poor people who still own a house in La Antigua Guatemala do it mostly through inheritance. No poor of middle-class Guatemalan can afford the real estate prices of La Antigua Guatemala.

Several times people have asked to show the inside of a house from La Antigua Guatemala and I had said that I would show as many aspects of casa antigüeña (House from Antigua) if I was ever given permission. Well, we can rejoice now because we’re going to begin a tour through the inside of a casa antigüeña.

Back in June 6th, 2007 this is what I wrote:

Normally I have only shown the façade of many houses and building in La Antigua Guatemala for an obvious reason: I do not have access to the inside. Well, some of you may ask, what is on the other side of the wall? For sure there is no easy answer, but there are some common aspects of the architecture of Antigua Guatemala. Most of the time Antiguan architecture dictates to have a simple façade to the outside with only doors and windows showing, but this simplicity shown on the outside is completely abandon for the inside where you can find gardens, patios, fountains, half fountain, búcaro fountains, pergolas, cobblestone patios or ceramic tiles, metal and/or wooden doors and crates, forged-metal railings, copulas for air, light or as chimney for the kitchens or living rooms. The real beauty of house in Antigua Guatemala is in the inside. Too bad I can not show you the inside of many houses around Antigua. Nonetheless, I will show as many aspects of house when I am given permission. For now enjoy a peek at the other side of the wall.

We will begin this new casa antigüeña series with the búcaro fountain since we still have its definition fresh in our memory.

One of favorite sections of the Los Angeles Times used to be Only in LA and I believe that when I started to collect some off-beat and quite outrageous images from Guatemala, I was definitely inspired by Only in LA.

With today’s image of a menu showing refacciones tí­picas (Guatemalan typical/traditional snacks) and displaying hamburger, cheese hamburger and hot dog as the options, I begin my very own category of Only in LAG; lag being the initials of La Antigua Guatemala.

Here other great shots of Only in Guatemala:

1. Desayuno Chapí­n menu (Guatemalan breakfast) which starts with huevos a la mexicana.
2. Sin inhibiciones (without inhibitions) which shows some kids naked inside the main fountain in Guatemala’s Main Square in a Sunday’s afternoon.
3. Please, leave your weapon at the entrance which shows the little handgun lockers at the entrance of bank.

With new Municipal government in 2008 came some rather obvious nice things that were missing from the main entrance to La Antigua Guatemala, like two large giant flag staves with the Guatemalan flag and Sacatepéquez Department flag, similar arrangement as found in the Municipal City Hall building. There is also a very colorful, especially at night, welcome sign which reads: Bienvenidos a La Antigua Guatemala, Patrimonio Cultural de la Humanidad (Welcome to La Antigua Guatemala, Cultural Patrimony of Humanity. Nicely done guys, keep it up!

Next chance I get I will take some shots of the large flags at the entrance of La Antigua Guatemala, I promise.

Many times, when foreigners are looking at listings for houses or apartments for rent or sale in La Antigua Guatemala, they come across the word búcaro; which is a full stop and they simply roll their eyes. Their online live Spanish tutor did not prepare them for obscure and archaic architectonic terms; at this moment they pull out their cuaderno (notebook) and add the word to the list of things to ask the Spanish tutor in the next session.

Well, if you can not wait until your next Spanish-language class, let me tell you that a búcaro is half fountain normally embedded in a wall, normally near an inside patio, but it can be anywhere. You know, I am thinking that since búcaros can be found at just about all the restaurants and bars in La Antigua Guatemala, I might as well add búcaros to my list of things to photograph and publish as a series. Certainly, you remember the búcaro inside the Burger King restaurant, back in April 10th, 2007, right? If not, go check it out and might as well check out a garden búcaro through a fish tank.

Now, what other búcaros do you guys recommend for the upcoming búcaro series?

Boy oh boy, the things I do to bring you first-hand, eye-witness coverage daily from La Antigua Guatemala. I’ve done the unthinkable, I threw myself into the zip lines of the Antigua Canopy Tours inside the coffee plantation Finca Filadelfia so you can have an idea of what to expect next time you come to Antigua Guatemala.

Below, you can play short clip of a ride of the canopy zip lines tour in the mountains around Antigua Guatemala, especifically inside the coffee plantation of Finca Filadelfia. I want to take this opportunity to recommend very highly that you include any of the tours offered by Finca Filadelfia, located in the San Felipe village, just 2 kilometers from La Antigua Guatemala’s Main Plaza. A trip to this coffee plantation is a must since Finca Filadelfia was among the first coffee plantations in Guatemala and from some years back now, they opened up their doors so you can a enjoy a coffee tour, coffee cupping and tasting, mountain tour, mountain biking, mule riding, canopy and birdwatching among many other options.

By the way, I am not getting paid to say those nice words and recommendation, but I do hope they give me free access to try out all the tours and their magnificent weekend brunch if they ever come to read this entry or even if you mention to them that you learned about Finca Filadelfia in La Antigua Guatemala Daily Photo; wink, wink.

However, I do want to thank my dear friend Pascu Robredo (502 4010 6592), general manager of the Antigua Canopy Tours for providing a free ride of the zip lines so I can do this review. Thanks to Pascu, I learned about the Antigua Zip Line from the moment they were in the design stages, but I did get a chance to try it until recently. The canopy zip line tour is well worth it and if you consider that you can experience these tree-top rides at only a 10-minute distance from La Antigua Guatemala, there is no excuse not to try a canopy tour.

… But, full of hope!

What better way to start our new journey than with a party. If you are in La Antigua Guatemala, the place to be tonight, between 6:30 and 10:30 p.m., to celebrate the inauguration of Barack Obama and Joe Biden, is Casa Convento Concepción, Calle La Concepción No. 41 where Democrats Abroad Guatemala invites you to the Guatemala Inaugural Ball in La Antigua. If you need more information or tickets ($20), please, call Gail at 7832-5639. There will be a giant screen to watch the Washington D.C. festivities and food and beverages.

By the way, thanks to Treva, one of the La Antigua Guatemala Daily Photo readers, I learned that the news of the upcoming party tonight in La Antigua Guatemala made all the way to The Washington Post. Below the quoted text that was sent to LAGDP by our dear Treva:

In Antigua, Guatemala, Americans have hired a disc jockey to play Stevie Wonder, Bob Dylan and other tunes Obama keeps on his iPod. In Jakarta, Indonesia, where Obama spent time as a boy, students from his former elementary school will perform a traditional dance at a party featuring some of his old classmates. (… continue reading)

I have shown quite of few pictures of the park in San Pedro Las Huertas , a village within the La Antigua Guatemala municipality, but I don’t think I have ever shown the entire park itself. What makes this plaza so particular and unique is the fact that there is a very large public laundry washbasins which people still use; you can click the Laundry Day in San Pedro Las Huetas to see people using it.

The structure with roof in the middle of the picture is the public laundry washbasins. It’s a great place to hang out and get some awesome pictures.

I present to you the first güisquil, also known as chayote or perulero, from our back yard orchard. Güisquiles are such an integral part of the Guatemalan diet that sometimes you find it in the most unusual dishes. Güisquiles are also very important vegetable from the milpa crop as mentioned by Charles C. Mann in his book 1491.

You can find güisquiles in caldos, in Guatemalan chilaquiles, which basically are two slices of güisquil with a piece of cheese between the slices and then wrapped with egg batter and fried. Boy, just about now, this first güisquil, perulero-type, is looking very tasty.

What other dishes which include güisquil can you think of?

Oh February, what a magnificent month to visit La Antigua Guatemala. First, you get to enjoy the Dí­a del Cariño y Amistad celebrations; heck if you’re lucky you may come across a house plastered with I LOVE YOU post-it notes on Valentine’s Day. You can buy cascarones (colorful egg shells filled with confetti) to celebrate Carnival on Tuesday, right before Miércoles de cenizas (Ash Wednesday). You can walk around to see the first Lent decorations to get you in the Holy Week spirit.

If you come to La Antigua Guatemala in February, you also get a chance to check out all the wonderful cultural events of the X Festival Internacional de Cultura Paiz (X Paiz International Cultural Festival) which turns La Antigua Guatemala into a giant backdrop.

The Festival Internacional de Cultura Paiz will run between February 6 through the 22, 2009. You can check out the calendar of events {ñ} to see a listing of the different artistic activities, venues and costs of the events. Some activities will be free. Below the introductory text to the calendar of events:

El X Festival Internacional de Cultura Paiz se presenta con un dinamismo de propuestas artí­sticas clásicas y contemporáneas con la participación de destacados exponentes nacionales e internacionales. Esta es una oportunidad de asistir a espectáculos de ópera, tango, teatro, música, tí­teres y canto, con un programa especialmente formulado para disfrutarse con la familia y amigos, en la majestuosidad de las ruinas de La Antigua Guatemala.

The X Paiz International Festival of Culture will be presenting dynamic artistic proposals, both classic and contemporary, from renown exponents with national and international trajectory. This is a great opportunity to experience opera, tango, theater, musical, puppets and singing shows; with an especially thought-out program to be enjoyed with family and friends in the enchanting and majestic ruins of La Antigua Guatemala.