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I really like the Lent decorations you find over doorways and windows in La Antigua Guatemala. Lent or Cuaresma in Spanish is the penitence period observed for the 40-something days before the Holy Week in Antigua Guatemala. Besides decorating doorways and windows with violet or purple bands and ribbons, there are weekend processions.

The picture above was taken at the main entrance for Casa Santo Domingo, the only 5-star hotel in La Antigua Guatemala. Next time you visit Antigua Guatemala, don’t forget to pay a visit to Casa Santo Domingo which houses besides the hotel, a restaurant, the Santo Doming ruins, museums, art galleries, antique stores, tastefully lit gardens and more. I will add Casa Santo Domingo to my to do list of photo series for 2009. Stay tune!

By the way, if you are coming to Antigua Guatemala during Lent or the Holy Week, you should make your hotel reservations with plenty of time since most of the hotels experience full capacity. Don’t forget to check out the Premium sponsor hotels on the sidebar and please let them know you were referred from AntiguaDailyPhoto.

I just love the dry season that goes from late October to late April in Guatemala, also known in Guatemala as Summer even though it actually spans part of Fall, the entire Winter and half of the Spring season. Go Figure!

The weather is wonderfully cool, literally and figuratively. There is no rain. The sky turns orange at every sunset.

The best holidays are observed during the dry season: Dí­a de muertos, Thanksgiving, Dí­a de Guadalupe, Posadas, Christmas, New Year, Dí­a de Reyes, Carnival, Festival de Cultura Paiz, Festival Internacional de Jazz en Antigua Guatemala, Lent and the Holy Week.

What else can ask for during the dry season, really?

Greed and ambition do not know of any limits. That’s how we got ourselves into the present economic crisis… sure the free market will police itself and the chief executive officers will regulate their corporations to not be as profitable as they could in favor of a more stable and fair marketplace. Yeah right Alan Greenspan.

Well, the same greediness and ambition is getting to me. I began framing a human shadow, then I’ve got lucky at framing an entire street from Antigua Guatemala. Well, why not frame the moon, really, why not. See, I am getting greedy. Who knows what I am going to frame next. I am telling you, my avarice knows no limits!

Boy, didn’t I tell you that the best time of the year to visit Antigua Guatemala, top city travel destination, is during the Lent period.

Not only you get the opportunity to see all the processions prior to the world-famous Holy Week in Antigua Guatemala, you also get a chance to see all the Lent decorations, attend several shows from the Festival de Cultura Paiz; but you also get the opportunity to enjoy the Festival Internacional de Jazz en Antigua Guatemala for FREE; like the best things in life.

Well, it is the time of the year again and once again Festival Internacional de Jazz en Antigua Guatemala will include three acts: the Jazzuv Quintet from Mexico, the Jazz and Claps Quintet from Spain and Lalsax Quartet from Italy. If you remember, last year the Festival Internacional de Jazz en Antigua Guatemala included the Alain Derbez Jazz Trio from Mexico, the Jordi Albert Projet from Spain and the Be Little Trio from Italy.

Today’s photo are from the Quinteto de Jazzuv, an amazing educational and artistic manifestation project from Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico. Basically the Jazzuv Quintet is formed by a main academic base and top jazz music students in the making.

To me, to take photos of Jazz concerts in Antigua Guatemala is an exquisite experience since I get to photograph musicians against 500-year ruins backdrop illuminated by delightful color spot lights while listening the best music genre and my favorite music as well. What can I say, it’s sublime!

I sorry that I am not able to include music piece, like last year, but I hope the other photos make up for it. Please, let me know what you think of the Festival Internacional de Jazz en Antigua Guatemala and the first batch of photos from the first evening. I expect to hear you feedback.

Festival Internacional de Jazz en Antigua Guatemala 2009

A while back I tease those crazy Guatemalan who have decided to live abroad (you know who you are) with a photo of the ingredients for the world-famous Guatemalan green tomato sauce: Jocón.

Yesterday, I showed how anyone could prepare Jocón at home if you can get your hands on a 7Caldos Jocón jar. I even tease my kid sister about how easily is to prepare jocón if you follow the simple cooking instructions on the jar. Well, I kid you not, even I can prepare the Guatemalan green tomato sauce jocón.

Here is the useless trivia nobody cares about: The güisquil (chayote) you see in this dish is the same güisquil that I showed to you on January 18th. The Moza bock beer is there for the benefit of Manolo in the big T. The potato halves are not normally found in Jocón, but I like them.

Switching servers aside: AntiguaDailyPhoto.com will be moving to a new server based out of Chicago. Please, be kind if you encounter some time outs or if things do not work at 100% in the next few days. I promise I will be expeditious and diligent at fixing everything up as soon as possible.

The problem with many authentic Guatemalan dishes is that they are not very portable or sometimes the recipes are so complex and include ingredients not easily found, outside of Guatemala that is. The same can be said for most dishes from the MesoAmerican cuisine menu.

But modernity has arrived to the land of Hunahpu and Ixbalanque. Thanks to the Guatemalan restaurant chain 7Caldos, now you should be able to find Kak’ik, Pepián, and Jocón in just-add-water-and-heat-up jars at your nearest local Latin market. Perhaps, we can convince Amanda from AntiguaFC.com to begin carrying the 7Caldos jars so you can order them online and have them delivered to your home. What do you say Amanda?

The caldos and recados (stocks and stews) in these jars can be prepared so easily that even my lovely sister Sandra should have no problem.

For instance, the Jocón, green tomato sauce, can be prepared by just boiling chicken or beef chunks along with güisquil (chayote) and potato quarters until nearly soft, then just add the contents of the 7Caldos Jocón jar, mix well and simmer for a few minutes and serve. Heck, even I can do this and I have. Come back tomorrow to see the results.

It is difficult to frame a shadow, especially if it’s moving, but it can be done. Now, if you had asked me to frame an entire street, I would have said, sorry, it can’t be done. Well, I guess I was wrong; an entire street can be framed.

Today’s image is more inline with what I set out to do when I first open doors in May 1st, 2006: photograph the over-exposed Antigua Guatemala in a new perspective, under a different light (break the rules if necessary), show its people as much as possible (all of them), focus on the details, don’t forget about the colorful food; in other ways, find a different and unfamiliar Antigua Guatemala.

Boy, how pretentious and naive I was and how difficult it is to find something new under the sun of La Antigua Guatemala. I have to be content if every once in a blue moon I can discover an out of the ordinary perspective.

I am sorry to disappoint you!

There is really not much to say about the panoramic view of La Antigua Guatemala you see above.

Except, perhaps, I can explain that the Volcán de Agua (Water Volcano) is on the left and it was responsible for burying the second Capital of Central America; thus the Santiago de los Caballeros de Goethemala (now La Antigua Guatemala) was moved to its present location. Volcán de Fuego (Fire Volcano) is on the right and it is currently active and provides us with wonderful fireworks, constant tremors and seismic activity as well as growls and roars. Volcán de Acatenango shows a fraction of one of its two craters. Last but not least, the small colonial town you see in the foreground is La Antigua Guatemala, top travel destination. That’s it, that’s the only things I can say about this panoramic photograph from Antigua.

What are you waiting for to visit?

For a long time I did not want to take the same shots from Antigua Guatemala that everybody else does. Also, I did not want to take touristic photos since you can find those everywhere in the internet. Well, who the hell am I do decide what photos you should see and what images you should not look at, really?

Well, I am taking it as a challenge to do the same old boring photographs, but with a twist or an interesting obscure trivia to justify giving you more of the same. Now, if I get the Universe to cooperate, perhaps I even come up with an alluring vista or two. Wish me luck!

Web site down aside: It seems like the AntiguaDailyPhoto.com (LAGDP) is over growing its present hosting account; which is good and bad at the same time. Good because it means more people are finding pleasure and comfort in the photos or useful background information in all-things-Guatemala. Bad because it means I going to have to upgrade to a more expensive hosting account or switch to a more reliable hosting company.

Please, be kind with me if you see that I fall behind or if you see that the LAGDP is not coming up; you can always try later or subscribe to receive the updates via email, rss or Twitter (@AntiguaDP). Check on the sidebar for the options right above the calendar. Also, please, let me know when you see things going awry either through the contact form or by writing to rudygiron[at]gmail. The “awry” part only applies to the technology aspect of the web site and not to my off-the-wall opinions and remarks; I already get enough grief for that!

Elizabeth, I am telling you, he’s going to be regretting it when he also receives this photo with the line: I wish you were here too, honest!

Oh I do agree with her: Life is too short not to travel to La Antigua Guatemala during the Winter/Spring season to enjoy the superb weather and mystical experience of Cuaresma (Lent) in and around Antigua Guatemala.

Detalles, detalles, detalles.

What better way to show you the brand new paint job at the Iglesia de La Merced than to find a contrasting color to warm yellow of the La Merced church. To get a nice deep blue to contrast yellow and white paint and the Moon hanging right up there is just an awesome prize. I hope you like it! ;-(

What an interesting combination of colors and light temperatures can be achieved during the twilight zone in La Antigua Guatemala’s Central Park. Oh I can hear the intro and fade music of the twilight zone but it’s being played with a marimba and decorated with chirimilla accents and pre-Columbian drum beats; now this music really ads a mysterious mysticism to the twilight zone. Don’t you think so?

Elizabeth, watch I am going to take this photo and send it to him with only one line: I wish you were here, honest!

Honest, I wish ALL of you were here to enjoy this wonderful weather and those captivating sunsets of the Lent season; don’t you wish you were here?

Antigua Guatemala is full of Quixotes who do not know about impossibles. Alejandro del Valle is such a Quixote who after careful consideration decided to take on the gigantic enterprise to convert the burnt cooking oil from all those restaurants around La Antigua Guatemala and Guatemala City into renewal biodiesel energy to be used in the Antigua’s City Hall vehicles and the Obras Sociales del Hermano Pedro Hospital.

Come on, if after reading the above paragraph you don’t think you have to be a Quixote to take on such monumental project, just imagine for a second how many people you have to convince of the idea that converting burnt oil into biodiesel for the municipal vehicle fleet is feasible; never mind the ecological benefits. Come on, we are talking about business owners, Antigua’s Mayor and the City Council, investors and a long list of people throughout Guatemala and abroad. Alejandro del Valle and his supportive team did that.

The Antigua’s Biodiesel Project is something I believe in with all of my heart and I will come back to this project to highlight its merits and achievements as well as to show you the story behind the scenes. In the mean time, if you want to learn more about the people behind such a innovative enterprise, please visit their website at biopersa.com or just watch a couple videos to get an overview of the biodiesel project. Afterwards, please, come back and let us know your impressions about Antigua’s Biodiesel Project and share with us if similar projects are already in placed in your neck of the woods.

Are you interested in learning how to convert burnt cooking oil into biodiesel fuel?

Oh I really like the texture and shape of this sign. Do you know what pietra is? It’s not a Spanish word.