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This is the actual plaque, in which, chiseled over a piece of stone you can read the UNESCO’s declaration of Patrimony of Humanity of La Antigua Guatemala. The UNESCO’s declaration of Patrimony of Humanity No. 65 was bestowed upon La Antigua Guatemala in 1979.

Two important things to notice are that the official names are La Antigua Guatemala and Santiago de Guatemala. Boy, I received lots of disparaging comments for an article I wrote in Revue Magazine entitled: This is no Caribbean Island, which in turn was re-adaptation from the AntiguaDailyPhoto entry: What’s in a name? That which we call La Antigua Guatemala in which I explained why the official name of the city is La Antigua Guatemala and not Antigua nor Antigua Guatemala.

Can you guys tell me where can this UNESCO declaration plaque can be found?

Hilachas (shredded beef) is yet another staple of the Guatemalan Cuisine. Hilachas is basically a red curry with shredded beef and potatoes. The hilachas recado (the Guatemalan word for curry) is normally served with rice as shown in the picture. Hilachas can be often found as part of the daily menu special in many authentic Guatemalan comedores (diners) and restaurants; keep an eye for it, you won’t regret it.

The hilachas recipe will be posted in the upcoming Recipes from Guatemala web site which should be opening its doors in May. Stay tune for the grand inauguration news here in AntiguaDailyPhoto.

Two more days for the AntiguaDailyPhoto third anniversary celebrations.

It’s so easy to take interesting photographs around La Antigua Guatemala; you just have to walk with your eyes wide open. For instance, repetition is one such approach which is easily found around La Antigua Guatemala in the forms columns, arches, windows, doors, et-cetera.

Well, today I bring you lines; one prominent line from a forged metal railing and others from a coffee warehouse roof and the floor tiles from a terrace.

This warm light was the dry season. Although, I am sure we can get similar sunsets during the rainy season, I don’t think the quality of the light is as good as in the dry season.

However, even in the rainy season there are opportunities to get good contrast between the rich saturated colors of La Antigua Guatemala and the washed out skies like in the entry La Tienda de Doña Gavi Sign.

Yesterday, I mentioned that La Antigua Guatemala’s Central Park is often used as stage for many free cultural and artistic events. Well, the Main Plaza, or Plaza Mayor as it is the official name, is also often used as shooting location for many photographers covering Quinceaños (Fifteen years) and Weddings. In the picture above, we can appreciate a Quinceañera being photographed for her Fifteen candles celebration.

The Quinceañera, or Quince años (“fifteen years” in English), in Latin American culture, is a coming of age ceremony held on a girl’s fifteenth birthday. The term Quinceaños refers to the birthday of the celebrant, and the term Quinceañera refers to the celebrant herself. Like many other coming-of-age ceremonies, the Quinceaños is associated with the Quinceañera “becoming a lady”.

The celebration carries religious significance for Spanish-speaking Roman Catholics. The celebration begins with a religious ceremony in which the Quinceañera affirms her faith. It is customary for the Quinceañera to receive gifts that are religious in nature, such as a cross or medal, a Bible (prayer book), rosary, or scepter, and these gifts are often a part of the ceremony. (… continue reading at Wikipedia)

La Antigua Guatemala’s Central Park is the most often used stage around town for free culture events. In this particular case, the park served as stage for FICCUA VI; that’s the Festival of Central American Colleges of Culture and Art. For three days there were cultural and artistic manifestations in the Parque Central and with the Cathedral as backdrop.

In the picture above, you can appreciate a musical performance from Panama.

Today we had the first official rainfall of the rainy season 2009 in La Antigua Guatemala. Even though, yesterday and a few days ago we experienced some light and fast drizzle, it was not until today that we had our fist real heavy precipitation. If you are coming to Antigua in the next following semester, make sure you pack your umbrella and raincoat.

I think the world can be easily divided in two kinds of people: the ones who like the rain and those who don’t. What about you, do you like the rain?

First Photo Retouched Aside:
By popular demand, I have digitally removed the white letters from the green umbrella. This is the first time I manipulate an image from the AntiguaDailyPhoto since from the very beginning I set myself to do all the editing at the time of shooting; thus, that’s why I always take many shots to get just one or two candidates for the AntiguaDailyPhoto stream. Anyhow, in this particular case, it would have not mattered how many shots I took since the lady did not turn her umbrella around and beside, I am almost sure the umbrella had the same publicity on both sides. I hope you forgive me for having retouched the image.

I am worry that with technology we are turning a personal history into ephemeral instants. See the early Maya wrote their history, culture and art over stone, jade, metals and ceramics and it only took nature a couple of centuries to banish it all into dense tropical jungles.

What is going to happen to our digital movies, photographs, music and everything else. Data degradation comes in the form of obsolescence of floppy drives, compact discs, dvd discs, blue ray discs, zip drives, flash drives, hard drives, et-cetera and also in the form discontinued software and file formats.

What’s the shelf life of our digital personal memories?

See everything is a matter of perspectives and that’s the whole truthiness and nothing but the truthiness (thanks Manolo for the new word).

Let me explain.

The value of commodities like gold, diamonds and jade is mostly influenced by the conceptualization that the materials are rare and scarce. The Europeans conquistadors that came to Mesoamerica looking for gold where gold existed but was not valued and cherished as jade. Two peoples with two different perspective about what is precious and worthy. Oh, what a mental shock that must have been for the encounter of the two civilizations.

Keep this in mind when you enter Guatemala and your set logic doesn’t seem to work anymore. It may come handy to read the Culture Unshocked series written by Ana Flinder for the Revue Magazine.

This is the Jade introduction in Wikipedia:

Jade was a rare and valued material in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica. The only source from which the various indigenous cultures, such as the Olmec and Maya, for example, could obtain jade was located in the Motagua River valley in Guatemala. Jade was largely an elite good, and was usually carved in a variety ways, whether serving as a medium upon which hieroglyphs were inscribed, or shaped into symbolic figurines. Generally, the material was highly symbolic, and it was often employed in the performance of ideological practices and rituals.

Today, Guatemala produces jadeite in a variety of colours, ranging from soft translucent lilac, blue, green, yellow, and black. It is also the source of new colours, including “rainbow jade” and the unique “Galactic Gold,” a black jadeite with natural incrustations of gold, silver and platinum. (… continue reading at Wikipedia)

Almost one year ago, I found a quiet and tranquil place to ponder the tough questions:

What is art and what is handicraft?

Am I the oppressor, the oppressed or both?

Why is Cubism not folk-art?

Does a painting become a handicraft if it is exhibited in restaurant and does a handicraft become art if it is exhibited in a museum?

When will sompopos de mayo arrive?

As the rainy season approaches (it rained yesterday in San Pedro Las Huertas, but not in La Antigua Guatemala), I begin to drown in thoughts. Here I go again pondering the big tough questions:

What is beuty and can we universally measure it?

What are the aesthetics of beauty?

Is beauty eternal or is beauty trapped in time?

Is art beautiful; does it have to be beautiful?

What makes Mayan art beautiful or not beautiful?

Please, help me find the answers for these questions. I need to know!

P.S. Today we begin the count down for the third anniversary of La Antigua Guatemala Daily Photo to be observed on May 1st, 2009.

Too bad MO does not come by here anymore. He would definitely appreciate a photo like today’s; full of power lines. If you don’t believe, just check his comments below any time a power-line entered the picture. MO, if you still out there in the interwebs, please come back to add your comment about the power lines.

MO says:
Great shot Rudy!! You have redeemed yourself with this shot. You have exorcised the electrical wire demons out of your camera with this superb shot. Well done.
In: Wonderful Sunset and Power Lines

MO says:
Very nice picture Rudy. I like how the left and right roof lines of the EORM building matches the natural volcano lines. I agree with John S about the darn electrical wires ruining the picture a bit.
In: Escuela Oficial Rural Mixta and the Volcanoes

MO says:
Those darn electrical wires! They they are again…getting in the way. Son tan metiches! Nisperos? Wow, all along I thought they were Misperos.
In: Nispero Tree in the Garden

MO says:
I am curious to know what’s on the left interior wall? Paintings? Wood carvings? they look like Mayan hieroglyphics. I’m 100% sure they are not electrical wires. (~:
In: Hotel Posada San Vicente Sign

Now, for sure, I would really like to know how many photos with electrical wires I have posted so far… I quite positive I could create a category for power lines. You do something often enough and eventually something good comes out of it, like in Electric Wire Grid and Volcanoes Wallpaper; don’t you agree?

Shoe-shinning is quite inexpensive in La Antigua Guatemala, about Q2/US$0.25 so there is no reason not to have one’s shoes shinning and clean.

Most of the shoe-shiners are boys who carry a black little wooden box around Antigua Guatemala and offer theirs services to locals and foreigners alike; although for sure they charge foreigners a higher fee.

But, how can you say NO to a little kid, about six or seven years of age holding his entire business enterprise on his right hand while being drenched by the rain? That’s why you often find tourists having their shoe-shine, for better or worse by kids who are not in school, but making a living on the streets of La Antigua Guatemala.

To finish the miniseries on The Arch of Santa Catalina, here it is the actual arch with white stucco and classic Antigüeño yellow bands. You can also appreciate the mildew and grime caused by the high humidity levels in Antigua Guatemala.

Oh how I wish I could capture in images the feelings, the energy and the tranquil atmosphere one gets while strolling around Calle del Arco. This warmly-lit late afternoon shot is the closest I ever gotten.

Let me know what this images makes you feel?

Yesterday’s shot of the Arch of Santa Catalina was taken from the South looking towards the North, with the main dome of Iglesia de La Merced being framed by the arch itself.

Today’s vista shows you a view in the opposite direction. From underneath the Arco de Santa Catalina looking South, towards Volcán de Agua and most of the stretch of the 5a avenida norte known as Calle del Arco (Street of the Arch).

Can somebody tell us how long in blocks is Calle del Arco?