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Somehow, I manage to do everything backwards, on purpose, or not.

See El Arco de Santa Catalina is the most famous landmark from La Antigua Guatemala; the photo that everybody carries in the camera memory or film, whatever the case may be, to show they have been to Antigua Guatemala. So you might think it is only obvious that one must begin a photographic journey of La Antigua Guatemala with The Arch of Santa Catalina, right? Well, me thinks differently and that’s why I have published 1,093 consecutive entries and 8 additional static pages totaling 1101 pages and not once I have shown you the Arco of Santa Catalina as the main subject. I even made a reference at 90 days into the journey:

Somehow, not by conscious intention, I have managed to avoid the common references and photos of Antigua. For better or for worse, at 90 days from the beginning of this blog I have yet to publish a photo of Santa Catalina’s Arch and Calle del Arco which is the most emblematic photo of Antigua; the equivalent will be not to have published a photo of Statue of Liberty in New York or the Eiffel Tower in Paris after 90 days.

Even though I have shown you pictures of Calle del Arco (The Arch Street), which it is actually an avenue, I believe not once I have shown the actual Arco de Santa Catalina; wait it a minute, maybe once in Weekend Scene at Calle del Arco. I invite you to browse all the archives in which a reference was made to Calle del Arco and if you can find another photo with the arch, I will print it and mail it to you as a post card.

Anyhow, I as I approach the publishing of page number 1,111; I figure I should include some photos of the Arch of Santa Catalina and some other photos around Calle del Arco. I have earned my right to so by now; don’t you agree?

Thanks to Michele and Eddie, two loyal readers of AntiguaDailyPhoto.Com, I actually came to La Antigua Guatemala during the Holy Week. We had a great afternoon and we finished our meeting with a delicious dinner at La Fonda de la Calle Real.

I took a few shots of Revolcado (Guatemalan Curried Pork Stew) so I can share with you guys. A quick Google search for the recipe throw the following recipe which I am translating on the fly. Please, leave your corrections and suggestion in the comment area.

Revolcado Recipe (Guatemalan Curried Pork Stew Recipe)

Ingredientes/Ingredients (rinde 6 porciones):

1 cabeza pequeña de cerdo (1 small pig’s head)
1 libra de menudos de cerdo (1 lb of pig’s entrails)
1 libra de tomate (1 lb of roma tomatoes)
6 chiles pimientos rojos (6 red bell peppers)
1 onza de aceite (1 oz of oil)
5 chiles guaques (5 chili huaques)
5 chiles dulces (5 sweet chili {pasilla})
2 dientes de ajo (2 garlic cloves)
2 cebollas medianas (2 small onions)
1 taza de agua (1 cup of water)
una pizca de achiote (a pinch of achiote or annatto as it’s known in English)

Preparación/Method:

Ponga a cocer la cabeza con los menudos. Por aparte, cueza todos los ingredientes con una taza de agua. Licúelos y cuélelos agregando el achote. A continuación pique la carne de la cabeza y los menudos, agrégueles la salsa y cocínelos con fuego lento. Para espesar la salsa agregue masa.

Cook the pork’s head and entrails in a pot. On a separate pot, cook all the other ingredients with the cup of water. Then, put all the cooked vegetables in a blender until you get them all mixed; pass this sauce through a strainer and add the annatto to the final sauce. Next, chop the head and entrails into small pieces and add them to the red sauce and cook them over a small flame. If you need to thicken the sauce, you can add corn dough or corn flour.

Bon Appetite!

Recipes from Guatemala Web Site Update:
I definitely need to get going with the Recipes from Guatemala and Recetas de Guatemala web sites to have an easy way to link to authentic Guatemalan recipes in a well-managed and organized web site. I already have the domain names and recipe books and the photos. Now I only need to find the time to begin uploading and organizing the recipes. Boy, how come days still come with only 24 hours?

In my quest to bring to you ‘new’ vistas of the same ‘old’ places around La Antigua Guatemala, I present to you a photograph of the time tunnel located at Palacio del los Capitanes, right across from Central Park. Like the original time tunnel, if you dare to enter this time tunnel, each time you click Palacio de los Capitanes, you will travel in time to a different vista of Palacio de los Capitanes, translated roughly as Captains’ Palace. Make sure you have your boleto en mano (paid fare ticket on hand), otherwise you may run the risk of being trapped in an endless loop of time inside Palacio de los Capitanes in La Antigua Guatemala.

If 10 people care to know the glory details of how to get a photograph with time distortion, like the image above, please raise your voice in the comment area, and I will update this entry with the basic instructions.

Oh yes, I had also forgotten to mention the superabundant crowds that you will find in La Antigua Guatemala during the Holy Week.

The normal peaceful and tranquil ambience of Antigua Guatemala completely disappears during the Semana Santa and instead, a noisy, crowded, chaotic, and stressful atmosphere can be perceived.

The crowds arrive from all over the world and somehow everyone finds lodging; although some make their reservation at least one year in advance. Keep that in mind if you want to come next year for the Holy Week; make your reservations right now.

Well, with these set of photos of people, we wave goodbye to the Semana Santa 2009 in La Antigua Guatemala. I do hope you have enjoyed the photos of the Holy Week as much as I have enjoyed taking them.

Tomorrow, we will board a time tunnel ride in La Antigua Guatemala; please make sure you have your pasaje en mano.

It doesn’t matter if the processions in the villages and communities around La Antigua Guatemala are more authentic, more kitsch and with less finances behind them; at least once in your lifetime you must come to Antigua Guatemala to see the massive and numerous processions during the Holy Week or Semana Santa as it’s known in Spanish.

The processions in Antigua Guatemala are just breath-taking, awe and faith inspiring, and a must-see show. The processions in La Antigua Guatemala are so monumental and long that they are unique and I don’t believer there is another place in the entire world where the processions are as colossal as in Antigua Guatemala, do you? Well, perhaps, in Guatemala City (copycats).

By the way, in the picture above we are only seeing the main segment of a procession which seemed to be about 8 blocks long.

click, click, click, click click click, clicks, click.

See, if it does NOT matter how much effort I put into documenting the Holy Week in La Antigua Guatemala for you, I always miss something important. Can you believe this the third year I am covering the Semana Santa in Antigua Guatemala and I have not mentioned once that among the millions of people, quite possibly, half of them are photographers or carrying a camera.

Well, just now it occurred to me, I should at least show you a couple of shots with photographers and their vantage points.

Now, who can tell me where were these photos taken? I will send you via regualr mail a 4×6 post card photograph taken from this vantage point if you can tell me the name of the place. Local residents are not allow to participate.

Interestingly enough, Erick was commenting yesterday how impressive was to see the massive float make a U-turn as he was watching the 5-minute video of the following of a Semana Santa procession. Well, I said interesting enough because I had planned to publish a photo of the huge float’s pilot, the cucurucho you see wearing the purple robes, is pushing either right or left to control the direction of the Holy Week Anda (float).

Oh what a difficult position to be in, to be responsible for the behavior and direction of a monumental float being carry by 60 to 90 people. Would you volunteer to be the float’s pilot?

The Holy Week in Guatemala is a full five senses overwhelming experience. As you follow the processions all five senses are bombarded with maximum stimuli and you are carried into a mystical experience.

It is so difficult to convey these feelings when I am only presenting you with static photographs. But you are going to have to imagine the loud beating of the drums, the funerary processional music; the scents of corozo palms, flowers, and Pom incense and a million other aromas; obviously you eye sight gets a full exposure to all the bright colors in the spectrum as well as images from Semana Santa in Antigua Guatemala, like carpets, floats, purple, red, black and white robes from cucuruchos, musical bands, people, incense smoke and the such; so far that’s only three of the senses, but how can you forget the tastes of traditional foods like chupetes, the helados (ice cream), the freshly cut fruits in bags, the brightly-colored algodones (translation please), candied fruits, semillas de marañón (cashew nuts) and manias (peanuts), beets salad, bacalou a la viscaina (dried fish in Viscaina tomato sauce), boy oh boy, there are so many delicious treats to be tasted; finally, we come to touch which is underrated, nevertheless is quite possibly of the most important sense because all personal and private spaces get blurred as you carry the heavy anda, you touch and get touched by people as you walk from side to the other of procession, don’t forget the hand shakes and hugs as you come across friends and family, the touching makes the whole thing “Real”.

Each special touch, each sensuous sight, sound, smell, taste, form unforgettable memories of the season, of Semana Santa in Guatemala, declares Ken Veronda in his wonderful article, Sensuous Guatemala: Semana Santa.

If you have the time, go read the article Sensuous Guatemala: Semana Santa by Ken Veronda in the Revue Magazine web site. He does a wonderful job explaining how during “Semana Santa, Holy Week, all five senses are overwhelmed in every Guatemalan city and village, but nowhere more than in La Antigua Guatemala with its colonial traditions and frequent processions.”

If for any reason, you can not experience the Semana Santa in La Antigua Guatemala with your five senses, I share with you a consolable 5-minute video of the following of a procession in a colonia (neighborhood) in San Pedro Las Huertas, La Antigua Guatemala. Enjoy and please, leave your comments and feedback!

Last year, on March 15th, I first introduced you the Broom-head Romans soldiers; I believe it was Domingo de Ramos or Palm Sunday as it is known in English. Below you can find my introductory text:

… it’s impossible not to publish photos like today’s. Talk about the idiosyncrasy of Guatemalans, have you ever seen a more convincing set of Roman Soldiers in your life?

Obviously, I tried to make a smart remark about how kitschy these Guatemalan Roman soldiers dress up with the insinuated idiosyncrasy of Guatemalans, but I believe I failed to convey the message.

So, I come out of the closet now and tell you I really find delightful the excessive garishness of the costumes of Guatemalan Roman soldiers, the clothes of the Holy Week figures, the golden-painted floats, in short, everything about the Holy Week celebrations in the villages and municipalities around La Antigua Guatemala. You may have to click on the photo above to see the fine or kitschy details of the Guatemalan-Roman soldier costumes.

Now guys, if given the opportunity, would you find an exhilarating experience to go out in public wearing a broom-head helmet, a bright-red cloak and a kitschy-looking Roman costume, wouldn’t you? Come on, live a little!

You normally see men carrying the big heavy processional floats or andas as they are known in Guatemalan Spanish. You can browse the Processions category to see the huge Holy Week floats for which La Antigua Guatemala is famous for. However, behind the massive floats there are, almost always, smaller floats carried by women. Today’s entry shows you such women’s float; and quite small to be honest.

Hah, and you thought men were the only who were penitent during Semana Santa in Guatemala.

If you were in La Antigua Guatemala for Lent or the Holy Week, would you buy a turn to carry the float?

Some people have traveled the world over just to be present for the world-famous Holy Week in La Antigua Guatemala. Some people just have to open their front doorway and go outside to be part of Semana Santa in Guatemala.

One very important aspect or distinction of what makes the celebrations of the Holy Week or Semana Santa in Antigua Guatemala so special and unique is the colorful processional carpet elaboration process, which, quite often, involves the whole family, close friends, the neighborhood and the entire community. It does not matter if it’s just grandma throwing some corozo (corozo palms) and dried purple flowers to elaborate a humble alfombra in front of her home or it is a team of members of the cuadra (the block), or if a son lends a hand to a dad to put the final touches on the brightly-colored sawdust carpet, the devotion and the do-good spirit are present everywhere you look. This is the week of the year when Guatemalans stand as one people!

Holy Week processional carpets can be made from colorful sawdust, richly-scented pine needles and corozo palms, sweet-smelling flowers and tropical fruits and vegetables. Alfombras procesionales de Samana Santa (Holy Week processional carpets) can be delightful to see with their intricate design and patterns before every procession throughout the Lent and the Holy Week. However, it is a richer experience to be present through the elaboration process and to be part of it by lending a hand and talking to the creators who are more than happy to include you as part of the family, friends and community. To some people from other parts of the world it might be a weird and pleasant experience to realize that people here “know” their neighbors and the entire community.

If you are right now in La Antigua Guatemala, don’t miss this unique opportunity to be part of the elaboration of the world-famous Holy Week processional carpets!

Peak-a-boo!

Boy, today was for sure a good day to be on a tree since the land kept on shaking all day long. I believe there were over 7 tremors over 20 tremors that felt around Guatemala City and La Antigua Guatemala.

Check out the #temblorgt trend in Twitter to see all the seismic activity reports.

Okay, this is the last photo of the Holy Week preparations series. This emblematic yellow house known as Hotel Aurora has now become a white house. In the picture above you can see how the yellow paint was being removed with high-presure water jet stream.

How emblematic was this yellow house, really? So much so, that I used it in the Antigua’s color palette series as yellow. Check it out!

As requested by many readers of La Antigua Guatemala Daily Photo, here are the new parking/entrance fee regulations of La Antigua Guatemala.

About a 1.5 kms (1 mile) before the entrance there is sign that Welcomes you to La Antigua Guatemala, declared an UNESCO World Heritage Site. See the first photo below and click it to see an enlarge image.

About 100 meters (yards) after the first sign, there is second sign that explains that Free Locomotion is a Right (Guatemalan Right, that is), parking, on the other hand, is a privilege. Please cooperate by paying the established fees that sign begs. See the second photo below and click it to see an enlarge image.

Finally, there is a third sign (large photo above) that displays the new parking fees for an entire day on the streets of La Antigua Guatemala:

1. Carro (car): Q10 ($1.25)
2. Microbus (van): Q20 ($2.50)
3. Autobus 30 pasajeros (30-passenger bus): Q40 ($5)
4. Autobus 30 o más pasajeros (30+ passenger bus): Q50 ($6.25)

People who live within the La Antigua Guatemala Municipal (county) borders are exempt from paying any fees and are given a “Orgullosamente Antigüeño” (Proud Antigüeño) sticker to up on the front windshield. People living within the municipality of La Antigua Guatemala are required to present at least one utility bill to verify their residence status and thus obtain the exemption sticker. See the third photo below and click it to see an enlarge image.

People who live outside the borders of the Municipio (County) de La Antigua Guatemala are required to pay the above fees. Unless, of course, they buy a frequent visitor sticker for Q200 ($25) per year.

Any questions or comments, please don’t hesitate to ask and I will comply with a prompt answer or research it for you!

Since I showed you, just the other day, how the façade of house from La Antigua Guatemala was being repaired and painted in preparation for the Semana Santa (Holy Week) celebrations, I figured you ought to see how the house was transformed.

Well, once again, I was lucky because not only I was able to capture the transformation of a white house into a typical yellow house from La Antigua Guatemala , but at the same time continue to show you other house undergoing repairs and new paint jobs. In the picture above, you can see the yellow house in the corner and two more houses, the white and light blue house with construction workers and painters doing their magic.

Both houses, the white and light blue, have appeared before in the AntiguaDailyPhoto archives; can you point out which pages correspond to each house?

Theme Day Update: By pure chance I published a photo with something prominently yellow, which just so happens is the theme day for all the sister daily photo cities around the world. Even though is a little too late, I figure I share a link to see the other 165 cities around the globe that participated in the yellow theme.

Click here to view thumbnails for all participants