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Through October and November you can find many businesses using Guatemalan kites as decoration. Last year I showed you some colorful giant kites hanging from the ceiling at a local restaurant. This time I took a shot of the kites hanging above the entrance of another popular restaurant in La Antigua Guatemala.

Kites are very important in Guatemala since they are much more than simple toys. Kites are messengers in the wind. Kites help reunite the living with the dead in Guatemala. As always follow the white rabbit to see all the kite webpages in the archives.

I think this piece of architecture is absolutely gorgeous. Especially with those sellers and colorful textile products from Mercado De Artesanos El Carmen in front of it, it looks more lively. Next time i visit La Antigua Guatemala, I will try to get some more background information about this building.

text and photo by Pinar Istek

XelaDailyPhoto Aside: We have good news for you. Since Pinar is living in Xela (short for Xelajú or Quetzaltenango; pronounce like sheella) she has decided to launch the XelaDailyPhoto on November 1st to complement what AntiguaDailyPhoto is being doing for years and bring you a much richer and rounder picture of Guatemala. Pinar will delight us with daily post cards and stories from our sister republic of Xelajú. We wish her good luck and will provide the necessary support to make it a more enjoyable photographic tour through Los Altos.

When I shot this photo in front of Antigua Guatemala’s Municipality building, I remembered Henri Cartier-Bresson’s Behind Gare St. Lazare photo and it made me think of his Decisive Moment concept. I guess we photographers unconsciously imitate the masters; well, at least try it…

text and photo by Pinar Istek

During one of the afternoon mass services I happened to be at the Cathedral. The visual fortune that Catholic church offers to its visitors is incredible. I am always impressed by it. However, as a Muslim person, I have to admit the fact that there are many things that I don’t really understand about Christianity; for instance, the bread and wine practice in the mass service…

text and photo by Pinar Istek

Ice cream vendors like the guy in the picture above are not only typical stamp of La Antigua Guatemala. As matter of fact, they are pretty much everywhere I visited in Guatemala; including here in Xela, where I now live; also in Huehuetenango, in Lake Atitlán, in Guatemala City, everywhere… really. On this one particular afternoon I saw this guy in front of the Central Park in Antigua Guatemala, and I started to think about my childhood. I am not from Guatemala, I am from a small southern town in Turkey. Ice cream is, however, a universal thing, that can take you all the way back in your memories, it doesn’t matter where you are in the world. He reminded me of those childhood days, when I would buy cheap and colorful ice cream in the streets when I was a little kid. I kinda miss them…

text and photo by Pinar Istek

About Guest Contributor: Born and raised in Turkey, Pinar Istek is getting her masters in photojournalism at Missouri School of Journalism. In May 2010, after she arrived in Huehuetenango, she decided to extend her stay in Guatemala to one year. Currently based in Xela, Pinar is working at a hostel, teaching English, freelancing for several publications and looking for short stories from Guatemala. You can browse Pinar Istek portfolio at her picture blog.

I don’t recall if I have told you that Guatemala’s school year begins in January and end in October; have I mentioned it? Anyway, since the school year ends in October, this month you can see a lot of graduations and all the paraphernalia associated with graduations.

Another interesting fact about Guatemala’s educational system is the fact that after 12 years of school, 14 if we include párvulos (pre-school), graduates receive a vocational or junior career diploma such as primary school teacher, junior accountant, et cetera.

What other junior career diplomas are given after 12 years of education?

Fried fish is another popular dish in Guatemala. The fried fish presentation above can be found just about anywhere in Guatemala. Normally the fish is fried as one piece previously cleaned. The fish in the picture above is red snapper weighing over a pound. The entire meal was about $10.

The kind of fish most often used as fried fish are mojarras (tilapia), pargo (red snapper), and trucha (trout).

Fish and sea food is quite popular in Guatemala since we are lucky to have access to the Atlantic and Pacific ocean within 10-hour driving time. Literally, you can wake up the sunrise in the Atlantic Ocean take a swim and drive to the Pacific Ocean to watch the sunset and while sipping a very cold Moza beer.

Have you ever had fried fish served in the presentation above?

Here’s another version of the classic Guatemalan parrillada which is basically a charcoal-grilled meat sampler. This version includes chicken, sirloin steak, sausage, pork chop [not in the picture], rice, beans, corn on the cob, chirmol (Guatemalan tomato sauce), and guacamol (avocado sauce).

Guatemalans often order a parrillada as lunch or dinner during the weekends getaways or outings with the family or friends. Another way to have a parrillada is to have a weekend or holiday chuparrasco.

If you follow the white rabbit (all the links above) you can easily realized that Guatemalans really love charcoal-grilled meats. If you still don’t believe, follow the links below.

• Guatemalan Cuisine: Carne Adobada, Longanizas, Viuda
• Charcoal-grilled meats at Tanque de la Unión
• Guatemalan Cuisine: Tortillas con Carne
• Guatemalan Cuisine: Longanizas
• Guatemalan Cuisine: Parrillada Guatemalateca

Who wants to share their chirmol recipe with us?

Simple and functional works for me. Today’s image you can find almost everywhere in La Antigua Guatemala. The elements: metal, wood, rust, peeling paint, can be found in windows, furniture, and doorways.

Everybody loves the dry season in Guatemala. Even the patients of Obras Sociales del Hermano Pedro Hospital can spend more time at Parque Central more often. I don’t blame them since I plan to visit and hang out at Plaza Mayor as often as possible.

I believe filmmaker Luis Buñuel wanted to show us something with his 1950 film “Los Olvidados” (literal English title The Forgotten Ones aka The Young and the Damned in the U.S.). I believe Buñuel wanted us to know that the current economical and political system we have in place IS NOT working. In the sixty years since the Los Olvidados was released the situation has gotten better and worst at the same time. Just the other day I read somewhere that 50% of the wealth around the world is in the hands of 1% of the population. I am sure in Guatemala those figures are even worse. I wish we could think of something to make things better for the destitute majority.

By the way, I took this picture yesterday while everyone was celebrating and enjoying the Día de la Revolución holiday in La Antigua Guatemala’s main plaza.

On October 20, Guatemala celebrates its Dí­a de la Revolución (Revolution’s Day) and everybody gets the day off as it is a national holiday. Well, almost everybody, I am going to be working.

Guatemala always manages to be at the cross roads of historic events. Let me share with you two such instances.

First, there was a medical graduate student from Argentina who decided after having taken a motorcycle journey through South America that he was going to change his reality, his world. He decided that the best place to start this revolution was “Guatemala where President Jacobo Arbenz Guzmán headed a democratically elected government that, through land reform and other initiatives, was attempting to end the latifundia system.” It was in Guatemala that this doctor made the necessary networking connections that catapulted to the international political stage. He is now known simply as Che or Che Guevara.

Next, we have the story of a famous mural painting by Diego Rivera that disappeared for 50 years and was found in the warehouses of the Pushkin Museum in Russia. The mural painting “Gloriosa victoria” is now on display at the Palacio Nacional de Cultura, formerly the Guatemala’s National Palace, for the month of October. The mural paints the bloody story behind the 1954 U.S. invasion of Guatemala and the following coup d’état which had freely elected Jacobo Arbenz overthrown. Below, you can read more background information regarding the revolutionary decade between 1944 and 1954.

… On October 20, 1944 by a coup d’état led by Major Francisco Javier Arana and Captain Jacobo Arbenz Guzmán, the country was led by a military junta made up of Arana, Arbenz, and Jorge Toriello Garrido. The Junta called Guatemala’s first free election, which was won with a majority of 85 percent by the prominent writer and teacher Juan José Arévalo Bermejo, who had lived in exile in Argentina for 14 years. Arévalo was the first democratically elected president of Guatemala to fully complete the term for which he was elected. His “Christian Socialist” policies, inspired by the U.S. New Deal, were criticized by landowners and the upper class as “communist.”

In 1954, Arévalo’s freely elected Guatemalan successor, Jacobo Arbenz, was overthrown in a coup orchestrated by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in the 1954 Guatemalan coup d’état. Colonel Carlos Castillo Armas was installed as president in 1954 and ruled until he was assassinated by a member of his personal guard in 1957.

The operation was preceded by a plan, never fully implemented, as early as 1951, to supply anti-Arbenz forces with weapons, supplies, and funding, Operation PBFORTUNE. Afterwards there was an operation, Operation PBHISTORY, whose objective was to gather and analyze documents from the Arbenz government that would incriminate Arbenz as a Communist puppet.[3]…

Source: Wikipedia

I have to admit not all Guatemalan dishes have good aspect. Two such dishes come to mind right away: Mole and Patitas a la vinagreta (Pickled muscles and lower legs). Then again, the actual McDonald’s hamburger does not have good aspect either [see photos of food for a dollar]. However, Guatemalan meals with poor aspect make it up in flavor. How can you go wrong with fried plantains covered with chocolate-based sauce dessert. Same for the patitas envinagradas. Sadly, I don’t know how to prepare patitas a la vinagreta. Can anybody help with a recipe or preparation tips?

I like the ceramic “doble vía” signs and metal frames in La Antigua Guatemala. To be honest, I like all the ceramic traffic sign, including the Alto/Stop sign.

If I was a film maker or producer, I would call my company Doble vía films. Of course, I would use the sign a logotype.

Las marimbas del infierno film aside: Marimbas from hell is another film from Julio Hernández Cordón, which was released recently and should be showing in the Guatemalan theaters. Las marimbas del infierno makes a total of three major Guatemalan film releases within a six weeks. That’s pretty good considering the Guatemalan film industry is still a baby.

Here’s the plot summary for Las Marimbas del infierno from the IMDb entry:

Don Alfonso is a deliveryman. He also plays marimbas, the traditional Guatemalan instrument. He is used to play a folkloric musical show in one of the fancy hotel of Guatemala City. He faces the population’s lack of interest for his instrument, considered like out of date and old fashioned. Black is pioneer of the Heavy Metal Guatemalan underground stage. He also is also a doctor in the public hospital but nobody wants to be treated by him because of his long hair and his tattoos. When Don Alfonso and Black meet each other and decide to combine their talents and create a brand new project called Marimbas from Hell, they could never have imagined all the reactions they would provoke among the population.

It’s been a while since I shared a wallpaper with you, so I thought why not make one of Antigua’s handmade stone walls into a wallpaper for you computer. So, if you want to give this wallpaper a chance on your computer, download it from here (1280 x 960). If you would like to see what other Antigua Guatemala wallpapers are available (35 thus far), follow the white rabbit to the Wallpapers category. Enjoy!

Aquí me quedo film aside: Once again, I am happy to report that another Guatemalan film, which was in production in August 2009 when I shared with you a teaser trailer, is now showing in the Guatemala movie theaters. Below are the original teaser trailer and film preview trailer for Aquí me quedo, a new film by Mellega Films, written and directed by Rodolfo “Chofo” Espinosa and produced by Andrés Rodríguez of Cinespacio and filmed in the sister Republic of Quetzaltenango, also known as Xela.