AntiguaDailyPhoto.Com

La Antigua Guatemala is full of hidden treasures which are visible at plain view. One must be ready to look for them though. The Santiago emblem tiles from yesterday are a very good example. Today’s baroque niche is another good example.

Do you know where one can find this architectonic baroque detail in La Antigua Guatemala?

Fifth Anniversary Aside: On May 1st, AntiguaDailyPhoto.com will be celebrating its fifth anniversary.

Everyone is invited to stop by to sing the happy birthday song. Feliz cumpleaños, feliz cumpleaños; ya queremos torta aun que sea un pedacito, pero queremos…

There will be Marimba and Mariachi music, tamales, hot chocolate, atoles, and the whole enchilada.

Sometimes you must be ready to look in all directions to find new vistas from La Antigua Guatemala. These Santiago (Saint James) tiles are a very good example. Unless one looks up at the end of Portal de Las Panaderas, right in front of Casa Gómez Ovalle (5a avenida norte and 4a calle poniente) one will never find out about these Santiago tiles.

This Saint James emblem would make a nice logo for its simplicity, clean lines and rustic hand-drawn style. Can you see a hotel or travel agency in La Antigua Guatemala with this logo?

You’d be amazed on everything that might be for sale on the streets of La Antigua Guatemala during Lent. This time while walking on the streets during the Procession of Jesús de San Bartolo, we happened to run into these candles, I think they’d make some great souvenirs for your house, and the price is reasonable. What do you think?

text and photo by Arturo Godoy.

The Santo Domingo del Cerro hosted a Baroque music concert on Palm Sunday, and well, after Nelo’s wonderful work on Processions, perhaps it is just a different post this time.

Going to these kinds of concerts is always an experience, and more so when you know one of the Concertistas. It was Carolina Palomo the one I knew, a good friend and for random reasons I had never ever heard her play. When music was about begin, I closed my eyes and let the music open them. Some minutes later I found myself grabbing my camera and to just shoot. I didn’t want to use flash because the concert was being videotaped, and most importantly the flash could distract the concertistas. Even so, some people were still using flash, so the decision of sacrificing ISO versus flash was not hard to make.

The music was life in every single breath, meaning the performance and the ambience of the place, was almost surreal. Some kilometers away I bet Nelo was taking photographs, and I thought that next time I’d photograph a procession, my ipod would make good company, so perhaps the music could help me get some cool shots like Nelo’s.

After the wonderful concert, we shared some lovely conversations with the musicians and some of their friends. All of them are just amazing and lovely people; they enjoy being part of the Ensamble Antiqua (yes, with a “q”).

How many times have you been in a baroque music concert?

text and photos by Arturo Godoy.

Water matters to a lot a people. Now I understand the importance of awareness campaigns like World Water Day, which we discussed here about a month ago.

This was a town hall meeting to discuss the contaminated water that is being served by the Municipality. It was and interesting and weird meeting. I believe the people were called to assembled by the City Hall government in order to let know that the Public Health Ministry was going to shut down their water reservoir. Interesting enough, the Health Ministry officials were there to explain why they were going to close the water reservoir and distribution system. They said it is their obligation to shut down water distribution systems when the water is contaminated and this is particular water reservoir is contaminated and they were asking the people to demand chlorination of the water in order to receive purified water from the Antigua Guatemala municipal government. The people did not trust the intentions of neither the Municipality nor Health Ministry. People were enraged at the possibility of losing their tap water. You see, water matters.

Here’s the water series published before to clarify the water situation in Guatemala. As always, follow the white rabbit to the water series to see the photos and read the researched information.

1. Who owns the water in Guatemala?
2. Public Water Faucets Are Today’s Fountains
3. Water Tanks and Colonial Style Social Networks
4. Local Bottled Water Station Hunapu
5. Abundant Water for Fountains Around Antigua
6. The Venerable Colonial Pila is Now Used as Decoration
7. Guatemalan Water Wells Wet Wealth

What kind water issues are there where you live?

Arturo and I found a great place to have some of the best hamburgers in La Antigua Guatemala at La Esquina (The Corner). La Esquina is located on the corner, one block south from Parque Central. The hamburgers are huge and the meat is charbroiled. Furthermore, they have a large patio and awesome music playing all the time. I profiled La Esquina’s Oriental Chicken with Coconut Curry as part of the Antigua Cosmopolitan series last year; do you remember it?

What are you having for lunch today?

I want to publicly thank my dear friend and colleague Nelo Mijangos for sharing his wonderful Lent and Holy Week photography with us. Also, I want to praise his fabulous new angles and less traditional perspectives for the Holy Week photos.

Norman Ávila, the brains and enthusiastic person behind ClimaYa (Guatemala’s real-time weather reports), sent me these images of Nelo at work hanging from an electric pole. Later on Nelo sent me a photo he took from this vantage point with his iPhone 4. Thanks to Norman Ávila we get the real-time weather reports in AntiguaDailyPhoto, GuatemalaDailyPhoto and XelaDailyPhoto.

If you appreciate the Lent and Holy Week photos shared with us by Nelo, please do let him know in the comments.

Last but not least, remember that you can check out what happened during Holy Week in XelaDailyPhoto and GuatemalaDailyPhoto.

Photos of Leonel Mijangos by Norman Ávila. Vantage point photo by Leonel [Nelo] Mijangos

Sábado de Gloria is a quieter day with only small processions carried by women known as Las Dolorosas (The Grief or Suffering women) follwing the Vía Dolorosa. Sábado de Gloria is also the day when Judas’ Will (testament) is read, a sort of farcical speech or a neighborhood chisme speech. Kids and teenagers also play at getting each other wet with water balloons. Although I have not seen these two traditions in many years; I wonder if they still exist.

Today we take the opportunity to share various Holy Week vistas from La Antigua Guatemala.

Enjoy your weekend and set your timer for the 5-year anniversary of AntiguaDailyPhoto.com on May 1st. What should we do?

Also, remember that you can check out what is happening during Holy Week in XelaDailyPhoto and GuatemalaDailyPhoto.

All photos by Leonel [Nelo] Mijangos

Today the whole Church mourns the death of our Savior. This is traditionally a day of sadness, spent in fasting and prayer. The title for this day varies in different parts of the world: “Holy Friday” for Latin nations, Slavs and Hungarians call it “Great Friday,” in Germany it is “Friday of Mourning,” and in Norway, it is “Long Friday.” Some view the term “Good Friday” (used in English and Dutch) as a corruption of the term “God’s Friday.” ["Viernes Santo" or Holy Friday in Antigua Guatemala] (source: CatholicCulture.org)

Do not underestimate the power of catholic imagery. You see, the world-famous Antigua Guatemala processions are about showing the devoted images as a reminder and representation of the crucifixion of Jesus. Revue Magazine has an article by Dwight Wayne Coop that chronicles how the Jesús Nazareno de la Merced was taken to Guatemala City in 1778 in order to force people to abandon Santiago de Guatemala (La Antigua Guatemala) in favor of the new capital Guatemala de La Asunción (Guatemala City).

Here’s a fragment of the chronicle, make sure your read the entire article which is funny, historical and an eye opener:

The killer quake that rattled Panchoy Valley (La Antigua) in 1773 led to the founding of a new capital in Ermita Valley in 1776. But even then, most Santiagans refused to move. Similarly, after Hurricane Hattie ravaged Belize in 1965, the government of Belize founded Belmopán—only to see the population of Belize City stay put.

The job of moving La Antigua’s masons, maids, porters and wet nurses to Ciudad Real (Guatemala City) fell in 1778 to viceroy Martín de Mayorga. His biggest card was the bond that Santiagans felt to Jesús Nazareno and to another wooden statue, Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes. Move these images, Mayorga reasoned, and you move the people. (source: Revue Magazine)

Also, today all Stations of the Cross altars will be open and many if not all procession will pay a visit to El Calvario Church, which is located on the southern outskirts of La Antigua Guatemala. El Calvario or Calvary (Golgotha) is the name of the mount on the outskirts of Jerusalem where it’s believe Jesus Christ was crucified. This church with its three arches provides a symbolic representation of the crucifixion; with each arch representing each cross.

Here’s a panoramic view of the culmination of the Good Friday procession as it enters the Antigua Guatemala cathedral.

Also, remember that you can check out what is happening during Holy Week in XelaDailyPhoto and GuatemalaDailyPhoto.

All photos by Leonel [Nelo] Mijangos

Cucuruchos with their purple or violet cone-head rebes are another prominent element of Semana Santa in Antigua Guatemala. Purple is worn as a sign of penitence. As a matter of fact, processions are a sign of penitence as well, heck the whole Semana Santa is a penitent act.

Not only Cucuruchos have to observe penitence during Lent (Cuaresma) and Holy Week (Semana Santa), but they also have to pay if they want to get a chance to carry the enormous floats, known here as andas. According to Nelo, each turn costs around Q60 (around US$8), there are around 60 turns and each float has somewhere between 80 and 100 spaces for the Cucuruchos. You make the numbers…

Also, remember that you can check out what is happening during Holy Week in XelaDailyPhoto and GuatemalaDailyPhoto.

All photos by Leonel [Nelo] Mijangos

There’s nothing more impressive during the Holy Week in Antigua Guatemala than seen these massive floats, andas in Spanish, being carried by 80 to 100 cucuruchos. Click on any of the images to get a slide show started with larger versions of these images.

Needless to say we’re in debt with Nelo for sharing these incredible photographs, for going the extra mile to capture these unusual perspective and for spending over 12 hours per day to follow the processions through out their entire route. If you have anything to say to Nelo, please do so in the comments area.

Elsewhere in Guatemala, you can check the procession in XelaDailyPhoto and GuatemalaDailyPhoto as well.

All photos by Leonel [Nelo] Mijangos

The processional carpets are among the most creative and colorful elements of the Holy Week in La Antigua Guatemala.

As I’ve mentioned before, the making of carpets from sawdust, pine-needles, flowers, vegetables is a community-forming tradition. People get together by block or near-by neighbors to create the carpets on which the processions will pass by. Sometimes the making of the carpets is done at night, all night so they are ready for next day’s procession. The colorful processional carpet elaboration process 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!

All photos by Leonel [Nelo] Mijangos

Okay, the 365-day wait is over. The world-famous Holy Week in La Antigua Guatemala is here. Get your cameras ready and join the hundreds if not thousands of photographers and cucuruchos populating the 10-block colonial town of Antigua Guatemala. If under normal circumstances there are plenty of photographers capturing every conceivable vista from La Antigua Guatemala, in Semana Santa photographers are found in every street, many chasing one or more Holy Week processions. You can also find news casting crews and documentary crews from corner of the world. Some photographer even carry more than one camera to catch all the fleeting moments.

Of course, this is easy to understand, after all the Holy Week in Antigua Guatemala is the most colorful and surreal cultural and religious event in Guatemala. Make sure you put it down in your things to do and places to visit at least once in my life list; you won’t regret it!

In the meantime, follow the white rabbit to the Holy Week Elements series to get an overview of the elements of Semana Santa. Just remember, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

All photos by Leonel [Nelo] Mijangos

Today’s Domingo de Ramos (Palm Sunday) which means we are at the commencement of the world-famous Holy Week in Antigua Guatemala. We carry on our series Antigua Lent Processions thanks to the wonderful imagery of our friend and collaborator Leonel [Nelo] Mijangos who has taken to the task to document every Lent procession in La Antigua Guatemala in the last decade.

As I mentioned a few days ago, Nelo Mijangos goes to the extremes to get new angles and perspectives. Oftentimes he climbs electric poles just to get a bird’s eye view of the processions. For the San Bartolo procession Nelo hopped onto an helicopter to give us never seen aerial shots of a procession in Antigua Guatemala.

Don’t you ever say we don’t go to the extreme to bring you the most unique and exclusive imagery from La Antigua Guatemala. The same rigor and dedication you can expect from XelaDailyPhoto and GuatemalaDailyPhoto. If you have not yet visit the other two daily photo websites from Guatemala, take your time to smell the Guatemalan coffee… and enjoy the vistas from other Guatemalan cities.

All photos by Leonel [Nelo] Mijangos

The San Bartolo procession is among the biggest from the Antigua Lent Processions series. In fact, I remember publishing in previous years that San Bartolo and San Felipe procession were the biggest of all the procession in Guatemala. So, I will split the all the photos in two days.

When we started the Antigua Lent Processions series I mentioned that processions leave the church on Sunday around mid-day and heads over to La Antigua Guatemala takes a winding route all around Antigua for about 12 hours. This means that at least half of time the processions are on the streets is night time and that’s what we want to share with you today.

By the way, tomorrow is Palm Sunday, which basically means we are already on Semana Santa.

Come back tomorrow to see the second half of the San Bartolo procession which will include some new perspectives and angles.

All photos by Leonel [Nelo] Mijangos