AntiguaDailyPhoto.Com

Normally you could see a couple volcanoes in the background and deep blue skies above the tree canopy. Yes, we demand our gorgeous blue skies and weather back. Do you know where our temperate eternal Spring has gone?

Ephemiredes Aside: On June 30 is observed the Día del Ejército (Army Day holiday) in Guatemala, and on July 1 the Día del empleado bancario (Guatemalan Banker’s holiday); which really all it amounts to is that the banks will be closed for two days. However, new holiday laws that were enacted last year which move holidays that fall in the middle of the week to Monday or Friday so that Guatemalans can have long weekend and perhaps do some traveling within the country. For that reason, INGUAT launched a “Internal Tourism Campaigns” a couple of weeks. In other words, Día del Ejército holiday will be tomorrow. Most banks will be closed on Friday and Monday.

Call it synchronicity or better yet, serendipity because that’s the story behind this simple rainy season vista. For a while now I have decided I wanted to take a photograph of a corner while leaving enough of the perpendicular street and the next block on the frame to make an interesting composition. Think of it as more refine corner shot than the one appearing in Quotidian Corner Life; which is by the way the diagonally opposite corner from where I took this photo. As I have mentioned before, corners are among my favorite places to take daily snapshots of La Antigua Guatemala since there’s so much going on at the crossroads.

Anyway, here I am coming back from a mandado, errand, as I see a picture forming in my head with the repetitive patters of the water bottles, perhaps a new take on the Agua Pura Salvavidas post from 2006 I said to myself; the yellow corner, and the following street with the houses at a perpendicular perspective. That’s it, I pulled out my camera, moved closer to wall so the rain would not fall on the camera, configure the aperture, shutter speed and white balance to capture the scene and begin framing the composition. In the viewfinder I saw the silhouettes of some girls walking by so close to me that I could not see anything else. I was trying to recomposition the photo when I heard one of the girls saying “Take my photo,” as she walked across the street and stood next to the water bottles. Certainly she was not talking to me so I got my face out of the viewfinder to see the other girls standing next to me with a camera on hand. Fine, be part of my photo I said to myself as I put my eye on the viewfinder and just as I was ready the press the shutter button, a line of people with umbrellas formed on the perpendicular street.

Just as the Universe sometimes aligns against you, other times the Universe just puts all the pieces in place for us to steal an image from the never-stopping chaos which we call life.

Synchronicity click.
Serendipity click.

Today’s photograph could be considered a follow up to Monk in San Francisco El Grande Church photograph taken during the dry season. Don’t you agree?

Pitahaya season is here!

A Pitaya (pronounced /pɨˈtaɪ.ə/) or pitahaya (English pronunciation: /ˌpɪtəˈhaɪ.ə/) is the fruit of several cactus species, most importantly of the genus Hylocereus (sweet pitayas). These fruits are commonly known as dragon fruit. The vine-like epiphytic Hylocereus Pitaya producing cacti are native to Mexico, Central America, and South America. Hylocereus has adapted to live in dry tropical climates with a moderate amount of rain. The dragon fruit sets on the cactus-like trees 30–50 days after flowering and can sometimes have 5-6 cycles of harvests per year… continue reading at Wikipedia.

You can buy pitayas in your nearest mercado or supermarket right now. There’s an upcoming article in REVUE magazine about the pitayas with a recipe for Ginger Dragon Delight which has rum and pitahayas as the main ingredients. You can find the article on page 66 of the July 2011 issue of REVUE magazine.

Have you ever had pitayas?

Today’s entry is a follow up on the comment left by Lynn on June 1:

Accidentally stumbled on your site somehow, and it made me nostalgic for all things Antigua and Guatemalan. Was there exactly 10 years ago for a couple of weeks, and spent every day in amazement. I remembered a fruit someone shared on a boat to Santiago Atitlan, the most sublime stuff of paradise, it had bright fuschia-colored flesh, and I looked for it everywhere for years, but never really knew what it was and have never found out since. Would you have a clue? These pix make me long to take a return trip. Soon.

Is it just me or there’s an influx of English vehicles in Guatemala. Just two weeks ago we saw the Land Rover Defender in the photographic stream of AntiguaDailyPhoto. Two Triumph cars appeared in GuatemalaDailyPhoto in the last of couple of days, a white and a red versions. And now I spotted this gorgeous Mini Cooper on the streets of Antigua Guatemala. I fell in love with the Mini Coopers after having watched the 1969 film “The Italian Job” about years ago. I decided back then that when I grew up I would have a Mini Cooper as my day-to-day car.

As always, follow the white rabbit to check out other interesting vehicles that have appear in the photographic stream of AntiguaDailyPhoto. Enjoy!

For some reason, Arcángel San Miguel is quite popular in Guatemala.
Around Antigua Guatemala there at least two communities that carry San Miguel as part of their name. Do you know why San Michael is so popular as a patron saint for so many towns?

These are some of the names of villages, towns and communities around Antigua Guatemala: San Juan, San Miguel, San Critóbal, San Bartolo, San Felipe and of course San Pedro, which by the way is celebrating its patron saint today. Read the aside below for more information.

Ephemerides Aside: San Pedro Las Huertas celebrates its patron saint on June 26. You can follow the white rabbit through all the posts about the Guatemalan Fair to see how the people of San Pedro Las Huertas celebrate their patron saint.

We continue the Catholic Decorations series with an image of San Cristóbal (Saint Christopher). Because Christopher offered protection to travelers and against sudden death, many churches placed images or statues of him, usually opposite the south door, so he could be easily seen. He is usually depicted as a giant of a man, with a child on his shoulder and a staff in one hand. In England, there are more wall paintings of Christopher than of any other saint; in 1904, Mrs. Collier, writing for the British Archaeological Association, reported 183 paintings, statues, and other representations of the saint, outnumbering all others except for the Virgin Mary (Source: Wikipedia).

Two villages of La Antigua Guatemala have San Cristóbal as part of their name. Do you know what villages are these and where are they located?

Angels are, of course, the most often found catholic imagery decoration found in La Antigua Guatemala. The wooden angel above can be found hanging at one of the walls in La Palma restaurant in Antigua Guatemala. So, we began the Catholic Decorations series with Archangel San Miguel (Saint Michael), we continue with a “regular” angel and tomorrow we’ll take a look at San Critóbal.

La Antigua Guatemala has to be most catholic town in Guatemala, heck make that Central America. Nowhere is Catholicism more solidly embedded in the culture, traditions and identity that in La Antigua Guatemala. This is why the Semana Santa is such a grandiloquent event. Almost all the celebrations in Antigua Guatemala are around a catholic feast, including the Fiestas de Santiago (Saint James Feast) since Santiago is the former name of this colonial town and Santiago is thus the patron saint for Antigua Guatemala. Yesterday and today for instance there are all kinds of light yellow and white decorations in churches, buildings and private homes to observe the Corpus Christi.

So, it comes as no surprise that catholic imagery is often found in private homes and in public places like restaurants, hotels, museums, et cetera. Today we begin a mini-series about catholic decorations found in public places. Already I have shown you how the Catholicism has influenced the colonial architecture style of La Antigua Guatemala, which includes niches with saint figures as published in Casa Antigüeña: The Niches.

Below, I leave you the song “Saint Behind The Glass” by Los Lobos from the album Kiko which goes quite well the beginning of the Catholic decorations series. Enjoy!

In Guatemala we have certain language idiosyncrasies which throw off other Spanish speakers who visit us. One such language idiosyncrasy is Carwash. Even though there are several ways and words to describe a car wash shop, in Guatemala I have only seen the word Carwash, which is embedded in the language of Guatemala that many people do not realized nor do know it is not Spanish. Other such words are brochure, poster, pastartú (mat board), etc.

I am making a to-do list to cover all the Guatemalan idiosyncrasies in the near future. Do you want to help me with the making of the Guatemalan idiosyncrasies to-do list?

The energy and laughs of the teenagers that hang around the Parque Central are contagious. Watching and listening the teens laughter at the Main Plaza is the best medicine and quite inexpensive, if you ask me.

That’s right, every open door I encounter is an opportunity to record the inside of what once was a typical house from La Antigua Guatemala. Even if it is a simple zaguán or narrow corridor, I take a few photos. One open door at a time I will photograph most of the former houses of La Antigua Guatemala and everything will be here at AntiguaDailyPhoto for you to see and enjoy!

The rainy season in Guatemala often plays bad jokes on planned events like weddings and cultural activities. Imagine the cultural event planner taken care of every little detail to have a successful activity outside, maybe at Ermita de la Santa Cruz or at the atrium of the Antigua Compañía de Jesús like in this case and people show up but they look for shelter inside or people don’t show up because of the heavy downpour. Well that’s exactly what happened for the Festival Artes Muy Especiales which main objective was to promote the cultural and educational benefits of the arts for handicapped people. The goal of the Festival of Very Special Arts was to bring awareness and sensitize the general public about the respect and the attention the handicapped people deserved by showing that there are no limitations for them if they are provided with the means to realize their aspirations.

Unfortunately, the turn over was very low while I was there because of the rain. One thing I noticed was the ramps placed at the entrance of the bathrooms which are not normally there. This made me realized how behind we are as a society in Guatemala to be fair and just to all the people. This is especially true for La Antigua Guatemala where there are virtually no ramps for wheelchairs and most sidewalks are uneven. I wonder what happened to La Antigua Guatemala Sin Barreras project, an initiative to remove the barriers posed by uneven sidewalks and the lack of ramps that I profiled before in AntiguaDailyPhoto. Of course, this municipal administration had a Plan de Recuperación de Banquetas, a sidewalk recovery plan which repaired some of the sidewalks so pedestrian can use them without having to invade the cobbled streets, but did not go far enough to accommodate wheel chairs.

Perhaps this will be another election-time campaign promise by the people running for the Mayor’s seat this year. What do you think?

Even though it is difficult to see, these rain threads are an actual record of heavy rains. Boy oh boy, when it rains in Guatemala it really pours. Sometimes it feels like a lake was just pour over La Antigua Guatemala in less than hour.

Anyway, here’s a simple image showing a downpour at the Antigua Compañía de Jesús or the former Company of Jesus monastery. I hope you like it.

As I said last year, in Guatemala we could and should write the Manifesto against Convenience. Why you ask? Well, can you believe that we still observe holidays and celebrations on the date they were created. Mother’s Day on May 10, Father’s Day on June 17, Santiago de los Caballeros on July 25 (Saint James), et cetera. In Guatemala holidays and festivities are not celebrated on the weekend unless that’s date a holiday falls.

Today, for instance, in Guatemala we celebrate Día del padre, Father’s Day. The photo above was taken for the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, on December 12, a day when many fathers celebrate with their sons and daughters by attending mass service.

When is Father’s Day celebrated where you live?

Also, I am also sharing with you a video of the song “Viejo, mi querido viejo” by Piero, which is played very often today in Guatemala. If you’re walking around in Guatemala, it’s quite likely that you will overhear it.

I can almost think of the image above as window conceptual art. The combination of the pearls, the manikins, and the pan with a little spot light in the corner; everything behind bars on a public space stirs something in me which I am sure none of the elements do otherwise. A ‘je ne sais qoui’ impression.

Je ne sais quoi, yo no sé que in Spanish, it’s the expression use to describe something the moves you in special way without knowing exactly how or why. That’s the feeling I get from the photo above; some I-don’t-know-what sensation.

How about you?