AntiguaDailyPhoto.Com

If you can’t decide between a Shepherd, a Setter or a Poodle, get them all… adopt a mutt!

• Animal Aware in Antigua Guatemala
• AMA: Associación Amigos de los Animales in Guatemala City
• Hope for the Animals in Lake Atitlán

Do you know other organizations or projects working for the welfare of animals in Guatemala?

Often I have spoken about the wonderful feel-good vibe that one can sense and be part of while hanging out at the Plaza Mayor, better known simply as Parque Central, Antigua Guatemala’s Main Plaza, but I have not been able to seize the sensation in a picture until today.

If you have been to Parque Central and sat on one of the benches or just hanged there, please, share with us what vibes, feelings or sensetions have you perceived.

Sometimes it feels like the jacaranda trees begin flowering to coincide with the Cuaresma to add the natural purple to the 40 days of Lent.

• Jacaranda Tree at Central Park
• Jacarandas at Central Park
• Jacarandas Trees Wear Violet for Lent

Do you know why purple is the official color of the Lent season? Do a search in the archives for the answer.

It’s been a while since I published an entry in the Lamps category. Even more distant is the time I published a lamp with its shadow. That’s why I decided to share with you this vista of the current light color and conditions in Antigua Guatemala. I hope you like it.

When is boulder not a boulder? When a boulder is for a climbing competition. Such was the case today when there was a man-made boulder climbing challenge right in front of Palacio de los Capitanes. There were be 14 competitors from Guatemala, 10 men and 4 women, 8 from El Salvador, 5 from Costa Rica and 2 from Honduras according to Felipe Álvarez, one of the organizers. Among the competitors there were Guatemalan champions Paula Mendez and Diego García, both members of the Asociación de Alpinismo de Sacatepéquez based here in La Antigua Guatemala. For additional photos visit the Revue. I decided to focus in the details of a part of the artificial boulder.

I read somewhere, can’t remember where now, that luck is just where preparation meets an opportunity. Well, if that’s the case, I was lucky to capture this little girl as she was walking to get an ice cream cone. I was with the camera ready on my hand and thought the heladero, ice cream vendor, would be an outstanding stamp of the daily life around Antigua Guatemala, so I began to make the composition and to my surprise this little girl showed up and made the photo even better; ten times better.

I feel lucky to have been prepared when the opportunity appeared, don’t you agree?

The Cuaresma (Lent) period which leads into Semana Santa (Holy Week) begins every year with Miércoles de ceniza (Ash Wednesday). As in previous years, I set myself aside and let my dear friend Nelo share his excellent Cuaresma imagery since he’s quite possibly the person with most photos of Lent and the Holy Week; he’s been covering almost every Lent and Holy Week for over a decade.

Below Nelo shares different vistas of the first velación, vigil, of the Cuaresma at Iglesia de San Felipe de Jesús.

All photos by Leonel [Nelo] Mijangos

Mojarras fritas, fried tilapia fish, is one of the Guatemalan foods, like chow mein dish, found everywhere in the country of the eternal Spring. Fresh mojarras fritas can be found anywhere there’s a body of water like a river, lake or sea. Mojaras fritas is the Guatemalan equivalent of fish and chips. A plate like the above can set you back about Q35/$4.50 and includes tortillas, papas fritas (fries), avocado and salad, most of the time; most restaurants will sell this for about Q100/$12.50. Bon appetite!

As published last year, these colorful Guatemalan cascarones [eggshells] filled with confetti are known as cascarones de carnaval [carnival] and they mark the arrival of carnaval and then Ash Wednesday (Miércoles de ceniza), which is the first day of Lent (Cuaresma). That’s right folks, on Wednesday we will begin the count down to The World Famous Holy Week in Antigua Guatemala, top city travel destination.

I believe the best way to explain cascarones, carnaval (carnival) and Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday) is to quote some of the AntiguaDailyPhoto readers.

Manolo:
Cascarones are literally egg shells. So, as some have said, weeks in advance every egg cooked at home is carefully cracked so that most of the shape of the egg is kept intact and left to dry. Then, before Carnival Tuesday (the day previous Ash Wednesday which is the first day of Lent) the empty egg shells are filled with confetti (mainly very little pieces of tissue paper, but sometimes metallic paper and in olden times flour), and then are sealed with a piece of tissue paper and glue. I guess it depends on each person, but the egg shells are decorated before or after being filled using watercolours or tempera (some sort of finger paint) or even markers. Not quite like Easter Eggs because they mark the beginning of Lent, not the end of it, and they have no actual egg inside.

What do we do with cascarones? Well, young people (i.e. children and/or children at heart) smash them on the heads of unsuspected victims. Since there is usually a costume party involved with Carnival you don’t know who your victimizer is. The confetti gets inside the back of your shirt along with pieces of egg shell and your hair is also a mess (particularly if you have curly hair). Is the last day you are allowed to be a brat before the 40 days of behaving start.

Pues, I have learned something new since last year, “carnival Tuesday” is “Fat Tuesday”/”Mardi Gras”. Carnival comes from “Carne” (flesh/meat) and it is called that way because it is the last day you can eat meat before Lent.

Claudia:
Love carnaval. My mom would start saving eggshells weeks in advance and she would dry them out, we would usually decorate them ourselves in school. I used to get blisters on my fingers from the scissors since we tried to make our confetti as small and tiny as possible, to make it harder to wash out of your hair, of course.

Sompopo:
Head smashing fun.

Carmen:
Oh my! I’m getting flashbacks. We used to run after each other at school with these cascarones as ammunition. Of course, with all the commotion, we were also responsible for cleaning up afterward. I got such joy from smashing a cascaron on someone’s head. Heehee. The fun was not the same when someone smashed a cascaron on my head though. I remember some of the teachers got into the action as well.

Javier:
Wow!!!Memories!!!Cascarones haven’t seen those in 26 years. We use to make them ourselves as kids. And smash them on other kids heads. It was great.

Elvia:
I remember when I was a child, my mother, sisters and I would start saving the egg shells around 3 months in advance, we would wash them gently and let them dry. It was so much fun to paint each cascaron and put pica pica inside… I remember one of my best carnavales I was probably 7 and I was dressed as strawberry shortcake, it was just awesome my mother sew the costume for me. The carnival season is a very nice tradition in my country of origin, my linda Guatemala!

In recent years there have been a Venetian style carnival celebration as part of a fund-raiser. I am not sure they had the fund-raiser this year, but the Venetian style costumes and masks were seen through out Antigua Guatemala. These fancy dresses and masks, of course, are far, far away from the traditional Guatemalan carnival celebrations; brought by foreigners living in Antigua Guatemala and worn mostly by foreigners as well.

For some reason, I believe, Guatemalans have not caught up with these fancy dresses yet. Why do you think that is?

You know me, every chance I get to share with you a shot of classic cars parked in the enchanting Antigua Guatemala, I go for it. This time it’s two classic Volkswagen Beetles and love is in the air everywhere I look around in the most romantic city of Central America, just as John Paul Young sang in his hit song Love is in the air. By the way, this photo has been liked a lot on Instagram and Facebook, I hope you like it as well.

I don’t think this is what Kimberly-Clark had in mind when they developed this disposable towel dispenser. Further, I don’t believe the Center for Disease Control and Prevention would approve it.

No creo que esto es lo que la empresa Kimberly-Clark tenía en mente cuándo desarrollaron este dispensador de toallas desechables. Peor aún, seguro que el Centro para el Control y Prevención de enfermedades lo aprobaría.

As every Friday at 4 p.m. the municipal band delighted us with a recital of live music. Also, every time I watch or listen to the municipal band I am reminded of the film The Band’s Visit, a co-production between Israel and Egypt. I recommend that you watch the film if you get a chance.

If you meet to dine with other photographers you’re destined to talk about photography and get the gear out at one point or another. In this case, Nelo and I met with John Sevigny and Morena Pérez-Joachin to organize and up-coming photo workshop as part the activities of the Club Fotográfico de Antigua (CFA). I took this snapshot while they play with an old Olympus 35RC and an iPhone 4 without they realizing it. I guess they only had eyes for each other.

By the way, the workshop on photographic composition will be on March 3, in case you’re in town and want to meet other photographers and walk around town taking photos.

Life is short but there is always time for courtesy. —Ralph Waldo Emerson

Buenos días, buenos días, que le vaya bien, they said to each other.

Courtesy was one of things that affected me the most when I moved from a huge metropolis into a little town. I was not prepared for the kind of courtesy and politeness that people I pass by offer me every day. Buenos días, buenas trades, qué Dios lo bendiga, are among the most often heard. Reading Ralph Waldo Emerson quote and having lived with courtesy for over 10 years I have to agree him. Of course, when everybody you encounter on the street is polite and you have to be polite in response, then sometimes you end up being late for some appointments. So, if you ever move to La Antigua Guatemala, remember to pad your appointments with 15 minutes for courtesy.