Close-up Details of the Façade of El Carmen Ruins
Ruinas El Carmen are among the best preserved samples of the Moorish baroque architecture found in Antigua Guatemala. In fact, putting the …
Ruinas El Carmen are among the best preserved samples of the Moorish baroque architecture found in Antigua Guatemala. In fact, putting the …
For today, I bring you a close-up view of the intricate stucco details plastered on the pillars of Ruinas El Carmen, one …
I believe this is only the second time in over decade that I have found Ruinas El Carmen totally clear from vendors …
La Ruinas de El Carmen in Antigua Guatemala are a magnificent example of baroque colonial architecture. Even in it’s decay and abandoned …
As I have mentioned before, a handicraft market mushrooms on the outside of Ruinas Del Carmen on the weekends and holidays. The …
Here’s another panoramic vista taken from Cerro de la Cruz, which shows 3a avenida norte and the handicrafts market of El Carmen …
I think this piece of architecture is absolutely gorgeous. Especially with those sellers and colorful textile products from Mercado De Artesanos El …
Visiting the El Carmen ruins folkart market is among the top things people do on the weekends and holidays in La Antigua …
The El Carmen Ruins show cases some of the most baroque-style architecture. Here you can see the details of the columns. Outside …
Here’s your illustrated Spanish word of the day: Cascarón for eggshell. What do we do with cascarones? Well, young people (i.e. children …
Here’s your Spanish word of the day: Carnaval, or meat festival, or carnival. As I have said before in previous years, the …
Ordinarily, I begin by asking readers to recall their earliest memories to provide a context for corpocratic historians of the future… Could …
As published last year, these colorful Guatemalan cascarones [eggshells] filled with confetti are known as cascarones de carnaval [carnival] and they mark …
From the self-portrait above it’s obvious I was in quite the “alternative art” mood. But, being at my third art exposition for …
Last time I showed rellenitos here, was a photograph taken at home with control conditions of light and presentation. The photo was …
Rellenitos (little fillings) is the name given to a food made from plantain dough which molded into a semi-round shaped and filled (thus the name) with a black beans sauce or stuffed with manjar (custard). It is a sweet meal and normally eaten as junk food or as dessert. It is one of my favorite Guatemalan desserts and I am sure I am not the only one with a soft spot for this kind of meal. Check out this close-up shot of rellenitos to see the black bean sauce filling.
In La Antigua Guatemala, religious celebrations draw together all kinds of heterogeneous people and the feast day of Virgin of Guadalupe is no exception. In the day of La Virgen de Guadalupe, Our Lady of Guadalupe, you can find gringa mamas, indigenous mamas, ladino mamas and white mamas all taking their children dressed with indigenous clothes to visit the altar of La Virgen Morena. In many cases you have grandmas and the whole family taking part of the visit to Virgin of Guadalupe inside Iglesia de la Merced.
This outdoor folk-art market sets on the street outside the El Carmen Ruins on the weekends only, located about two blocks from …
I was fortunate to accompany Guatemalan Architect José María Magaña Juárez, who specializes in conservation of monuments and historic centers and was …
Nylon becomes ubiquituos in Guatemala during the rainy season. Nylon is quite possibly the cheapest protection one can buy against the rain. …
Play this song before continuing: We know now that in the early years of the twentieth century this world was being watched …
Well, almost a year ago, I presented you with the new paint job of the Iglesia de San Pedro Apostol San Juan …
Michele Woodey already so eloquently described the emotions La Antigua’s ruins evoke. In her Antigua Abstracted #3 post she wrote: “These are places …
La Antigua Guatemala is quite small city, or town rather. It is about 10×10 block grid. Could you believe that with three …
Guatemalan textiles are among the most look-after items in the folk-art markets. You have to be careful though, they come in two …
If you don’t know who José Martí was, you are about to read a little about one of the most important figures …
As explained the other day, I had set myself the goals of producing stereographic projections [tiny planets] and panoramic vistas of the …
This morning two photo clubs, Antigua’s and Guatemala’s, got together at Casa Santo Domingo to pay homage to photographer Ricardo Mata who …
These colorful Guatemalan cascarones [eggshells] filled with confetti are known as cascarones de carnaval [carnival] and they mark the arrival of carnaval …
Here’s yet another gift for those Guatemalans living abroad, the jocotes de corona wallpaper that you can download from here at 1200×900 …
These two tostadas de guacamol (avocado sauce tostadas) are for my very good epistolary friends Carmencita and Manolo who decided to follow …
Since Manolo needs to improve his tortilla making skills, I am posting this image to help him in the process. Even Carmen …
This old man and the band are the tail of the procession. There goes Semana Santa 2008… we are at end of the Holy Week in La Antigua Guatemala. Just one more day!
Once again here is a picture by request. See, Edgar got jealous because Carmen obtained a couple photos of rellenitos as requested, …
Anyhow, what’s got Little boxes to do with today’s entry. Well, once you listen to Little boxes or Las Casitas del Barrio Alto, you’d know it is impossible to get them out of your head. In a recent trip to México over the weekend we took the new road Carretera 14 to reach the highway that takes us to Southeast México. Carretera 14 is part of the road which will circumvent La Antigua Guatemala and some of the villages. In other words, Carretera 14 is the backbone for what will be the periférico around La Antigua Guatemala. Carretera 14 is also one the most beautiful stretches of road in Guatemala.
Okay, all my dear ceviche-loving friends (you know who you are), I have already placed the order for the shrimp ceviches and bought enough of the Guatemalan brews known as Moza and Brahva Beats. I know Manolo is bringing Stella Artois and Steam Whistle; Guy is bringing New Castle and Guinness; Jerry B is bringing a micro-brewery sampler from AleSmith; Edgar and Carmen are bringing Cubas Libres and whatever beer Edgar likes; El Canche is bringing himself out of piles photo memory chips and Guatemalan slavery-work schedules. Everyone is invited to this huge ceviche party, but you better hurry because the lady is putting the final ingredients on the Mexican shrimp ceviches available in La Antigua Guatemala. If you don’t like the Mexican ceviches, we can alway go to La Naranja Pelada or Blanqui Sevichería for the sacred dish.
On the December 8th, It was Carmen who said, “Baby Jesus was put in his spot within the Nacimiento after we came back from the Misa de Gallo…” in the comments of the entry about the Nacimiento Shrine Niche at Capilla de Belén. Well, I am glad to know that our fellow readers and visitors are eager to fill in all the details and ephemerides that I leave out (out of ignorance). Follow the link if you would like to learn about Nacimientos tradition in Guatemala.
But like in anything else in life, something good emerged from such a tragic history. Fried plantains, rellenitos (fried plantain mass filled with black beans), atol de platano (plantain-based hot and thick drink) and even the wrappings of traditional Guatemalan tamal came from the banana trees. Man, I could on and on talking about bananas recipes and dishes in Guatemala like Bubba did in Forest Gump about shrimp.
Manolo and Carmen were reminiscing just the other day about the smells associated with the Christmas season in Guatemala. Pine needles have a very peculiar smell and indeed its smell its burnt in the Guatemalan collective memory of Christmas and birthdays parties. Flor de Pascua or poinsettias are a visual cue of the upcoming Christmas as well. Shops know this and they use pine needle and poinsettias among other Christmas decorations to reel in the customers; it seems to be working just fine in this shop.
In 1492 the Spaniards came to the Americas and traded their tiny mirrors and beads for all the wealth available in gold, …