One important aspect to highlight about this series about the library is the fact that the guts of the library are contemporary industrial furnishing inside a colonial 16th century building and yet there is harmony between the anachronistic elements.
So it took us about a week to finally enter the Multimedia zone at the Compañía de Jesús Library, as Lessie suggested. Now I would be extremely happy if the film section had the complete works of Woody Allen, Stanley Kubrick, Alfred Hitchcock and Emir Kusturica for starters. Or better yet, I would be in film-heaven if they only had the 1001 movies you must see before you die. Sometimes I wish I was a Slacker.
We resume the library tour right where we left off last Thursday. This corridor reading area is a nice place to catch …
Children also have a reading and play area at the Compañía de Jesús Library. This picture was taken early in the morning, before kids show up and fill the place with their happy noise and laughter.
I was glad to see a reading and play salon for the kids. Reading is a habit that should be acquired at the earliest age possible.
Computer stations are also available at the Compañía de Jesús Library in La Antigua Guatemala. Patsy mentioned that many people opt for the computer instead of grabbing the old-time-tested book. Well, the times are a-changing, you know and everyone needs help with a new system. If you don’t believe me, just take a look a the video clip below that show us how difficult it was for the book to get accepted as the new medium for holding texts.
From the reception desk, we move to the reading area, immediately to the left, to check out all the recent magazines (mostly European and Spanish). This gray granite table with its bright illumination is the perfect work area to do your Spanish classes homework; even more so if you take into account the great dictionaries and thesaurus available the
Elsewhere in La Antigua Guatemala, there is all kinds of Independence activities, similar to what I showed you last year. Today and tomorrow will be filled with patriotic sounds coming from the many students school bands and their parades, as well as the many Independence marathons which carry the patriotic fire in their torches back to their communities and villages. I will try to get at least some different shots of the activities, if work allows it. In the meantime, you can get a feel for the festive and noisy atmosphere we live now in La Antigua Guatemala by checking the entries below.
I have said that I really enjoy being in this building so many times that you might actually believe that I work …
Back to the Compañía de Jesús building to see the photo exhibit Punto de fuga by some of my favorite photo journalists: Sandra Sebastián, Moisés Castillo and Andrea Aragón. Since I had promised to come back to this magnificent example of antigüeño architecture and show it to you, I took a few more shots. This window frame is the first of this mini-series or the continuation of the Compañía de Jesús building series. Either way, let me know what you think of it. Boy, La Antigua Guatemala is so full of these wonderful vistas.
The Compañía de Jesús Building has to be one of my favorites building in La Antigua Guatemala. It is beautifully restored with …
I am sucker for shots with contrast. I like to show all the different contrasting vistas that come into my viewfinder in …
Compañía de Jesus Fountain, originally uploaded by rudygiron. Here is another example of a fountain and a patio. This is the inside …
Boy, didn’t I tell you that the best time of the year to visit Antigua Guatemala, top city travel destination, is during …
Boy, do I have a soft spot for libraries! Often I highlight library projects like the Bibliobús of Probigua, which I nicknamed …
Honest, I don’t mean to brag. But I have to say sometimes life can be pretty good in La Antigua Guatemala. Let …
We will begin a mini tour of the library at the Compañía de Jesús building under the care of Cooperación Española NGO or Agencia Española de Cooperación Internacional as it is called in Spanish.
But first the disclosure: I love libraries; even chicken bus libraries! 😉
The Antigua Guatemala is full plaques pointing to historic sites or events that happened here. The Antigüeños must luck the humor or …
Normally you look out a window to see the sky, not in this photo. This shot is take from the outside to …
Yesterday’s photo was a close-up of the coffee bush in the lower left corner of today’s photo. If you click on the image above you can the coffee bushes (the small trees) being harvested under the shadows of the Gravilea trees in San Pedro Las Huertas, La Antigua Guatemala. Around La Antigua Guatemala you can find coffee bushes everywhere, including as part of the hedges of La Compañía de Jesús ruins.
We continue our Guateflora series with the omnipresent coffee bush or tree, which has manage to leave the coffee plantation to become a hedge. The coffee bush is one the most often seen plants around La Antigua Guatemala, but not often I’ve seen it used as hedge. The above photograph was taken at the Compañía de Jesús building, with the ruins in the background.
I don’t know how it happened, but I had lost this vista of the Jacaranda trees in bloom at La Antigua Guatemala’s …
The devil wears prada and many young tourists wear thongs. I have shown these sandals before in several photos, but just now …
After having spent a slow afternoon going over every little piece at the “Los Desaparecidos” Exhibit (The Disappeared) now showing at the …
Even though the Guatemalan winged sompopo ant appears every year in May, on average most Guatemalans know very little about them (myself …
The house where my girlfriend (Esperanza), our three cats (Lolita, Camilo and Tito) and I live has windows facing south and west. …
All work and no play makes for a very dull day the saying goes and that is why these shoe-shiner kids take …
I caught this shot at a cultural event in Compañía de Jesús Building and while the activity progressed in the atrium this …
This performance was at the atrium of the Compañía de Jesús building. This was the house of Bernal Díaz del Castillo and …
Once again, La Antigua Guatemala Daily Photo is participating in the theme day of the Daily Photo community. This time the theme is about the color red. Here you can see the Compañía de Jusús building under care of the Cooperación Española which is huge red building; one full block to be specific. This building has had many uses through history, like the home of Bernal Díaz del Castillo, home to the Jesuits of Central America in colonial times, thus its name, and more recently it houses a public library, culture center under the administration of Agencia Española de Cooperación Internacional. You can see the big entrance of the building, the interior gardens and arches and one the side wall of the ruins. I decided to photograph this building because it’s the biggest red thing in La Antigua Guatemala, but I was lucky to have a red motorcycle and a red jeep enter the viewfinder at the moment I snapped the shot; how lucky, indeed.
