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Guatemala’s Independence Day Torch

Getting everything ready for Independence Day Celebrations. This torch will light the Independence fire torches from all over Guatemala. These Independence torches …

Guatemalan Independence Day Bunting

As the Guatemalan Independence Day approaches, one begins to see all the bunting in windows and doorways around Antigua Guatemala. Since Jeff …

Guatemalan Independence Day 2007 Slideshow and Video

I haven’t seen the film yet, but the title alone is hauntingly enough, for me, to make me want to see it. Live and become could be the short answer for those searching how to make a Guatemalan from a newly adopted baby. With that in mind, I leave you a short slide show and a video clip of the activities around the Guatemalan Independence Day.

I dedicate these photos, video and sounds to all my Guatemalan readers living abroad; may these vistas bring you home for a little while.

PHOTO STOCK: Happy Bicentennial of Guatemala's Independence

Happy Bicentennial of Guatemala’s Independence

Today Guatemala and the other Central American countries commemorate the bicentennial of the independence. As part of the no-crowds celebrations, the Banco de Guatemala put in circulation a Commemorative Bicentennial Twenty Quetzals bill… TAP to see the full size photos of the new Q20 bill and to read the complete post.

PHOTO STOCK: Guatemalan Flags Ambulant Vendors

Guatemalan Flags Vendors

As I mentioned yesterday, on September 15th, Guatemala and the other Central American countrieswill be celebrating the 200th anniversary of Independence. Sadly, because of the pandemic, most massive events will not be allowed. So, Guatemalans are mostly observing the Bicentennial with flags, firecracker bombs and on the streets photo exhibitions… TAP to see the full size photo and post.

It's Guatemalan Flag Season by Rudy Giron

It’s Guatemalan Flag Season

Guatemala’s Independence Day is observed on September 15th and since we celebrate the entire month September becomes into the Guatemalan flag season. …

Guatemalan flags on sale

Starting at the end of August, the ambulant flag vendors hit the streets with every flag size and shade of blue to …

Guatemalan Independence Celebrations

Have A Happy Independence Day everyone! Guatemala has one really strange celebration for the Independence Day festivities: Freedom Torches or Antorchas de …

Guatemalan Independence Celebrations by Nelo Mijangos

Guatemalan Independence Celebrations

Torches, marathons and student marching bands parades are the main activities Guatemalans do for celebrating Independence Day. These activities usually begin manifesting …

Independence Day?

Guatemala has many traditions that have remained until now and will hopefully remain for centuries to come. One, as you already know …

Independencia de Guatemala 2011

Even Google celebrated Guatemala’s Independence 2011 with a Doodle. Also, President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton sent their congratulatory remarks …

Guatemala’s Independence Student Parades

Most people in Guatemala often say that Guatemalans are not very “patriotic” and immediately mention how patriotic the Mexicans really are: “that’s really patriotism!” Heck I even heard an hour long radio show today discussing it.

Obama in Antigua Guatemala

Maybe we will get it right this election. —The Brunscheon, Oregon We hope so. —The rest of the world Well, as some …

Nightly Parade on Independence Day

A simple snapshot of a nightly parade on Independence Day in La Antigua Guatemala. I have lots of photos and videos to process and not much time to write a lot at this moment. Stay tune for the full coverage of the Independence Day in Guatemala.

Guatemalan Flags in Banco Industrial

The photo above was taken on August 31st, which was a payday and that is why you see all those people were queuing to get their salary from the banks. Tomorrow, Guatemalans will be queuing again to cast their vote. Also, this was the first time (this year) I noticed the Guatemalan flags that will adorn the buildings through September, which is the independence month. Guatemala’s so called independence from Spain is celebrated on September 15th. Check out the Independence Day Slideshow from last year.

I read recently (I don’t recall where at the moment) that to be truly independent a country must have sufficient wealth as to not have to depend on an outsider (duh!); well, let me break it to you guys, Guatemala has not been an independent country for the last 500 years or so. When I was teenager, I remember reading a Mafalda anthology where Mafalda was reading a history book and all of sudden she screams: You mean we were part of Spain, who the hell had the bright idea of independizarnos (freed us from Spain)! Back then, I laughed so hard at the comic strip, but just now I get the joke. Thanks Quino. 🙁

Play the funky music white boy

Here’s another long exposure image capture to register the movement of this guitarist hand movement. This is another instance where movement can …

Occupy Antigua Plantón

There was a plantón, sort of an occupy protest, called for many civil organizations to disrupt and put an end to the …

Perpetuating A Nation

Guatemalans are not known for being patriotic; yeah Guatever! Nevertheless, we do have our patriotic symbols like El Quetzal, our most beautiful …

Post Card From The Past

A creative framing on a quiet afternoon with just the right amount and kind of people and we get a post card …

Arches Are Us

El Palacio de los Capitanes building has to be one of my favorites edifices with lots of arches; and you know I …

Recycling Sewing Machines

I have talked about the recycling done in La Antigua Guatemala before with Haves and Have-Nots, Public Enemy Number 1, Guatemalan-style Salt …

Feria Food: Manzanas encarameladas

These caramelized apples are a good example of the syncretism found in the Guatemalan gastronomy. As Pascu mentioned yesterday, “I find Guatemalan …

The Unbearable Lightness of Being

The Maya is a civilization really preoccupied with the unbearable lightness of being and masochistic on top of it all by keeping a long count which shows how insignificant we really are. We humans, however, we really muddle ourselves with all kinds of fixations, preoccupations and obsessions like dates.

Jeanfer is Free and Happy

I am glad to report the good news that Jean Ramses Anleu Fernández, better known as @jeanfer is free and happy since …

Fuego Volcano Erupting

Some people have to wait until special occasions like Independence Day to see a fireworks show. Here in La Antigua Guatemala, thanks …

Churros, Anyone, Anyone?

It just occurred to me that the United States is one of the largest Spanish-speaking countries since it has one of the largest populations of Spanish speakers. Spanish has been spoken in the U.S. from a time before its independence. And at the rate at which the Spanish-speaking population grows, faster than any other, you may have to hablar español sooner or después. Remember that you can always come to La Antigua Guatemala to take Spanish classes in the more than 65 Spanish Schools available in this tiny colonial town.

Guard at Calle del Arco

Even though Guatemala’s Independence is celebrated on September 15th and the days prior to that date, in reality Guatemala’s independence is observe …

Wear It With Pride (Part 1)

Last week, as we watch the delegations parade at the Beijing 2008 Olympics Inauguration, I was thinking how wonderful it was to …

The French are Coming!

Did I miss a fútbol (Soccer) game today, or what? I know Bistrot Cinq is a French bistro on 4a calle oriente …

Talking About the Future Under the New Social Democratic Government

Like these two ladies, many wonder if the new Social Democratic cabinet will be more inclusive and responsive to the needs of the masses and hope that just having one woman Ministra and one indigenous Ministro (Secretary of an executive department) in a country where 60% of the population are indigenous and at least, if not more, 50% of the population are women, will not be a handicap when the times comes to address the needs of the aforementioned people, which in turn represent the majority of the population.

Antigüeño Breakfast at Rainbow Cafe

The Guatemalan Writers Side Note:
For being such a tiny banana/coffee writers republic, Guatemala does produce and export quite a few good writers. I have mentioned some of them in this site like Luis Cardoza y Aragón, Miguel Ángel Asturias, Enrique Gómez Carrillo, Pepe Milla, Ronald Flores. But, I have not done enough to talk about the great Guatemalan Literature written by its many excellent writers. Thanks to a comment by Coltrane_Lives about the possibility of his adopted Guatemalan daughter becoming a writer, I can point out a great Guatemalan novel written in English by Francisco Goldman, a respected journalist whose work appears often in The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, The New York Review of Books and Harper’s (source: literaturaguatemalteca.org [ES]). “Francisco Goldman won accolades and international recognition with his extraordinary first novel, The Long Night of White Chickens, the winner of the Sue Kaufman Prize for First Fiction from the American Academy of Arts… ” (source: amazon.com). Another great contemporary novel is Ruido de fondo (background noise) by my dear friend Javier Payeras. Javier Payeras is one of the clearest and loudest voices of this generation and his poetry and prose has won the recognition in and outside Guatemala. Ruido de fondo has been reissued by the Guatemala’s Government Editorial Cultura to be required reading for High School students in Guatemala. For those who are fluent in Spanish, I leave the link to one of my favorites poems by Payeras: Soledadbrother.

The Spanish-style roof tiles in Compañí­a de Jesús

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.

Rigoberta Menchú for President

What is Rigoberta Menchú’s Mission, anyway? She has embarked in an impossible mission. She is running for the Guatemalan Presidency. So what, why is this an impossible mission? Isn’t she Guatemalan and thus possess the legal rights to run for the presidency? Well, yes, that is correct. But, and this is a big but, she is a woman; worst yet, she is an indigenous woman; even worst, she is an indigenous woman from the left.

Palm Trees in Antigua

I showed you these palm trees on August 28th as they reflect on the water tank at the public washbasins at Parque …