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Guatemalan Indigenous Women

Here’s the follow-up photo to yesterday’s rear view mirror vista. In this picture, you can appreciate the different cortes worn by the …

Indigenous Guatemalan Pants

If you only browse the Indigenous category you will find 58 photos and hundreds more if you browse all 901 consecutive days …

Guatemalan Indigenous Singers

I find the singing of the indigenous people extremely haunting and touching, even though, they are singing evangelical hymns. To me this singing has another layer of pain and denouncing which is above the meaning of the words they sing; something much older and more mystical than the religious hymn brought by the European Christianity.

The indigenous women’s dress

The indigenous women’s dress is known as corte (the bottom part or skirt that is). The corte translates roughly as cut or …

What’s Are Kaibiles?

Here are some bits and pieces I found on Wikipedia: The Kaibiles (singular: Kaibil) are a special operations force of the Military …

Churreria La Huasteca

A town fair is not a fair without the churros. A churreria is the place where they make churros; [CHOOR-roh] Similiar to …

Guatemalan Alienation

This year FOTO»30, Guatemala’s Photo September, a month full of photographic exhibits has as the encompassing theme the concept Nation. I remember …

Mother’s Day in Guatemala

Happy Guatemalan Mother’s Day! I especially wish a Happy Mother’s Day to my own madre. As Luna McCarthy mentioned in XelaDailyPhoto this …

Maximón Lives!

A few months ago, I posted as part of the Theme Day some Maximón effigies made from wood, now holly wood really …

Mother’s Day A La Antigua

To all the visiting mothers, please, let me share with you the Guatemalan classic marimba Un vals para mi madre (A waltz …

Guatemalan Family Ties

Most Guatemalan families are very tight with several generations often interacting with one another. It is not unusual to have at least …

Taking A Short Break

Often we hear that Guatemala is a country of contrasts. Even I try to show it often and what better way to …

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 …

Pick Your Poison

Just how daring are you? There are two zipline circuits offered by Antigua Canopy Tours. The first is Forest Express: six distinct …

Little Charms of LAG

Visitors can easily spot the Maya people dressed in rainbow colors weaving their way throughout the renowned colonial architecture of La Antigua …

Beauty and the Beast

Normally, every photo at AntiguaDailyPhoto.Com comes with a caption, a narrative or even a story. Not always, the story is about the …

Mayan Women with Poise

I can’t count the number of times my mother chastised me for slouching throughout my childhood. A few times she even succeeded in convincing me to practice walking with a book on my head so that I might “improve my posture.”

Mayan Child of Maturity

This little girl, who looks to be no more than five-years-old, is calmly sitting by herself watching the daily activity and buzz on the cobbled street before her.

Guatemalan Style Backpack

Guatemala has some of the best textiles you can find in the world. If you come to La Antigua Guatemala, you can …

Guatemalan Jade in Mayan Art

See everything is a matter of perspectives and that’s the whole truthiness and nothing but the truthiness (thanks Manolo for the new …

Guatemalan Chinchines or Sonajas

The sonajas or maracas take on a different name in Guatemala, they are called chinchines; an onomatopoeia (onomatopeya in Spanish). Generally, Guatemalan …

Guatemalan Cuisine: Rabo Guisado

Okay, get your Guatemalan notebook handy, we’re about to learn a few Guatemalan words and concepts. Rabo Guisado translate roughly as ox …

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 …

Supervising the Municipal Police

So you wanted to know what happened to the Indigenous singers from February 2nd, right? Well the municipal police told them that they also needed to work and that if they did not have a permit to sing on the streets their supervisor would get on their case. Sure enough, less than a half of block away, these two tourist police were stopped by their supervisors. The Indigenous singers were told to go to the ‘Muni’ to get a permit to sing on the streets. I am not sure such permit exists, not for the Indigenous people, for sure.

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.

Virgin of Guadalupe Celebrations in La Antigua Guatemala

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.

Kites On Sale

The Guatemalan word for kite is barrilete. Papalote is the most often heard word in Spanish for kite, but in Guatemala barrilete is what people use. The kites on sale at this convenience store or tienda are Q2/$.25. The kite that the little boy was holding yesterday was bought from this store.

The Guatemalan Flag Should Be This Blue…

Thanks to our resourceful readers now we know exactly what shade of blue should the Guatemalan Flag should be. Manolo provided us with the exact Guatemalan Congress Act 104-97, available as a PDF download, which determines the color blue as ISCC-NBS 177. Then, Manolo, who felt like procrastinating, decided that ISCC-NBS 177 was not something most people could understand as Celestial Blue, so he gave us a web site address where we could look at the specific shade of blue. He went even futher, and submitted the HTML codes #4285B4 and #4997D0 for the Guatemalan flag blue. Xensen, took this information and came back with Pantone Matching System 297 and 298 and a link to get an idea of the color. So with all this information at our disposal, we now know what the official blue should be used in the Guatemalan Flag (like the photo below). But, like I said yesterday, “… Reality dictates that the Guatemalan flag can be blue, any blue really, with or without the emblem or coat of arms.”

Guatemalan Adoptions Could Be Mixed Blessings

There are many complications when you take an adopted child from Guatemala to a foreign land and to a foreign culture. One complication could be that he or she will be marked as strange because of her Mayan traits and the dark color of the skin.

Hispanic and Indigenous children might be walking on uneven streets if they are taken to mostly white neighborhoods where racism and discrimination could part of their daily bread.

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.

Guatemalan Fair: The Charcoal-broiled Meat Booth

The charcoal-grilled meat stall has gotten so hip that you now find it not only in fairs, but around La Antigua Guatemala in parks, markets and sidewalks. Back in February 20th, 2007, I showed you an extremely popular stall of grilled meats in Tanque de la Unión park from a bird’s eye point of view. In the picture above, chicken and beef steak were being offered along broiled potatoes. Q10 ($1.25) for a portion of the meat of your choice, chirmol (read the side note), guacamol and potatoes; definitely, not too bad of a deal.

Guatemalan Fair: The Pizza Kiosk

A recent addition to the Guatemalan Fair zoo is the pizza kiosk. Just like many other aspect of modern Guatemala idiosyncrasy, pizza has come to stay, but it must evolve, just like chinese food. So the typical Guatemalan town fair pizza is made from a less tasteful dough, only mozzarella cheese and ham; nothing more. You get your slice and normally ad ketchup to it. The Guatemalan town fair pizza stand is, almost invariable, managed by one or tow young indigenous teenagers or young adults with a taste for extremely heavy rock metal music which they blast from a portable boom box. The pizza booth may have posters describing their pepperoni or salami pizza even though they only sell ham pizza. Go figures!

Guatemalan Fair: The Church and its Saint

Almost all town fairs and festivities are around the town’s patron, in this case is San Pedro Las Huertas, which by the way, means Saint Peter of the vegetable gardens. Since Guatemala was a catholic country for the last 500 years or so and the Mesoamerican indigenous people absorbed and mixed the catholic rituals and traditions with their own religious beliefs and traditions, most Guatemalan towns have a Spanish catholic first name and often an indigenous last name (otherwise known as the original name). For example, Santo Domingo Xenacoj, which means the original name of the town was Xenacoj, and the town was re-christen with Santo Domingo. Now with the above information, we now know that a town’s fair happens once-a-year on the town’s catholic patron. For San Pedro Las Huertas the date is June 29th and for La Antigua Guatemala is July 25th because the city used to be called The Very Noble and Very Loyal City of Saint James of the Lords of Guatemala, as mentioned by Manolo a few days ago. And some of you thought La Antigua Guatemala was already a very long name; try explaining to your friends and relatives that you are planning a vacation to The Very Noble and Very Loyal City of Saint James of the Lords of Guatemala.

Wooden Cayuco Flower pot

Cayucos are small indigenous hand-made vessels, sort like kayaks, that can be found around Lake Atitlán, about two hours from La Antigua …

Opposite ends of life #2

The original post Opposite Ends of Life, in La Antigua Guatemala DP, was published on May 23rd, 2006 and it was about a little girl and an old lady helping each other cross the street. It is an interesting shot, if I may say so, you should see if you haven’t done so already.

Today’s entry is about different women and their opposite position in the spectrum of life.

Don’t get burn!

We continue the color tour around Antigua with something simple and utilitarian like kitchen gloves. I am sure Meg would love a …

Enjoy it while it lasts!

Sometimes when you start a series you don’t know where to begin. I have colors, rich saturated colors for you. But, I …

Guatemalan Cuisine: Pepian

Yesterday I talked about meeting people and having lunch at La Fuente Restaurant, which is a restaurant I visit often because of …

Making Tortillas in Guatemala

Yesterday I mentioned that the traditional baked-clay comales are disappearing in Guatemala in favor of the metal comal; heated through gas. All …

Strolls in Parque Central

El Parque Central (Central Park click the link to see all the previous photos related to the park) is one of the …

Jamtigua 2006 for all

Jamtigua is a music festival, now in its second year. Jamtigua is the merging of the words Jam and Antigua and the …

Please, braid my hair

Selling folk-art is only one of the activities that these two Indigenous girls do. —Don’t move little sister or I might hurt …

Buying Folk-art on the Streets

Guatemalan textiles are among the most look-after items in the folk-art markets. You have to be careful though, they come in two …

Selling Folk-art on the Street

This outdoor folk-art market sets on the street outside the El Carmen Ruins on the weekends only, located about two blocks from …

One way or another…

Guatemalan textiles are world-famous. As a graphic designer, I have been intrigued for a long while now about the fact that the …

The long wait for…

… Equal opportunity. Related entries: Selling folk-art on the park Where are the Maya women going to? Let’s go mija, we’re are …

Selling folk-art on the park

Many indigenous women earn their living by selling folk-art on the parks. This photo was taken at Iglesia de la Merced in …

Fruits and jelly stand

Here is another fruit stand in Antigua’s market. Most vegetable and fruits stands are owned by Guatemala’s indigenous people. The mayority of …