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There is a lot of activity around Parque Central even when it’s raining. If you pay attention while having a cup of coffee at Café Barista you can even spot a Belgian car on the street or other unexpected things. This was interesting, as it is every once in a while when unexpected things show up while reviewing your photos. I only noticed the Belgians after going over the photographs, but does anybody know these Belgians?

Guatemala has many traditions that have remained until now and will hopefully remain for centuries to come. One, as you already know are the rich colors found in foods, landscapes, nature, textiles, walls, etc., and even in ideas.

Have you heard of Incaparina? It was invented by a Guatemalan to fight malnutrition. The words that make up the name Incaparina come from “INCAP” and “harina” (flour), as the Guatemalan researcher was working at INCAP. Incaparina still exists, and other nutritional foods have been invented as well, but no one like its Incaparina.

In different ways, even politics are involved in different levels in what I tried to convey above. Yesterday was Guatemala’s Independence Day. Do you know what other countries celebrate their Independence on this same day? Which countries do you know that have other dates to be considered as their “true” Independence Day? When do you think should Guatemala’s true Independence be celebrated?

Anyway, do you consider your home country to be truly independent?

Masks are beautiful, of course. It is said that people wear masks, depending on how they live on a daily basis. Simple make-up can be a mask; or just even hiding yourself behind sunglasses.

How about wearing a hat? Let’s leave such definitions on the side, but can you believe there are institutions/corporations/NGOs/etc. that wear masks? If so, would you share your insights with us?

I go first. Here’s a simple event. Not too long there was a gossip started in a social network saying that the Mayor of La Antigua Guatemala was going to pave all the streets of Antigua Guatemala with asphalt. Gossip does travel faster than light in the social networks sometimes and a commotion began to happen. Nevertheless, some reasonable people remembered the reality of the work done by the Mayor in combination with the National Council for The Protection and Conservation of Antigua Guatemala. Oops, yes, it was one of those oops. In this case a company that produces travel books was involved, plus the owner of a bar. What were their intentions?

Such things involving the masking of oneself or one’s true intentions do happen quite often in La Antigua Guatemala and in Guatemala in general. Oh, I could tell you so many such stories involving NGOs and other institutions; but now it’s your turn. So, please, don’t be shy, what experiences and anecdotes will you share with us?

You’d be amazed on everything that might be for sale on the streets of La Antigua Guatemala during Lent. This time while walking on the streets during the Procession of Jesús de San Bartolo, we happened to run into these candles, I think they’d make some great souvenirs for your house, and the price is reasonable. What do you think?

text and photo by Arturo Godoy.

The Santo Domingo del Cerro hosted a Baroque music concert on Palm Sunday, and well, after Nelo’s wonderful work on Processions, perhaps it is just a different post this time.

Going to these kinds of concerts is always an experience, and more so when you know one of the Concertistas. It was Carolina Palomo the one I knew, a good friend and for random reasons I had never ever heard her play. When music was about begin, I closed my eyes and let the music open them. Some minutes later I found myself grabbing my camera and to just shoot. I didn’t want to use flash because the concert was being videotaped, and most importantly the flash could distract the concertistas. Even so, some people were still using flash, so the decision of sacrificing ISO versus flash was not hard to make.

The music was life in every single breath, meaning the performance and the ambience of the place, was almost surreal. Some kilometers away I bet Nelo was taking photographs, and I thought that next time I’d photograph a procession, my ipod would make good company, so perhaps the music could help me get some cool shots like Nelo’s.

After the wonderful concert, we shared some lovely conversations with the musicians and some of their friends. All of them are just amazing and lovely people; they enjoy being part of the Ensamble Antiqua (yes, with a “q”).

How many times have you been in a baroque music concert?

text and photos by Arturo Godoy.

Having a satisfying coffee with a very delicious torreja at La Cocina del Obispo, this flower was just there sort of flirting. It’s called Flor de La Pasión because it’s got a religious signfiicance and if I’m not mistaken it is Venezuela’s National Flower. If you know the flower, can you guess the colors and the significance of it?

Try to be fair and don’t look it up on Google or Wikipedia.

text and photo by Arturo Godoy.

Isn’t it just engaging to run into so many different doorlocks around La Antigua Guatemala? This one is found in one of the villages around Antigua Guatemala; it is from a museum, can you guess which one?

text and photo by Arturo Godoy.

Like many fountain’s around Antigua Guatemala, there is always something very soothing about them (oh, and the light was just beautiful), but how many of us do pay attention to them? If you do, can you guess where is this fountain located? I hope this is a tough guess for you.

text and photo by Arturo Godoy.

This was the very first time I became aware of the location of the table with the antique map on top. The table’s got a map, a nice one at that, and Rudy took a very pleasant photo of it with a cup of coffee next to it.

Can you guess where in La Antigua Guatemala?

Hint, they make excellent coffee, excellent chocolates, the food is great, and the ambience is plain antigüeña authentic!

text and photo by Arturo Godoy.

As you may know, here in La Antigua Guatemala, like in many places, on odd-numbered avenues traffic runs North and on even-numbered avenues traffic flows South.

How many places North of Antigua Guatemala do you know where you can have these landscape views? Can you guess which place I’m referring to? How do you get to this place?

A hint: a few days ago the post would have been titled Sunset Amongst Volcanoes, any hypothesis as to why the change of title?

text and photos by Arturo Godoy.

La Cocina del Obispo Restaurant is located in San Juan del Obispo, perhaps a 10 minute drive from La Antigua Guatemala. The restaurant is family owned and opens only on the weekends. You’d be amazed on the variety of food.

Anyway, this time I went with Lomi Kriel and Norman Ávila. Rudy was supposed to join us, but he cancelled. Lomi had the Pepián, which by the way they even have been awarded a first prize for the best Pepián in Antigua Guatemala! Norman had a Churrasco chapín (Guatemalan barbecue grill) and I had Subanik; a classic dish from Las Verapaces. All food is fabulous there; the prices are excellent and the atmosphere is just amazing. I wish Rudy would have been there, he is a far better food photographer than I am; anyway, here is my attempt at joining the food photos with a portrait of each of my friends

The conversations were just great, we even talked about gadgets, geeks, history, and even beer

A bit later on, I’ll tell you about the other times I have been there. I just have to look up the photos in my external hard drives.

text and photos by Arturo Godoy.

Not the normal way you’d think about contrasts (politically speaking), but I just love it when you just try to challenge lighting conditions and you get experiments like the picture above, which I took at Las Capuchinas convent. Mix lighting conditions are always a challenge; what do you think about the results in this picture?

text and photo by Arturo Godoy.

At the beginning of the year La Antigua Guatemala was crowded; it was nice to see lots of people enjoying themselves, just walking around, sharing happy moments. The day was beautiful and just like the song goes, “it’s been a beautiful day and many didn’t let it get away…”

Again, my best wishes for happy beginning!

text and photos by Arturo Godoy.

On my way to La Bodegona to get some red wine for the new year celebrations of 2011, I noticed that the streets were crowded. Like always, La Antigua Guatemala is the place to be for a great celebration; there was music all over, even the mime was present on Calle del Arco. Of course, there were other festive activities, I just managed to snap some shots.

Afterwards, my friends and I went to Casa Herrera as other friends were waiting for us there. While at Casa Herrera, we were lucky to witness Volcán de Fuego showing off against an amazing sunset. Also, although I forgot my tripod, I managed to take a photo of the world famous Arco de Santa Catalina all the way from Casa Herrera.

Later on, we went to different bars, like JP’s Rumbar, The Ocelot and Angie’s Angie. We all just wanted to start 2011 in a warm and relaxed atmosphere.

Unfortunately, this year I didn’t get to photograph the fireworks because it was just too crowded that I didn’t get a chance. Nevertheless, here are some of the photos to welcome 2011.

My best wishes for a happy new 2011!

text and photos by Arturo Godoy.

Sometimes one is force to pump up the ISO (raise the film sensitivity) in order to be able to get a photograph. This was the case while driving down from the Acatenango volcano. So, remember that in order to capture fleeting images, you always be ready to think quick and change whatever settings are necessary to trap split-second pictures.

text and photo by Arturo Godoy.