AntiguaDailyPhoto.Com

One, two, three, four
Can I have a little more?
five, six, seven, eight nine ten I love you…

Today AntiguaDailyPhoto.com is celebrating 7 years of daily multimedia updates. For the seventh anniversary (2,570 consecutive daily updates and 12 pages, which have generated over 12,627 comments so far) I am happy to report that the AntiguaDailyPhoto concept continues to create circles of friends the world over. To me there is no greater satisfaction than to be able to share with you, to lend a hand and to provide all the interesting information I come across. Of course, none of it would be possible without the support from my wife, family and friends. A big THANK YOU for all your support as well!

If AntiguaDailyPhoto has been at all useful to you, I will let you INVITE me a cup of coffee through the tip jar on the left.

Please, send me a post card as well!

The first time I requested post cards was an experiment entitled Postscript; a test we ran back in 2007 when we wanted to test how efficient was the regular Guatemalan Postal Service.

We were delighted by the kind words and to see postal stamps from many cities and countries. So, if you appreciate the work we do at AntiguaDailyPhoto and want to show it or simply participate in testing the snail mail system AGAIN, please, send a post card or letter from wherever you find yourself now to the address below:

RUDY GIRON
P.O. BOX 139 EL CORREO
LA ANTIGUA GUATEMALA, C.P. 03001
GUATEMALA, C.A.

Alright, we will finish the first part of the Real Guatemala series with portrait of two police officers who were deployed during Semana Santa, Holy Week, to keep everyone “safe.” Only a few times during the year we get the opportunity of seeing so much policías on the streets of Antigua Guatemala, but never as during the Holy Week, there are at least two police officers for every block of Antigua Guatemala and several hundred more through out the city. Still, the reports of pick-pocketing never ceased.

I will prepare another set of posts to continue the series about the Real Guatemala and, perhaps, I should do a series about the Real Antigua Guatemala, what do you guys think?

Today we begin a new mini series: The Real Guatemala.

Claudia she was bringing back some long lost memories from her dear Guatemala, in her own words, “No helmets, no amber alerts, no Wiis, just a plastic ball or if lucky a real soccer ball, I feel one component that I loved of living down there was that you knew everyone and everyone knew you, or of you, do you know what I mean? You spoke to your neighbors, you knew their names, where they worked, etc. Heck, you could even have refaccion together, at night you could hang… have some decent conversation about everything and nothing…”

Although things have changed a bit from the old and romantic Guatemala that Claudia is nostalgic about, much have not changed.

MO continues, “I miss the good old days and the sense of community. I miss playing futbol in the streets after school. I miss playing tenta, el botecito, escondite, kick-ball, cincos, trompos and all the good old games kids play (I hope still do). It was such a beautiful thing sitting on the banqueta at night under the star filled sky with all the kids from the block telling jokes or stories about El Duende, La Ciguanaba, El Cadejo, La Llorona and other great Guatemala folk tales. I miss those days. ***SUSPIRO***”

Do you think this image captures the nostalgic sentiments of Claudia and MO?

Whoever came up with the idea of pairing the omnipresent bucaro fountain and a vertical garden is pure genius. Imagine a vertical garden everywhere in Antigua Guatemala where there’s a bucaro fountain. I don’t want to imagine it, I want to see it. By the way, this vertical garden is found inside the premises of La Estancia restaurant, right across from the Compañía de Jesús building complex.

With this selection of the hermanas cargadoras, the women who carry the smaller floats of the Virgin Mary or other virgins for the matter we conclude our coverage of Lent and Holy Week in Antigua Guatemala. Our gratitude and huge round of applause goes to Nelo Mijangos who goes the extra mile, literally, to bring us one of a kind imagery with fresh and unusual perspectives.

Take a photographic tour through all the photos, posts and multimedia content published about Lent and the Holy Week in Antigua Guatemala:

• Lent
• Holy Week

With this gallery of Semana Santa photos from Antigua Guatemala, Nelo Mijangos shares with us an overview of the many vistas one can expect while following a procession in Antigua Guatemala. For instance, the picture above gives us an idea of the length of the float and how many cucuruchos carry it. Below, we can see that cucuruchos come together in all ages to express their devotion; we get to look at the different figures on top of the floats inside the churches as well as outside; further, we see the different costumes wore during the enactment of the crucifixion, including the Romans with their torches; we get to see the huge crowds as well as the all the people working together to create the world-famous Holy Week alfombras (carpets) from Antigua Guatemala.

In my opinion, Nelo has done an outstanding job bringing to us all the haunting and awe-inspiring imagery of the world-famous Holy Week in Antigua Guatemala, don’t you agree?

photos by Nelo Mijangos

These photographs belong to the procession of Santuario de San Francisco El Grande. Nelo explains that the two wood rods that stick out at the front of the float, andarilla he calls it, are called timonen (steering) and are the responsible for the rhythm and direction of the procession.

If you have any questions about the Holy Week in Antigua Guatemala, please, leave them in the comments!

Images by Nelo Mijangos