La Antigua Guatemala Daily Photo

What an unusual assortment of small chairs. Certainly, you would say, these chairs are not for adults, right?

Well, if you browse through the archives of La Antigua Guatemala Daily Photo for the month of July 2008, you will find a tiny chair being used by a large person. Once you do find the photo, come back here and let us know what date it was and what was the photo about.

The hunt is on!

You already know that tecolotes (owls) represent Luck, Prosperity and Abundance in Guatemala. You also know that in Guatemala you get ceramic owl banks instead of piggy banks; although you can also get piggy banks. Furthermore, you know can take a look at a huge collection of 100-hundred-year-old owls at Doña María Gordillo Candy Store. Owls even come as garden ornaments.

But, did you know you can take the good luck, prosperity and abundance home in the shape of these tiny 3″x1.5″ owls for about Q7 a piece if you visit the main plaza in San Felipe, a village about 1 kilometer away from La Antigua Guatemala. That’s what we did today and now these fellas are home with us. Now, if you get in touch with Damara, a Guatemalan industrial designer, you can take home some original owls wooden designs (Tecolote tableware collection).

Cellular telephones are so inexpensive in Guatemala that I used to joke with a friend who did have a mobile phone that was such a shame since even shoe-shinning boys had cell phone nowadays.

If you are planning a trip to Guatemala and you need to stay in touch, these are your options:

1. Buy the most economical pre-paid mobile phone which can be obtain for about 100 Quetzales (Q before any amount for short), which includes a basic cellular telephone and number and quite often over Q150 or air time. In other words, the actual telephone is free. The three main carriers are Tigo (best signal everywhere), Telefónica (best rates, but worst signal outside of urban areas) and Claro (in between the other two).
2. Bring your chip-based cellular phone and just buy a chip which includes a cellular number for about Q25 to Q35 range. You can buy a chip in most places where they sell cellular phones or pre-paid air time card. You can pick the chip from one of the companies listed above. If you take this route, make sure your cell phone is flashed; meaning it can take a chip from any cell phone carrier.

Nowadays, brand-new cellular telephones can even be purchased in the local markets when you see the promotional girls selling them. You want to buy a pre-paid cellular or tarjeteros or pre-pago as they are known here because you don’t need to sign for a long-term plan and you’re ready to make a call with seconds from the purchase. You can add pre-paid airtime cards from Q5 to Q100; or more.

Often when you buy a pre-paid airtime card, you get double, triple or even quadruple the airtime as you enter the code on the card. Make sure you look for the promotional posters or just ask the clerks if they have a promotion. Often, by simply asking this question, you wait one day or two to enter your airtime card code and you get up to quadruple airtime.

Cellular calling rates to call the U.S. and Canada are usually cheaper than local calling rates or the same most often than not. If you remember the entry I am not conTigo where I humored the irony that is cheaper to call Manolo in Toronto, Canada than to call his brother Mauricio in Guatemala City. The average rate for calls is a little over Q1 per minute, local or to the U.S. and Canada.

Once you have your Guatemalan cellular, you dial 001+area code+telephone number to call the U.S. and Canada or 00+country code+number to dial other countries. Just dial the phone number to call any Guatemalan telephone number. Guatemala has no area codes, or rather, the one-digit area code is part of the telephone number. Thus, Guatemalan telephone numbers are 8-digit. To receive calls from abroad, you must provide the Guatemalan country code (502) and your number; for instance 502-4569-4419. People calling from abroad must dial the international codes first and then the 502+your number.

Do you find this cellular/telephone guide useful, please, let me know?

It is not unusual to find people selling handicrafts, furniture, orchids, telephones, pens and pencils and anything really; so it comes as no surprise to see an indigenous woman selling paintings with La Antigua Guatemala motifs.

These costumbrismo paintings are done by local painters sitting on small stool right on the streets.

I am sure one day I will find one of my photos as a painting… I know for a fact that’s already happened since a couple of artists from abroad asked permission to use them as reference.

Now, here’s a little surprise I am going to let you in… beginning next Monday, I too will be selling my photos through this site. You will be able to order very affordable signed (or not) 4″x6″, 8″x10″ and 11″x14″ prints in color, black and white or sepia on glossy, matte, luster or metallic paper of any photo available at La Antigua Guatemala Daily Photo. Stay tune for more details or contact me if you just can’t wait.

Why do creators always look down upon their creations?

What makes art art and what makes everything else handicrafts or folk-art?

In Spanish art is arte and handicrafts are artesanías; kind of like little arts. I wonder why artesanías is the name given to the stuff created by the indigenous people of Guatemala… I wonder. Can anybody help me understand why?

Ah, look at all the lovely colors
Ah, look at all the lovely colors
Where do they all come from?
Where do they all belong?

Guatemalan textiles is all the proof that you need that there’s harmony in chaos; don’t you think?

In my opinion, it was a nice gesture to let handicrafts into the hallways of the Museo del Libro Antiguo (Old Book Museum) through the month of May. The handicrafts add some vibrant colors to the otherwise muted color palette of the museum.

I have some more shots from this encounter… would you like to see them?

From blue birds, to quetzals to owls; we are on a bird streak.

According to Damara, in Guatemala, owls or tecolotes represent luck, prosperity and abundance, especially with money and that is why ceramic artisans use owls as piggy banks. If you get an owl bank, you will have prosperity with income and savings. Boy oh boy, if I was the president of Guatemala, I would make all the alfareros (ceramic artisans) produce nothing but owl banks… perhaps then, the luck of this tiny banana republic would change for good.

With today’s photo I have published four (4) photographs with owls in La Antigua Guatemala Daily Photo. To the fist person that can find all four and list their published dates and titles, I will send s/he these four post cards of owls so her luck can change as well. I wish owl luck to all of you in your search.

Let the game begin!

Black Bird Side Note: On a totally different note or tune, can you tell me what was the meaning of the Beatle’s song Black Bird. Hint, it was written by John Lennon Paul McCartney.

Gotcha!

Yet the title is correct, the technique it’s different than yesterday’s photo though. Honest, I have never liked this kind of paintings; costumbrista would be the category for this kind of painting, but I don’t know what term to use in English. Would you guys mind lending a translating term. Thanks!

This is what the inauguration of the YO-YO: retratos y autoretratos the photo exhibit looked like inside the Sala Marco Augusto Quiroa of Paseo de los Museos in the Hotel-Museo Casa Santo Domingo in La Antigua Guatemala.

Much of cream of the cream of the Guatemalan cultural scene was there to check out the photo exhibit and the magnificent catalog. As you can see in the picture above, the inauguration was very successful as well.

I hope you have enjoyed this mini series documenting one of the most important cultural activities and exhibit to hit La Antigua Guatemala in recent times.

As I have said it before, I try to document life as I see it in LAG and its surrounding villages and communities. It is not my intention to create yet another touristic site about La Antigua Guatemala, nor to create a site for any particular group or interest. Those who have followed the photo stream and captions for a while will know that I do this on my own precarious time; stealing time from my family and friends; many times sacrificing my own sleep and rest time so I can put up a photo per day. I receive NO grant money from anybody. Except for some donations towards the hosting bills and some donated books, a tripod and a battery charger from the Amazon Wish List, I have NOT received economic incentive or reward from this activity which I have done for 647 consecutive days, with over 680 posts and over 800 photographs. On average, the LAGDP takes a couple hours from my day… from my life.

I do hope that you appreciate my efforts to give you a very honest and very biased window view into the life of La Antigua Guatemala. I do hope you appreciate the part of my life which has been spent to create this body of images and information. I am in no obligation to continue, especially if my efforts go unappreciated.

In La Antigua Guatemala you’ll never know what can you find in a driveway or doorway as you walk by. Here I found these two old metal wheels which probably belonged to an old horse-carriage… really who knows, but here they are. Can you guys suggest what these wheels were used for in the past?

Climate Side Note: Hurricane Felix touched Central America land yesterday a 5:55 in the coastline of Nicaragua and it is expected to cross Nicaragua and Honduras before it reaches Guatemala as a tropical storm. My best wishes for the people of Nicaragua and Honduras and a prompt recovery from the damages cause by Hurricane Felix.

No, this stencil-art graffiti portrait of Rigoberta Menchú is not part of Banksy’s art portfolio. According to NEARsyx, our Guatemalan expert in uban art, this portrait is quite possibly the work of H.I.J.O.S. (Sons and daughters for the Identity and Justice against Oblivion and Silence), a collective of sons and daughter of the disappeared during Guatemala’s civil war. Their main objective is to bring justice and to not let Guatemalans forget the recent history; The Peace Accords were barely signed 11 years ago in 1996.

Who is Rigoberta Menchú, anyway? Well, she thought you may want to know, so she coauthored a book by the name of “Me llamo Rigoberta Menchú y así me nació la conciencia” (My name is Rigoberta Menchú and this how my Consciencie was Born) back in 1982. TThe book became a great success when translated into English (as “I, Rigoberta Menchú“), giving her a role on the international stage at the time of the ongoing conflict in Guatemala [source: Wikipedia]. If you have the means to buy the book, available through Amazon, you should get it if you are interested in learning a bit about Guatemala’s recent history. You can also read the entry about Rigoberta Menchú in Wikipedia. She was the recipient of the 1992 Nobel Peace Prize and Prince of Asturias Award in 1998.

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.

See, not everything is fine and dandy in the paradisiac lands of Guatemala. Real democracy is still over a century behind. In Guatemala, a woman could not get elected as president, just yet, although it has happened several times in Latin America (even in Central America). In Guatemala, an indigenous person could not get elected as president, just yet, although it has happened twice in the American continent with Benito Juárez and Evo Morales. In Guatemala, a person from the left could not get elected as president, just yet, even though most countries in South America and even Nicaragua in Central America have elected people from the left.

Now you can see why her candidacy for the presidency of Guatemala is such an impossible mission. I guess she decided that one can be part of the problem or part of the solution; she opted for the latter. Who was it that said, those who do not learn from history are bound to repeat it.

If you could vote in the next elections in Guatemala, would cast your vote for a woman? for an indigenous person? for somebody from the left (democrat)? would you cast your vote for Rigoberta Menchú? or none of the above?

Many artisans come to La Antigua Guatemala to sell their crafts. The streets are for anyone who wants to sell, just watch for the tourist police or they might confiscate your work, give you a ticket and send you home with empty hands. On the streets you can buy tortillas, handicrafts, textiles, furniture, watercolors paintings, orchids, ice cream, charcoal broiled meats, ceviches (shrimp or sea food salad) and a very long et-cetera. Please, make this old man happy —buy his wood-carved saint.

Countdown side note: Last year on May 1st, the La Antigua Guatemala Daily Photo was started as a way for me to express my opinions about this particular colonial town embedded in the Sierra Madre mountain range in Central America. Inspired by the fabulous work of Eric (a friendly Parisian —yes, they do exist!) from Paris Daily Photo and others around the world who choose to document life as they see it in their home towns and cities.

The challenge seemed overwhelming since I can barely keep an activity for a week (yes 7 days is often too much for me). But I decided to give it a try figuring I could probably hold on for a month. It was also a challenge because La Antigua Guatemala is a tiny town (about 10 x 10 blocks) and I did not know if I could find enough material to keep up with the big cities like Paris, New York, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Los Angeles, et-cetera.

There are over two hundred and forty-six cities now in this world-wide community, yet La Antigua Guatemala remains the only city in Central America (yes most people did not know about Central America). La Antigua Guatemala DP was also one of the first in Latin America, even before Mexico City or Santiago de Chile.

I am happy to say that I only see friends in many of those 246 cities and to me Lisi is Hong Kong, Pamela is Tenerife, Lessie is Anderson, Jing is Shanghai, Edwin is Kuala Lumpur, Dsole is Madrid, MarieMc is Alexandria just to mention a few names.

Also, there are the regular visitors and commentators who enrich the whole experience for all, like Sompopo and Jerry. Sorry, I wish I can name everyone here, although I am very grateful for all your wonderful feedback, but this side note is already longer than the post (it almost feels like the post-signatures of Sub-Comandante Marcos).

Anyhow, please, I urge you to come along this ride of seven days before the one-year anniversary. If you are one of those SM Guatemalans who visit this site regularly, please stay away on May 1st, I will have a photo that might make you wish you had an airplane ticket in your hand.

Can you still see monks in your home town?

Tags: Antigua Guatemala Daily Photo / Antigua / Guatemala / old man / wooden saint