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Don’t you wish you can have one these adorable Guatemalan nacimientos (nativity scenes) in your own home for the next Christmas?

In my never ending quest to share with you all the different artistic manifestations from Guatemala that I come across I preset you this video clip entitled Tejido audiovisual de Guatemala by Julio Dávila also known as VJ Sine. Julio shared this video at TEDxUFM, short for TED (Technology Entertainment Design) x= independently organized TED event and UFM (Universidad Francisco Marroquín). If you’re interested in looking at photos and reading a collective summary of the event, follow the white rabbit to TEDxUFM slide show. In the mean time, enjoy the video below.

Metal handicrafts are also very popular so there are plenty of artisans around Antigua Guatemala that work with metal. Often you will also find antique metal pieces at these handicraft fairs.

Can you tell what the metal figurines to the right of the cat do as a group?

Often enough I am sharing with you examples how ingenious and creative Guatemalans are when confronted with adversity or simply day-to-day life little issues. Well, I have decided to inaugurate the Guatemalan Entrepreneurship category with these masks created from dried avocado seeds. Many people just throw away the avocado seeds while other “see” you can make something artistic and fulfilling with them. And what better place than Antigua Guatemala, home to the panzas verdes (green bellies) which is the nickname given to the antigüeños for eating so many avocados.

That’s what I call Guatemalan Entrepreneurship, don’t you agree?

Since We’re Men of Maize it’s no wonder that we also do many things with the by-products of maize. We use corn husk as candy wrappers as shown in Pump up the color; as materials for handicrafts like shown above and in Corderos de Tusa; as wrappers for tamales (chuchitos, tamales de elote, tamales de cambrai, tamales de frijoles, etc.)

Here’s a little sample from the entry We’re Men of Maize:

It is impossible to think the Guatemalan, Mexican and Mesoamerican diet without maize. From the Popul Vuh (Popol Wuj in modern spelling), the Mayan equivalent of the Bible, which states that humans were literally created from maize, to Miguel Ángel Asturias‘ novel Hombres de maíz (Men of Maize) which is one of the best novels to understand Mesoamerica and its people. Guatemala and Mexico share the birth place of maize, which was and is the most important crop in human history. The richest diversity of maize can be found in Mesoamerica!

Here’a another entry for the Color Palette category. Make sure you wear sunglasses if you decide to follow the white rabbit. By the way, I created the Color Palette category nearly 100 days after the initial posts as a way to capture photographs that were a very good samples of the colors found in Guatemala; the first post in the Color palette category was: Antigua’s colors, post #100

As we have mentioned before, if you’re planning to travel to Guatemala, pack your sunglasses if you don’t want to be blinded by the rich, brilliant, saturated colors found everywhere in the land of the Eternal Spring. Especially so, if you plan to spend time in La Antigua Guatemala’s Central Park which is the main hub for people watching and a guaranteed spot to enjoy the best of Guatemala.

Do you know why there are so many tecolotes (owls) around Antigua Guatemala? Come back here with the right answer and I will send you this colorful photograph as post card via Guatemala’s postal service with stamps and all.

We continue the Catholic Decorations series with an image of San Cristóbal (Saint Christopher). Because Christopher offered protection to travelers and against sudden death, many churches placed images or statues of him, usually opposite the south door, so he could be easily seen. He is usually depicted as a giant of a man, with a child on his shoulder and a staff in one hand. In England, there are more wall paintings of Christopher than of any other saint; in 1904, Mrs. Collier, writing for the British Archaeological Association, reported 183 paintings, statues, and other representations of the saint, outnumbering all others except for the Virgin Mary (Source: Wikipedia).

Two villages of La Antigua Guatemala have San Cristóbal as part of their name. Do you know what villages are these and where are they located?

Angels are, of course, the most often found catholic imagery decoration found in La Antigua Guatemala. The wooden angel above can be found hanging at one of the walls in La Palma restaurant in Antigua Guatemala. So, we began the Catholic Decorations series with Archangel San Miguel (Saint Michael), we continue with a “regular” angel and tomorrow we’ll take a look at San Critóbal.

La Antigua Guatemala has to be most catholic town in Guatemala, heck make that Central America. Nowhere is Catholicism more solidly embedded in the culture, traditions and identity that in La Antigua Guatemala. This is why the Semana Santa is such a grandiloquent event. Almost all the celebrations in Antigua Guatemala are around a catholic feast, including the Fiestas de Santiago (Saint James Feast) since Santiago is the former name of this colonial town and Santiago is thus the patron saint for Antigua Guatemala. Yesterday and today for instance there are all kinds of light yellow and white decorations in churches, buildings and private homes to observe the Corpus Christi.

So, it comes as no surprise that catholic imagery is often found in private homes and in public places like restaurants, hotels, museums, et cetera. Today we begin a mini-series about catholic decorations found in public places. Already I have shown you how the Catholicism has influenced the colonial architecture style of La Antigua Guatemala, which includes niches with saint figures as published in Casa Antigüeña: The Niches.

Below, I leave you the song “Saint Behind The Glass” by Los Lobos from the album Kiko which goes quite well the beginning of the Catholic decorations series. Enjoy!

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?

Sometimes you must be ready to look in all directions to find new vistas from La Antigua Guatemala. These Santiago (Saint James) tiles are a very good example. Unless one looks up at the end of Portal de Las Panaderas, right in front of Casa Gómez Ovalle (5a avenida norte and 4a calle poniente) one will never find out about these Santiago tiles.

This Saint James emblem would make a nice logo for its simplicity, clean lines and rustic hand-drawn style. Can you see a hotel or travel agency in La Antigua Guatemala with this logo?

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.

These Guatemalan coffee-style satchels are perfect for coffee lovers… and they are ecological too since they’re made from recycled coffee sacks. Besides these Guatemalan morrales, the Spanish word for satchel, you can also find bags, purses, and backpacks made from the recycled coffee sacks.

Last time I talked about these recycled coffee satchel I received several inquiries about exporting these kind of bags to Europe, Canada and the United States. I wonder if I should look into since there seems to be a great appeal for them. What do you think? would you buy satchels, bags, purses or backpacks made from this recycled material?

I am a firm believer that if Alfred Hitchcock had lived in Guatemala his nightmares would have been in Technicolor. Certainly, Hitchcock would have used colorful tropical birds in the film The Birds.

What do you think?

Believe it or not, the tuk tuk motorcycles which are used as short-run taxis, tourist police patrols units and grocery delivery vehicles are now part of the Guatemalan traditions and culture; so, now the three-wheeled motorized vehicles are showing up in unexpected places.

In the pictures above however, the tuk tuk has its revenge against the infamous chicken bus. In the parking lot above, the tuk tuk can park wherever it wants.

Have you taken a ride in a Guatemalan tuk tuk mototaxi yet? How was it?

Sure, no problem. This is what I paint…