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If you live in or around Antigua Guatemala you get used to coffee farms, coffee lots and coffee orchards and cupolas very fast. Here I was able to get both on the same shot. This photo was taken on the back end of the San Cristobal El Bajo church.

Have you visited San Cristóbal El Bajo yet? If not, why not?

One thing I have noticed reviewing the archives of AntiguaDailyPhoto is that I have yet to visit all the villages of Antigua Guatemala. This year I plan to visit and photograph all the villages of La Antigua Guatemala. To that end, here’s the church of San Gaspar Vivar, a small community sandwich between San Pedro Las Huertas, San Juan del Obispo and Santa Catarina Bobadilla. I will also spend sometime going through the archives reclassifying old post so they appear on the correct village categories.

How many villages of Antigua Guatemala or nearby municipalities have you visited?

Slowly, but surely we progress in our own unique way.

Just before we leave Ciudad Vieja, I wanted to share with a follow up post to Having Ice Cream in Antigua Guatemala where I tried to explain that despite the crime and violence that is shown in the news, most people in our Latin America find the time and love to spend quality time with friends and family. We can not negate the violence, it’s all there in the statistics, but most of it happens in Guatemala City, sadly. Take a look at the picture above, this is not the violent country you see on the news all the time.

But don’t believe just my words, let’s hear from a group of students from Northeastern Illinois University who took an alternative Spring Break:

… This weeklong trip was a combination of cultural immersion and community service. During the first full day in Guatemala, we were given a first hand look at coffee farming, from seed to cup. Who would’ve thought that the coffee you drink in the morning starts as a pebble sized fruit similar to a cranberry…

One of the most rewarding experiences of the trip was helping Timoteo, a local craftsman, build a middle school for his community. Prior to this, middle school students in San Miguel Escobar attended classes outside of the primary school. Knowing that a small group of farmers took it upon themselves to fund and build a school for future students is inspiring. Overall, this was an experience of a lifetime and the lessons learned about community, collaboration, and sustainability will not be forgotten. Read the entire story about the Alternative Spring Break at The NEIU Independent.

It had been a while since I visited Ciudad Vieja, the town about two miles from Antigua Guatemala. I was surprised to see all the changes and improvements made around Ciudad Vieja.

Ciudad Vieja is a municipality in the Guatemalan department of Sacatepéquez. According to the 2002 Guatemalan Census, the municipality has a total of 25,696 people. Ciudad Vieja was the second colonial capital of the country. Many of the recent photos have been taken in Ciudad Vieja and/or in San Miguel Escobar, a community of Ciudad Vieja.

San Miguel Escobar is the modern name for the district that contains the ruins of the second colonial capital of the Guatemala region. The Spaniards founded their capital here in 1527, after their previous capital at Tecpán Guatemala became untenable. The city was destroyed by a catastrophic lahar from Volcan de Agua in 1541, and the survivors had no choice but to abandon the site. The capital was again refounded several miles away at Antigua Guatemala in 1543. (source: Wikipedia)

Make sure you pay Ciudad Vieja and San Miguel Escobar a visit next time you come to Antigua Guatemala.

About two weeks ago I shared with you a photograph of the façade of the church of San Miguel Escobar in which I included two people and a street dog as size reference. Today I shared another vista of the same church as it was being painted by church volunteers while other receive the Sunday mass service. In the picture above, we get a better idea of the actual size of the church by including people at all the different levels.

I really like the sensation of size and feel of movement created by having people all over the façade of the church. What do you think of it?

Catholic churches were usually built around the main plaza of each town, normally taken the east quadrant of the plazas. There are not as many catholic churches as there are protestant churches, but they tend to be much bigger and older and built at the best possible locations. The church of San Pedro Las Huertas shown above was built in 1672. I decided to include two people in the picture to serve as scale so we can better understand how big are these churches.

While catholics take the spot lights during Lent and the Holy Week in Antigua Guatemala, evangelical churches (that’s what protestant churches are called in Guatemala) pop up anywhere they are allowed. To be honest, I wish I knew what are the requirements to open up an evangelical church, but it must not very difficult because in some municipalities there are over 7,000 evangelical churches. La Antigua Guatemala is still the strong hold of catholics, so I don’t think there are as many protestant churches as in other municipalities, but still I believe there are so many more evangelical churches than catholics in Antigua Guatemala; that’s probably true for the rest of the country.

Yellow and white have to be the most often used colors in churches in and around La Antigua Guatemala. Above we can see the proportion of the façade of San Miguel Escobar church compared to the people and mutt.

In my humble opinion, the carefree dog makes the photograph so much interesting, what do you think?

This niche and statue of San Francisco (Saint Francis) can be found at the entrance of the façade looking north of Iglesia de San Francisco El Grande, that’s the one on 7a calle poniente and 1a avenida, shown a few days ago on Details of San Francisco El Grande Church. Niches are among my favorite architectonic elements found through out Antigua Guatemala. As I mentioned in Casa Antigüeña: The Niches, a big part of the beauty of the Casa Antigüeña is found in its details, like the niches that can host angels, owls, figures of Santo Hermano Pedro, Jesus, Virgen Marí­a, et-cetera. It is nice to have a spot light to illuminate the niche at night, but during the day, the wonderful filtered sun light is more than enough.

Without a doubt Iglesia de San Francisco El Grande is one of my favorite churches to photograph. There’s always so much going on there and the fact that inside this temple you can find the remains of Santo Hermano Pedro de Betancourt makes it even more interesting for people to visit. I also like the architectonic complex

Here are some additional pages with information about San Francisco El Grande church, take a look at them and then share with us which one was your favorite photo or page.

• The San Francisco El Grande Church
• Dome of San Francisco El Grande Church
• Monk in San Francisco El Grande Church

Server issues aside:

I am sorry about the delays and having missed the daily post promise. I had to changed servers and the migration was not as smooth as I had wished. I ended up losing two days of posts, and having to wait three days for the DNS servers to update the new server address. Furthermore, I have been having issues with time outs and out of memory errors that prevent me posting in a daily manner. Please, be patient, I am already working hard to resolve all these technological issues. Things should normalize pretty soon.

This is how maps looked like in colonial times. Can you see the reference to Cerro de la Cruz? You may have to click the image above to get a larger version.

Today’s theme for The Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe on December 12 in Antigua Guatemala will be photographic backdrops and photo stages. In the slide show below you can find find examples of the Guatemalan kitsch at its best.

As I have shared with you in previous years, in La Antigua Guatemala, religious celebrations draw together all kinds of heterogeneous people and the Feast of Our Lady of Virgen de Guadalupe is no exception. On December 12 celebrations of La Virgen de Guadalupe, Our Lady of Guadalupe, you can find gringa moms, indigenous mamás, ladino madres and white mamás all taking their children dressed with indigenous clothes to visit the altar of La Virgen Morena.

This is among my favorite photographic subjects: repetition, arches, and Palacio de Los Capitanes Generales. I don’t think I will ever get tired of photographing this building. In fact, I should do a series with just photos of Palace of the Captains which should include everything from details to not often seen sections of the inside. What do you recommend?

Just like the separation of State and Church is not an issue in Antigua Guatemala, taking students from a public school to visit a church for mass service is not an issue either.

To be honest, it’s quite difficult to separate religious rituals and festivities from culture in Guatemala. Often times the boundaries that separate religion and culture, traditions and identity are very fuzzy, out of focus really (pun intended). I believe even atheists participate in some religious rituals and feasts like Cuaresma (Lent), Semana Santa (Holy Week) and Navidad/Noche Buena (Christmas/Christmas Eve). In fact, I remember reading the chronicle of an atheist and leftist poet and author who had became a cucurucho (float bearer) for Lent along with some of this friends.

What do you think about taking students from a public school to mass service inside a church?

Here’s yet another vista from Iglesia de La Merced, one of the most important churches in La Antigua Guatemala, if not the most important. As always follow the white rabbit to take a look at all the different vistas from Iglesia de La Merced.

Ephemerides Aside: In Guatemala, October 12 is a national holiday known as Día de la Raza or Day of the Race. October 12 is celebrated as Columbus Day in the United States, as Día de la Raza in many countries in the Americas, as Discovery Day in the Bahamas, as Día de la Hispanidad and Fiesta Nacional in Spain and as Día de las Américas (Day of the Americas) in Uruguay. These holidays have been celebrated unofficially since the late 18th century, and officially in various countries since the early 20th century. SEE MORE…

If you want to have a laugh, read The War of the Worlds, a humorous parody based on the original “The War of the Worlds” (October 30, 1938) radio show The Mercury Theatre on the Air as it was broadcasted. On a date like today’s, in 1492, Two Worlds Collided and the rest is, as we say, living history!

Weather Aside: Any protests or celebration of October 12 were marred by a tropical depression which brought heavy and constants rains which in turn caused landslides and overflowing of rivers. That’s the reason for now showing an Oct. 12 related photograph. (more…)