La Antigua Guatemala Daily Photo

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?

In La Antigua Guatemala, religious celebrations draw together all kinds of heterogeneous people and the feast day of Virgin of Guadalupe is no exception. In the day of La Virgen de Guadalupe, Our Lady of Guadalupe, you can find gringa mamas, indigenous mamas, ladino mamas and white mamas all taking their children dressed with indigenous clothes to visit the altar of La Virgen Morena. In many cases you have grandmas and the whole family taking part of the visit to Virgin of Guadalupe inside Iglesia de la Merced.

Carmen and Monolo must’ve been thinking of the incredible power of the sense of smell to detonate nostalgic memories, quite possibly inspired or influenced by Patrick Süskind masterpiece Das Parfum (Perfume). I lived such an experience today while taking the shots that you can see below in the slide show, as I was bombarded with the scents of pine needles, firecracker’s polvora (poweder), fruits, traditional Guatemalan Christmas foods (do you see a new series coming up?), incense, candles, on and on. My sense of smell was in shock and my memories were flowing incessantly. But before I bore you with such descriptions, I leave you with a slide show and a video clip of the Virgin of Guadalupe celebrations in La Antigua Guatemala so you can get an idea. You will be missing the smells though.

Please, let me know your impressions of the photos and video clip as well as how is The Day of Our Lady of Guadalupe celebrated in your neck of the woods?

Slide show of the Virgin of Guadalupe celebrations in La Antigua Guatemala

Video clip of the Virgin of Guadalupe celebrations in La Antigua Guatemala

Here is a better shot showing how the Guatemalan textiles literally carpet the garden around the fountain (fuente in Spanish) at La Fuente. I had to underexposed the fountain and the people in the background to get a better view of the colors and textures of the textiles in the foreground. As always, if you are interested in zooming in to see the details, all you have to do is click on the photo above to get a larger version. This textile market is only available on the weekends.

On the weekends the center garden around the fountain in La Fuente strip mall and restaurant is carpeted by Guatemalan textiles on sale; awesome stuff, by the way.

La Fuente is one my favorite places to have lunch and meet with people. You can recall the entry about Six Degrees of Separation at La Fuente where I met Sompopo’s family. Also, many of the traditional Guatemalan dishes I posted here have been photographed at La Fuente, like the Pepian dish. If you are coming to La Antigua Guatemala and want have an economic traditional lunch, head up to La Fuente, next door to Doña Luisa Xicotencatl on 4a calle oriente #14, one block away from the Central Park on the east side. Make sure you ask for the daily menu.

Make sure you come back tomorrow for another shot at La Fuente and its textiles around the fountain.

Guatemalan textiles are world-famous. As a graphic designer, I have been intrigued for a long while now about the fact that the indigenous people use so many different colors, patterns and textures in their textiles and yet the whole pieces are always in harmony. How do they do it?

Just click the link to see many more samples of the native Guatemalan textiles.

Today’s entry is dedicated to Hisako, Meg’s mom, who is currently in a trip through Guatemala to learn about the textiles techniques from this part of the world. Good luck on your trip Hisako!

The indigenous women’s dress is known as corte (the bottom part or skirt that is). The corte translates roughly as cut or a piece. It is one of the most attractive subjects to see and photograph. It makes many tourists go click-crazy and it is quite understandable. I wonder what the indigenous women and men feel to be exposed and prone to a constant clicking; sort of like being chased by paparazzi photographers, I guess.

In our last visit to Sabor Cubano, there was a group of tourists who were wearing indigenous clothing and I could not resist to pull the camera. Here is the photograph of a tourist wearing the indigenous dress.

Waiting for customers can be boring. The waiting can take your mind to far away cities… with daily photos. I wonder too!

One the souvenirs that backpackers take from Guatemala is certainly a t-shirt and for some strange reason the Gallo beer logotype and brand name is among the favorites. Other motifs are Maya hieroglyphics and nature/tourist destination landscapes.

Does your city has such t-shirts?