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One important goal for me is to show you what’s possible and what’s available in La Antigua Guatemala. Believe it or not, some people believe we still live on tree canopies. Often in Twitter or Facebook, Guatemalans make a point of “no vivimos en árboles” or “por eso piensan que vivimos en árboles” (That’s why they think live on trees).

Personally, I wouldn’t mind living in a nice, comfortable condo on top of tree.

Anyway, that’s one of the reasons I put a lot of emphasis on the gadgets that my friends and I use daily. Surely your remember the following articles:

• Digital life in Antigua Guatemala
• The Nexus One has arrived to Antigua Guatemala
• iPhone 3G on Sale in La Antigua Guatemala
• The Young Maya Geeks
• Living La Vida Digital in Antigua Guatemala
• iPhone Twitter Updates from Guatemala
• Internet Access in Every Corner of Guatemala

Can you guess what we had for lunch?

Yes, in La Antigua Guatemala we do Twitter, Facebook, SMS, Flickr, Blogging, RSS, Email, GPS, Geotagging, 2G, 3G, iPhones, Android phones, Wifi, ADSL, CableTV, et cetera.

The world over there’s an innate necessity for freedom of expression and to transcend. This particular pressing need has been an integral part of Humanity from the beginning of time, even before we were civilized. In every culture one finds the indispensable exigency to let others know that we were here, that we existed.

The Maya were among the most prominent story tellers. The Maya ‘wrote’ just about everything. I am sure that if the ancient Maya scribblers had access to Twitter and Facebook, they would have had busy timelimes; heck they would have used aggregators to fill their lifestream with every imaginable media.

What, you don’t believe me? Well, just take a look at how the modern Maya weavers fill up a blanket with every conceivable story.

What stories do you ‘read’ in the textile fragment above?

We are 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! (… continue reading)

So, it is only understandable that seek tortillas as often as possible; especially at lunch time. Now you know what the señoras with baskets are selling, right?

As MO would say:

Tortillas with frijoles
Tortillas with guacamol
Tortillas with sal y limón
Tortillas with chile
Tortillas with queso crema
Tortillas with chirmol
Tortillas with mantequilla
Tortillas with pollo
Tortillas with carne
Tortillas with chicharrón
Tortillas with anything…

Often I have said that La Antigua Guatemala is not Guatemala. I still hold this thought, mostly. However, there are cases or instances that make me look mistaken, and you know I am never wrong (except when I am not right).

Such an event occurred last Friday when on my way to work I spotted an event right in front of Palacio de los Capitanes, I grabbed my camera and took some shots to document the activity and then asked what was the event about to four different people participating and I received four different answers. Some girls at a booth told me it was a gastronomic fair sponsored by the Minesterio de Educación (Ministry of Education). A transit police woman keeping the traffic moving told me she didn’t know what kind of activity it was, but she knew it was something to do with Insol and Ministerio de Educación. Another person told me it was an Intercultural Fair sponsored by the Ministerio de Educación. Finally, I left with the certainty that it was an event sponsored by the Ministry of Education and nothing more.

Only in Guatemala you can find a whole bunch of people participating in an activity they know nothing about.

¿Cuándo fue la última vez que participaron en este ritual conocido como la refa? When was the last time that you participated in this Guatemalan ritual known as la refacción?

Guatemala is a colorful country. What, you don’t believe me? Well, Why not check out the Color palette category to see for yourself. For instance, take a look at today’s photo, these are hand-painted traditional Guatemalan balls and they are so colorful. In other parts of the world they are happy with a one or two-colored balls; in Guatemala nothing less than the rainbow will do.

Could you live in a country with rich and intense colors?

This room with samples of the Maya hieroglyphic writing from San Bartolo (I believe) was another treat available at Casa Herrera on the 2012: Myths and Facts about The Mayan Prophecy conference. Taking this photo was extremely difficult because of the poor lighting conditions and because lots of people were taking photos of the hieroglyphics (including me). I understand nothing of the Maya writing, except that is very beautiful and that without a doubt the Maya were ahead in terms of civilization, culture and art [plus warfare ].

Make sure you make to time to visit Casa Herrera to see what they have on display next time you visit La Antigua Guatemala. Here’s a little overview about Casa Herrera:

The Casa Herrera is a research, conference and teaching facility located in the heart of La Antigua Guatemala that focuses on the varied and inter-related disciplines that contribute to the study of Pre-Columbian art, archaeology, history and culture.

Since 1977, The Maya Meetings at Texas have been at the cutting edge of research into the culture of the ancient Maya of Mexico and Central America. This annual conference draws scholars from a wide spectrum. (source: Facebook Casa Herrera page)