La Antigua Guatemala Daily Photo

JennyStar DVD Rentals is the Netflix of La Antigua Guatemala. JennyStar DVD Rentals is what happens when you think through a good business model and apply intelligent solutions to what’s missing in your community. La Antigua Guatemala can be one of the smallest cities in the American Continent with only a geographic grid of 10 blocks by 10 blocks (about 1.5 square miles) and less than 30,000 inhabitants, but it has a home-delivered dvd rental with over 2,314 films, from old classics up to the latest releases, most of which can not be found anywhere else in Guatemala.

JennyStar DVD Rentals has a web site from which you can pick your selection and have it delivered, if you choose so, along with a dvd player, pop corn and candies. From the web site you can also reserve movies for a later pick up. JennyStar DVD Rentals is located on Alameda Santa Lucía norte #12 (7832-0813).

On top all the great features of their DVD rental service, JennyStar DVD Rentals is an NGO (Non Government Organization) which aside from giving employment to Jenny and her staff (Enrique and Helen), donates all profits to support disable and poor children in villages around La Antigua Guatemala. Thus, by renting a DVD, you are yourself donating toward this worthy cause. See this is an example of Sí se puede (Yes we can) at a local level.

So if you find yourself in La Antigua Guatemala and need a dvd player to watch El Norte or No Country for Old Men, please give JennyStar DVD Rentals a call at 7832-0813.

Disclaimer Side Note: I am receiving no money or benefits for this review of JennyStar DVD Rentals, but I do hope that once they find out about it, they will give me at least a couple of dvd rentals for free (just kidding!).

We continue our tour of the remains of the Holy Week by showing how flores de papel (paper flowers) are use to embellish windows and doorways around La Antigua Guatemala. Above, can see the entrance to the handicrafts and jewelry store El Quinto Sol.

Well, it seems like the color purple will be with us for a while longer. The flowers above are known colloquially as Flores de papel (paper flowers) because their petals are so dried that they look like if they were made from paper. I looked up the flower in the Guateflora book, but I did not find it there, so I can not help you with scientific name. Perhaps, some of the other visitors know its scientific name and can share it with us, anyone?

Many purple and violet banners are still hanging from doorways and windows around town. It feels like many don’t want to let go of Semana Santa.

What do you think?

Accomplishment Side Note:
Believe it or not, the Macmillan Group will be using one of my photos as a cover for their Music Text Book for 9th graders in Mexico. Okay, can you tell me on what date was the photo appearing on the cover of the book published here? If your answer is correct, you will get 10,000 LACA points!

Like always, if you click the thumbnail below you get to see an enlargement.

The Spring Season began a few days ago, so I’ve read somewhere {ñ}. Guatemala’s slogan is the Land of the Eternal Spring, yet in this country Spring has never showed up. As a matter of fact, Guatemala’s weather does not follow the ‘normal’ seasons. Instead, Guatemala has a dry and a wet seasons. The wet season begins in May and ends towards the last days of October; the remaining months are the dry season. So in about 40 days the rainy season will begin in Guatemala and the whole country will be wearing an intense verdurous foliage dress. If you ever decide to visit Guatemala, make sure you bring dark sunglasses because the adjective intense accompanies every shade of the color hue.

Everybody wants to have the recipe for the Guatemalan Identity. Adopting parents, ONGs, researchers, scientists, writers, poets and even Guatemalan bloggers want to have access to that recipe… The Holy Grail to understands and to make sense of this highly complex and messed up country. Some bloggers dig inside and around the last names for answers; others explore humor and anecdotes for clues. Yet others delve into the memory bank to bring forth the pieces that make up the Guatemalan Identity Puzzle. Such is the case of Chachi and her Babosadas mías y demás hierbas blog who recently published an entry under the name of Un suspiro {ñ} or A sigh. In Un suspiro, Chachi, webs together the random polaroids drawn from her childhood memories to build a case for la panadería, la tienda and la tienda de ventana (bakery, convenience store and window convenience store). With this entry, Chachi uncovers or identifies yet another piece the Guatemalan Identity Puzzle. Think of it, even La Antigua Guatemala Daily Photo is part of this futile exercise.

Well, like always, not everything is bad about the Holy Week in La Antigua Guatemala. If you can obviate the crowds, the traffic, the massive processions, the gorgeous sawdust carpets, the thousands of paparazzi photographers, et-cetera, then you see the city benefits from a makeover through thousands of new paint jobs for façades, window crates, doorways, street repairs, and so on.

La Antigua Guatemala wants to look its best for the most important celebrations of the year: The Holy Week. Sometimes, it seems like all other celebrations throughout the year are simple after shakes of the Holy Week, which begins with Cuaresma (Lent). As you may already know, the Holy Week is celebrated in many places in the world, but very few celebrate with as much grandiloquence as La Antigua Guatemala. The Holy Week celebrations in La Antigua Guatemala is something you must experience for yourself at least once. As a matter of fact, The Holy Week celebrations in La Antigua Guatemala should be very high in the list of to-dos before one dies. All of us should have a list of things to do before dying, like the character Ann in the film My Life Without Me.

So what are you waiting for? Pack your bags and head down south where you can be free!

Old worn out wood can be beautiful too. I think. What about you?

If you can have a corner window, why not have a corner door, really why not?

Can you tell me why doorways are so big in La Antigua Guatemala? Hint the answer is in the archives of this site. Go happy hunting!

No Food, No Cameras, No Guns, No Backpackers and No Private Guards inside, the sign reads. Only in Guatemala you can find this kind of signs (I think). Guns are a big trouble, you know; people do crazy things with them and not only in Guatemala; naked guns are worn in the belts like cellphones or keychains; even banks and offices have an unusual piece of furniture to deposit customers’ guns at the entrance. Certainly Guatemala is not the only gun-crazy country in the world, nevertheless, it sad to see signs like the one above, captured at Angelina’s Doorway.

My condolences to the families and friends of the students who lost their lives yesterday in Illinois.

It is because of people like Fernando or Fernanda that the rest of us get into trouble for not showing all of our love at once. I mean what kind of nerve to plaster the whole portón (doorway) with thousands of Post-it notes with love messages.

Valentine’s Day in Guatemala is known as El Día del Cariño. Cariño and caress share the same etymology and it means affection. The Day of Affection would be a close translation for El Día del Cariño, thus it is much more than Valentine’s Day because it is the day to show your affection, love and appreciation to your co-workers, neighbors, friends, family, and of course, your girlfriend or wife; whatever the case may be.

Valentine’s Day is celebrated in Guatemala by giving ‘normally‘ flowers, chocolates, cards and whatever your creativity allows to show you affections. There are many gift exchanges among your peers in workplaces, schools and with your own family. February 14th is a great day to be in La Antigua Guatemala, don’t you think so?

If you were in La Antigua Guatemala, how would you celebrate El Día del Cariño?

Does anybody know when will the Christmas decorations will be put away? The answer is in last year’s entries… go happy hunting now.

The Casa del Conde doorway is bound to bring some tears and sweet nostalgic memories to many of LAGDP visitors. See, La Casa del Conde or Café Condesa as it is widely known is one of the La Antigua Guatemala landmarks and of the places to get a cup of the coffee in town. It is interesting that for being a landmark of this colonial town, I just barely show it to you… I guess I like to take the long way home. But others have mentioned it before in Antigüeño Breakfast at Rainbow Cafe and Chef Salad from Café Concepción (BTW, this restaurant does not exist anymore).

Like I said, many visitors to La Antigua Guatemala Daily Photos have memories of this place; would you mind sharing your experiences at Café Condesa or at any of the businesses at Casa del Conde?

Poinsettias or Flor de Pascua are in full bloom in The Land of the Eternal Spring for the Christmas season. Commercial decorations are beginning to show up in shops and restaurants. Soon enough we will have the Burning of the Devil celebrations, Nacimientos, Posadas and everything else that comes with the Christmas season. Soon, even the trees will dress for the holidays.

Crea fama y acuéstate a dormir. —anónimo (Create fame, then sleep. —Anonymous)

The first time I ever heard about La Naranja Pelada (The Peeled Orange) was at Inner Diablog, a blog published from London but filled with hindsight and hard-to-find information about Guatemala. On top of all, Guy writes so eloquently that it is a pleasure to read his entries. Honest, Guy’s blog and his writing is an inspiration to me. Check it out!

In the area around Antigua the best ceviches are to be found in a small seafood restaurant on a backstreet of Jocotenango called La Naranja Pelada. The dining room is wood-panelled and decorated with specimens of local ‘game’ such as snakes, turtles and armadilloes. (source: Inner Diablog)

The second time I read about La Naranja Pelada was about a meeting of Guatemalan writers that took place there. Then I read a recommendation by Pepe Zarco, one of the columnist of Prensa Libre.

This was enough to pique my curiosity. I have to find the La Naranja Pelada… To be continued