AntiguaDailyPhoto.Com

This is not the first time I shared with you a photograph of fountain adorned with flowers. As a matter of fact, this is quite a regular vista around La Antigua Guatemala.

Right now is especially necessary to be near a refreshing fountain since we’re experiencing unusually hot weather conditions. Yesterday, the thermometer reached the 30C/86F degrees mark in the shade and today looks like it is going to be the same. Come on, this sort of thing should not happen at over 1,500 meters/5,000 feet over the sea level.

Follow the white rabbit to look at other photographs of fountains with flowers.

• Flowers and Fountains
• Light is a good reason to visit Antigua
• Exotic Flower Arrangements
• Mermaids Fountain with Flowers
• Exotic flowers and plants for you!

Antigua Guatemala as a City Brand Aside: Today La Antigua will be presented as a City Brand at 5 p.m. with an event full of activities in front of Palacio de los Capitanes at Central Park. Also, there will be a 15-minute photographic presentation with nearly 250 photos from AntiguaDailyPhoto.com projected over a giant screen hanging from Palacio de los Capitanes as part of the event. Everyone is invited!

Come back tomorrow to see the slide show here and other photos taken at the activities. If I get a chance I will try to make a time-lapse video of the event. Stay tune!

[gmap]

The Ceiba tree (Ceiba pentandra) is very important in Guatemala. For one, the Ceiba tree is Guatemala’s national tree. There are Ceiba trees all over Guatemala. The Maya believed that Ceiba trees were portals to Xibalbá (The Underworld). Xibalba is described in the Popol Vuh as a court below the surface of the Earth associated with death and with twelve gods or powerful rulers known as the Lords of Xibalba (source: Wikipedia).

According to a recent article in Revue Magazine, Ceibas have been sacred trees for over 2,000 years and the Ceiba tree spines show up often in Mayan art and pottery. The Ceiba tree also appears in the 5 centavos coins.

Do you know how many Ceiba tree are there in La Antigua Guatemala municipality?

Palo de Izote is the Guatemalan equivalent of the Joshua tree. In fact, Palo de Izote is the Mesoamerican cousin of the Joshua or Yucca tree. Like I mentioned before, I have a fascination with the Izote tree; I don’t know why, maybe its many branches that look like arms and hands.

Palo de Izote is used often in the hedgerows around Antigua Guatemala. Its white flowers are edible and they are considered a delicacy. The izote tree flower is also the national flower for the neighboring country of El Salvador.

Having a satisfying coffee with a very delicious torreja at La Cocina del Obispo, this flower was just there sort of flirting. It’s called Flor de La Pasión because it’s got a religious signfiicance and if I’m not mistaken it is Venezuela’s National Flower. If you know the flower, can you guess the colors and the significance of it?

Try to be fair and don’t look it up on Google or Wikipedia.

text and photo by Arturo Godoy.

There are several jacaranda trees in Parque Central which make a gorgeous display of purple or violet during February and March when they are in bloom. I will try to get a panoramic shot so you can see the jacaranda trees in bloon at Central Park.

Well, perhaps it is the fact that gorgeous pale violet colors of the jacarandas trees are more obvious in February, just in time for the beginning of the Lent season in which one starts to see doors and windows adorned with purple or violet bands. Purple is the official color of the Lent season; do you know why?

Jacaranda trees can be found all over town as well. I will be in the look out for other jacaranda trees around town. Stay tune!

The price of flowers goes up exponentially around certain dates like Valentine’s Day or Mother’s Day, just to name a few.

A dozen roses is selling for Q60/$7.50 right now, while the normal price at the market goes from Q20/$2.50 to Q35/$4.50 for a dozen roses, depending on the quality and whether one is a regular costumer or not. For instance, a co-worker at the office buys two dozen roses every week for Q35/$4.50; he always gets this special price because he’s regular customer.

Of course, all flowers get a price hike, but certainly roses are the most affected since most people want to give roses for el Día del cariño.

In Guatemala Valentine’s Day has a much wider meaning since Día del cariño, Day of affection or caring, is about celebrating all the different manifestations of love and caring.

What better way to send my best wishes for Día del cariño and Valentine’s Day to all of you than to share a Corazón chino, Chinese heart, flower which are native of the wet tropical mountain forest of Central America and South America regardless of its popular name. The Anturios or Anthurium is the scientific name.

I am certain this is not the only grape vine in La Antigua Guatemala, but this is perhaps the only one with public access.

Do you know where you can find this grape vine? Do you think the grapes are any good?

In Guatemala poinsettias are known as Flor de Pascua, Flor de Noche Buena or simply Pascuas. Poinsettias are native to Guatemala and Mesoamerica and in general can be found in the wild or in gardens as undocumented aliens. Poinsettias or Flor de Pascua are in full bloom in The Land of the Eternal Spring for the Christmas season. The most common color is red, but now you can find yellow, white, pink and mixed at your local nursery and shops. Pascuas are an integral part of the Guatemalan decoration for the Christmas season and beyond. They are also given as gifts quite often.

If you would like to have a yellow poinsettias wallpaper for you computer, download it from here.

In an article from Prensa Libre entitled: Pascuas que cambian de colores (Poinsettias of different colors) I read that, according to industry statistics, Guatemala is the top grower of poinsettias in the world. Guatemala produces 60 million poinsettias which represents 80% of the production in the world. How about that?

Other interesting reads about Poinsettias in Spanish/Google-translated.

• Pascuas y pinabetes, negocios de fin de año / Poinsettias and Pine trees, an end-of-the-year business
• Estrella de Nochebuena; pascua florece con la Navidad / Star of Christmas Eve, Poinsettias blossom with Christmas
• Pascuas que cambian de colores / Poinsettias of different colors

Sometimes one is force to pump up the ISO (raise the film sensitivity) in order to be able to get a photograph. This was the case while driving down from the Acatenango volcano. So, remember that in order to capture fleeting images, you always be ready to think quick and change whatever settings are necessary to trap split-second pictures.

text and photo by Arturo Godoy.

It’s very enjoyable to look at how the condensation concentrates on vegetation on the volcanic slopes. Probably it would have been nicer to have captured this condensation during a golden hour. So, what’s for you the golden hour?

text and photo by Arturo Godoy.

If you ever decide to hike the volcanoes around La Anttigua Guatemala, don’t ever forget to pay attention to the colors you find on your way up. The flora up there is unique and enchanting.

I don’t know the name of these purple flowers, can anybody help?

text and photo by Arturo Godoy.

I love walking around our garden at night. There’s something enchanting about looking at all the different flowers illuminated by spot lights. I like the scents and colors. Also, I like the fact any time of the year, there are always flowers in bloom.

Photo pro tip: Always carry a camera with you so you don’t miss a chance to capture an ephemeral image; even if it’s only your iPhone camera.

Thanks to Pinar Istek from XelaDailyPhoto and her article entitled Lily of the Nile about a synchronicity market scene on All Saints Day, I was reminded of how much I like the callas lilies. So, I was lured and it was only matter of time before callas lilies, cartuchos in Guatemalan Spanish or alcatraces in Spanish, found their way into my viewfinder.

Calla lilies are quite common and inexpensive in Guatemala; often you can buy a dozen for about Q10/$1.25. Think of it, I should have cartuchos in my office more often.

How much do callas lilies cost where you live?

Today, I continue learning about the Guatemalan coffees. In the past I have mention how I thought coffee plantations were beneficial for the environment because they provided almost undisturbed forested land for birds like Bushy-crested Jay which is native to Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua. Also, I shared with you the biannual procedure of pruning the gravileas shade trees to keep a balance between shade and sun for the coffee bushes.

In La Antigua Guatemala, wood can be used as fuel as a by-product of the coffee industry. Let me explain, if you recalled the photo about Coffee bushes and Gravileas trees, you would remember that gravileas trees (the large trees on the photo) are used as shadow trees for the coffee bushes. Well, after a while the gravileas trees get to be so big and they need to be pruned. The trimmed branches and old trees can provide the necessary wood to be used as fuel. In the areas that grow coffee, the wood from the shade trees prevents the cutting down of the trees on the rolling hills. These trees provide the much-needed root system which prevents landslides.

Day after day, we hear people talking about climate change, resulting from unmeasured and inappropriate human usage of natural resources.

In the biggest challenge facing mankind in the twenty-first century—how to protect the environment—the future begins today. Tomorrow might just be too late.

For several decades the argument has raged about how to best preserve the wold’s resources and biodiversity. This endless tug-of-war has placed those who work the land in direct opposition with those who feel it is being threatened. But as scientific research has proven, agroforestry systems, like shaded coffee, can bring about a compromise that combines the goals of sustainable agriculture with environmental protection.

Guatemalan Coffees are 98% shade grown, counting more than thirty-eight million shade and coffee trees. The resulting coffee forest extends approximately 270,000 hectares and makes up 6.4 percent of the national forest cover. As expected, Guatemala’s coffee forests bring environmental benefits, like protecting soils, biodiversity, and water resources, and help in diminishing the harming effects of global warming. (source: Guatemalan Coffees/Anacafé)

Anacafé has put together a Green Coffee book and information to show us how verdaderamente verde, truly green, Guatemalan coffee really is.

Want to learn more?

If you are a knowledgable enthusiast, ask for your “Green Book”; a unique jewel for your personal collection that contains all you need to know about Guatemalan Coffees and its symbiotic relation with nature.

This printed material can now be accessed in a digital format (PDF), optimized for web viewing to keep the best level of detail while reducing download times at minimum.

Versions available to download in PDF:

• Green Book in English (19.8MB)
• Green Book in Spanish (17.8MB)

Today is Earth Day so I am sharing with you a wallpaper for your computer from a typical green vista of Colas de Quetzal often found in the gardens and patios of the houses of La Antigua Guatemala. If you like it, please let me know in the comments.

Now go crazy following all the stuff related to Earth Day!

[gmap]