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Visitors can easily spot the Maya people dressed in rainbow colors weaving their way throughout the renowned colonial architecture of La Antigua Guatemala. But, sometimes, such prized culture and striking architecture can distract one from noticing the more obscure, yet just as captivating beauty that’s found in this city. For me, the bright, exotic flowers scattered throughout the city perfectly accentuate the traditional dress and handcrafted goods of the indigenous Maya. The Maya must have drawn their inspiration and favor for such a collage of brilliant color from the exquisite flowers and plants that ornate their world.

text and photo by Laura McNamara

La Antigua Guatemala is known as the Ciudad de las perpetuas rosas, the city of the perpetual roses. Well, surely you can find roses everywhere in and around Antigua Guatemala; there are even rose farms near La Antigua that grow roses for exportation to the U.S. and Canada.

However, I believe the name should actually be the City or perpetual bougainvilleas as these flowers can be found everywhere in Antigua Guatemala at any given time. Bougainvilleas are really perpetual flowers and an integral part of the jardín antigüeño, Antigua garden. Bugambileas, as they are known in Spanish, go by scientific name of Bougainvillea glabra and belong to the Nyctaginaceae family. Bougainvilleas can be found in red, violet, purple, fuchsia, red, orange, gold, yellow, pink, white, burgandy, terra cotta, kite red, and in light and dark shades of many of the aforementioned colors.

We finish the jardín antigüeño series with the bougainvilleas. I still have other photos, but I will post them at a later time as part of the regular daily flow. Just a little over-sharing: All the flowers shown thus far as part of the jardín antigüeño were photographed at our garden.

I do hope at least some of you have found this series interesting or at least useful with the free wallpapers. Please, let me know your thoughts about the series.

You can download the Guatemalan flowers wallpaper from here: Bugambilea Naranja, Bugambilea Roja Papolata, Bugambilea Enana, Bugambilea Fuscia and Bugambilea Roja wallpapers.

Source: Guate Flora: Plantas ornamentales más utilizadas en jardínes guatemaltecos (Guate Flora: Ornamental Plants Most Often Used in Guatemalan Gardens).

Geranio is the Guatemalan name for Geranium, which is also known in Spanish as Pelargonio. Geranios or Pelargonios can be found with flowers in red, pink, purple, white and orange. Geraniums need a lot of water and in Guatemala they blossom year round. Pelargonios also need a lot of sun.

You can download the Guatemalan flowers wallpaper from here: Geranio Blanco and Geranio Rojo wallpapers.

Source: Guate Flora: Plantas ornamentales más utilizadas en jardínes guatemaltecos (Guate Flora: Ornamental Plants Most Often Used in Guatemalan Gardens).

Oh life, you blink and it’s gone.

A while back I read in the New York Times Sunday edition of the Prensa Libre about the passing away of a man 87 years old that for 55 years had no short-term memory. It turns out that he underwent brain surgery when he was 27 and even though the doctors had healed his ailments, they also damaged the area of the brain responsible for memories. Interesting enough, the article was not about memory loss, rather about Identity loss. If you have no memories, you have no identity the article argued.

The first time I was exposed to the concept of short-term memory loss was in the film Wintersleepers by director Tom Tykwer and later in the American film Memento by director Christopher Nolan. In both films we follow the main characters who have lost their short-term memory through a period of their lives and experience all the complications that having no short-term memory can cause. In both films, the characters with memory loss use photographs as memory, short and long term.

So, what’s memory anyway? Nothing but a series of photographs or static images we keep dearly to know who we are now who we were then and what we have experienced. Thus, coming to this realization, wouldn’t you think it makes sense that we pause every once in a while our hurried lifestyles to take note of the flowers, the aroma of coffee, to pet your cats, to say ‘I love you or I care for you’ to your family and friends and take mental snapshots for our memory bank.

There are only two instances where everybody in the entire world has an equal opportunity: Time and Memories. No one can live more than 24-hour days and all of us have the same chance to keep a large bank of memories. What are you waiting for? Times does not stop for anybody.

Okay today flowers go by the Guatemalan name of camarones (shrimps in plural). The golden camarón is actually a combination of yellow and white flowers. The scientific name for the Guatemalan golden shrimp flower is Pachystachys lutea. The red Guatemalan shrimp flower’s scientific name is Beloperone guttata or Justicia brandegeana. Both camarones belong to the Acanthaceae family. Camarones can grow under direct sun light or part sun/shade (help here for the proper term) and they blossom all year long requiring moderate watering.

Like the days before, you can download the Guatemalan flowers wallpaper from here: Camarón Amarillo and Camarón Rojo wallpapers

Source: Guate Flora: Plantas ornamentales más utilizadas en jardínes guatemaltecos (Guate Flora: Ornamental Plants Most Often Used in Guatemalan Gardens).

Pentas are among the most beautiful and prolific flowers in jardín antigüeño. In the gardens of La Antigua Guatemala you can be sure to find flowers year round, but not all the flowers blossom all year or at the same time. Pentas are a delightful execption since they have many live bouquets all year round and thus are excellent flowers to put on or near windows. Pentas come in pink, red, purple, white and light violet which provide a nice contrast to their luscious green foliage. Pentas require lots of water and sun.

Like in previous days, you can download the Guatemalan flowers wallpaper from here: Pentas Rosadas and Pentas Red wallpapers

Source: Guate Flora: Plantas ornamentales más utilizadas en jardínes guatemaltecos (Guate Flora: Ornamental Plants Most Often Used in Guatemalan Gardens).

Boy, it seems like nobody cares about the flowers found in the gardens of La Antigua Guatemala or the free wallpapers. I believe out of all the series the Jardín Antigüeño is the one with least feedback of all. Not even a wake me up when you are done!

Julias are flowers that blossom all year long. Julias scientific name is Salvias spendens and normally can be found dress in salmon, red, purple, white and red & white.

Once again you can download the Guatemalan flowers wallpaper from here: Julias Salmon and Julias Purple wallpapers.

Source: Guate Flora: Plantas ornamentales más utilizadas en jardínes guatemaltecos (Guate Flora: Ornamental Plants Most Often Used in Guatemalan Gardens).

Throughout the archives of AntiguaDailyPhoto.com you can find many of the plants and flowers available in and around the Antigua Guatemala gardens. In fact, I even created the Guateflora category to host some of the findings.

This week we will feed the Guateflora and Wallpaper categories with flowers commonly found in the jardín antigüeño, the Antiguan garden. Some, if not all, all the pictures of flowers in this week mini series can also work as computer wallpapers, so if you find something you like, please make sure you download it now.

Today’s flower goes by the common name of Nazareno, Nazarene, which is interesting purple or violet-colored flower with two shades in each of its shapes. The scientific name for the Nazareno flower is Petrea voubilis, a native plant of Guatemala, which grows in temperate weather, just like the weather in La Antigua Guatemala, with low irrigation and blossoms all year long if kept under the sun. Source: Guate Flora: Plantas ornamentales más utilizadas en jardí nes guatemaltecos (Guate Flora: Ornamental Plants Most Often Used in Guatemalan Gardens).

These mammoth green leaves are known as Quequeshque or Orejas de Elefante, Elephant Ears, in Guatemala because of its gigantic size. The quequeshque leaves size, of course, is not apparently obvious if they are presented like in the image above, without a point of reference. So, if you want to have an idea of the enormous size of the Elephant Ears leaves, please, click on the image below to see an enlarge version with human figures in the frame for comparison.

Don’t forget to browse the Guateflora category for other fine specimens from exuberant Guatemalan plants.

Now, can anybody guess where in La Antigua Guatemala these photos were taken?

I don’t know how it happened, but I had lost this vista of the Jacaranda trees in bloom at La Antigua Guatemala’s Central Park among the other 15,000 photos of my fototeca (photo library). Shame on me!

With this image of the jacaranda trees adding the subtle violet color to Antigua Guatemala main plaza we wave goodbye to the jacaranda photos. Come on, enough is enough, you can only see so many jacaranda photos; right?

Have a wonderful weekend and please start making your bags if you don’t want to miss the Eternal Spring weather, the heart touching violet color of the jacaranda trees and the processions and decorations of the awesome Lent season in La Antigua Guatemala. If you are already in Antigua, don’t forget that tomorrow there will be the last FREE Jazz concert at the atrium of the Compañí­a de Jesús Ruins as part of the Festival Internacional de Jazz en Antigua Guatemala. The free jazz concert by Lalsax Quartet from Italy will start at 7 p.m. tomorrow, Saturday the 21st, 2009.

What better way to welcome the Spring Season, really, that with a free jazz concert at night?

It seems like even Jacaranda trees want to be seen wearing the ever-present violet and purple color found over doorways, windows and cucuruchos during Lent.

Do you know why purple or violet is worn during Lent? The answer can be found in the AntiguaDailyPhoto.Com archives. Go happy hunting!

Interesting enough, last year when I published the Guateflora series, I overlooked the jacaranda trees, which are omnipresent in and around Antigua Guatemala. Although, I did show you the Jacarandas at Antigua’s Central Park almost two years ago, on February 22nd, 2007.

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? Do a search in the archives for the answer.

Anyhow, as I took the shot of the group of young tourist walking around Antigua’s Main Plaza, I noticed the splendid pale violet color of the jacaranda tree framing the photo and I figured I ought to take a few shots for you to enjoy the delightful play of the violet color, branches, sunlight and sky. I am sure some the recent photos would look wonderful as 8×10 or 11×14 high quality prints in your office, cubicle, or at your workstation at home. Get your prints while to help you cope with winter season!

I present to you the first güisquil, also known as chayote or perulero, from our back yard orchard. Güisquiles are such an integral part of the Guatemalan diet that sometimes you find it in the most unusual dishes. Güisquiles are also very important vegetable from the milpa crop as mentioned by Charles C. Mann in his book 1491.

You can find güisquiles in caldos, in Guatemalan chilaquiles, which basically are two slices of güisquil with a piece of cheese between the slices and then wrapped with egg batter and fried. Boy, just about now, this first güisquil, perulero-type, is looking very tasty.

What other dishes which include güisquil can you think of?

There you go again thinking I am going to give you the recipe for Guatemalanness… wrong.

But, I can do share what with you what makes Guatemalans hot. It’s this little spermatozoid-shaped-like chili pepper known in Guatemala as chiltepe. In the entry for June 7th, 2006 you can see a chiltepe stand in Antigua’s market (some of you might remember it). In the first Shrimp Ceviche photo that I published, you can see the chiltepe pepper in action.

The photo above was taken in our garden/orchard and since it’s a horizontal shot, I say to myself why not it share it as a wallpaper. So, for those brave enough to have a red hot chili pepper chiltepe wallpaper on your computer, click here to download it at 1200×900 pixels.

Disclaimer: I will not be held responsible if the chiltepe wallpaper makes you hot.

Where did all the commenters go? Come on people, this is a fun place if you add your opinions and comments. All comments are welcome and expected!

A simple shot to commemorate the sunshine, the purple, the ever-present spring and to revive the Guateflora series. This photo was taken at my favorite green house: Vivero La Escalonia.

I wish everyone an easy starting week!

P.S. I forgot to mention that we went over 700 entries six days ago; Today’s photo is the 706 consecutive page posted at La Antigua Guatemala Daily Photo. No wonder I’m so tired.

Come on, just because you’re dead it doesn’t mean you can not have access to good coffee. This coffee field is right behind the San Lázaro Cemetery in La Antigua Guatemala. This photo was taken from this crypts in San Lázaro cemetery.

You do remember the series about the San Lazaro Cemetery, right?.