This is crap!
The four basic principles of graphic design are: Contrast, Repetition, Alignment and Proximity. It was Robin Williams, the graphic designer and teacher, who came up with the memorable acronym to help people remember these basic principles.
I believe this photo embodies the basic principles of contrast, repetition, alignment and proximity (crap); don’t you agree?
Those darn electrical wires! There they are again… getting in the way. ¡Son tan metiches! —MO
I agree, but what can I do? I could edit them out in Photoshop, but then the photos would not be true document of the place. Also, next time you come to La Antigua Guatemala and take the same shot, you’re going to notice your photos have those darn electrical wires and think: damn it, those wires were not there before! 
I would never do that to you. Instead, I try to present the beauty of the wire webs we humans create. Don’t believe me? Well, check the following past entries:
By the way, in case you haven’t notice, Jocotenango’s Cathedral also received a new paint job since last time I showed you BMXing in Jocotenango.
Today, for a mere random act, I ended up in Jocotenango and because we’ve talking and learning about jocotes, I remember to take a snapshot of the jocote monument at the entrance plaza in Jocotenango. The jocote monument is the giant jocote on top of the white pedestal, right after the flowers.
I am sure I was also influenced by all my recent readings of Rex’s presidential decrees. Rex, alias Rafael Romero, is the democratically elected president of Mulamala who also claims Jocotesburg (Jocotenango) as his birth place. Warning: before you head over the Mula que es uno (Mulamala) to read all the official presidential press releases, be aware of three things: (1) you need to have a great command of the Spanish language. (2) you need to have a large Guatemalan Spanish vocabulary at your disposal. (3) you need to have a lot of patience or understanding of the Guatemalan culture. (4) you need a handle on Guatemalan slang. (5) Rex’s language can be as colorfully offensive as the script for Pulp Fiction (that’s if you understand Spanish fairly well.) End of warning.
By the way, I have no idea why my minds tends to remember the most obscure trivia; like the fact the Rafael Romero was born in Jocotenango. Do you know why our memory works that way?
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
Okay enough is enough. If you browse the Arches category you can find 22 entries and that is not counting all the arches that have appeared through the 535 consecutive days, but I have not tagged or classified as arches. Not once I have talked about the simple column that supports the arch; that is wrong if you consider that it takes two columns to support a single arch. My very dear friend JM Magaña, La Antigua Guatemala’s former conservator and the pen behind the architecture column in Recrearte magazine, could call me a near-sighted person or worst a discriminatory individual or architecture elements. We can not continue like that, no way José! We put an end to this discrimination today. There you have it above, a humble arch column close-up taken at the Municipalidad de Jocotenango.
The Amazon Wish List Side note:
I want to publicly thank Carolyn from Minnesota for being the first person to donate towards the operations cost of La Antigua Guatemala Daily Photo through the Amazon Wish List for LAGDP. Like many of you already know, this web site is maintained economically through your donations towards the hosting bills and my own economic resources to pay for the rest, which includes internet access, batteries, memory cards, cameras, tripods, blank discs for backups, external hard drives, computer equipment, Flickr account, books, entrance fees, restaurant bills, parking lot fees, et-cetera. I even placed some adsense ads to help unload some of the cost from my personal budget; I hope the adsense ads are not too distracting. Still, LAGDP is an economic burden, so I REALLY appreciate any help you guys send this way. Many thanks to Carolyn from Minnesota and to all the people that have donated thus far. The Amazon Wish List for LAGDP ships whatever you guys donate from the list to a P.O. Box in Miami and from there the item is taken via airborne to Guatemala City. Once there, I receive a phone call to let me know about the package. I am still responsible for the shipping charges from Miami-Guatemala City, import duties and sales tax. I know it sounds complicated, but it all works out somehow.
Here is another shot taken at the Municipalidad de Jocotenango (city hall) which shows its yellow façade and abundance of arches. Jocotenango was the community where workers and artisans (indians) lived in colonial times. Nowadays, Jocotenango still provides residence to many of the workers of La Antigua Guatemala.
Does anyone care to tell us a little more about Jocotenango?
The building of the municipalidad (city hall) is a yellow building with simple arches, lots of them. The arches provide great photo opportunities, like in this case where two women were caught by the viewfinder in one of those fleeting moments.
This is very simple image will allow us to play a creative game. Taking the two women as our characters we will write up one of many conceivable dialogues as the interaction between them. This would be similar to what we did in Opposite Ends of Life #2, which you should look at and read to get an idea. The apparent age difference could be used to set the pair as mother and daughter or sisters or simply co-workers of the newly opened Subway; it is up to you. I will submit the first plausible dialogue.
What is your reading of the photograph above? What sort of story can you invent for the scene above?
Here is a vertical shot of a biker doing a jump in the atrium of the Jocotenango church. Jocotenago is one of the communities very near La Antigua Guatemala. Jocotenango is so close to La Antigua that you might walk and cross over the municipal borders without realizing it. Jocotenango and Ciudad Vieja are the two municipios (counties) where most of the antigüeños moved after they sold their houses in La Antigua Guatemala. Some antigüeños sold their house under pressure from buyers and because the incredible prices buyers were willing to pay. Ciudad Vieja and Jocotenango is where most of the workers of La Antigua Guatemala businesses live. Jocotenango and Ciudad Vieja are ‘REAL’ Guatemalan communities, unlike La Antigua Guatemala. Soon I will post an entry with the following title: La Antigua Guatemala is not Guatemala (which I’ve been saving for a long while now). Stay tune!
In La Antigua Guatemala and surrounded areas, church atriums and basket ball courts are used for many activities ranging from town fairs all the way to BMX bike competitions like the one above where I was lucky to catch a few shots. Believe it or not, the kid on the frame above landed with his feet on the pedals. Awesome dude!
POST CARDS UPDATE: I want to thank Gerard, Carolyn and Alan for having sent a post card from their home town as I requested in the Postscript entry. If you don’t know what I am talking about, please, do read the Postscript for details. But, in short, I am requesting a hand-written note on a post card, with stamps if at all possible, from all the visitors to La Antigua Guatemala Daily Photo so I can learn a little about you and your hometown as well as to test the Guatemalan postal service. I encourage you to participate. My mailing address is on the Contact the author page.
Rudy, I discovered your blog as soon as I returned from a too-short 4 day trip to Guatemala in May 2006. Through your camera lens, you've taught me so much about the place that I fell in love with so quickly. I especially appreciate when you write your thoughts, observations, opinions, and give information about your subjects. You've given me true affection for the marimba through the music you've posted, & you've taken me on virtual trips back to La Antigua Guatemala through your videos and sound clips. You've challenged my ideas about Guatemala, and surprised me with the breadth of culture in your little city. Your blog is like a little vacation every day. Thank you so much for the years of absolute pleasure. You never disappoint; this is a big accomplishment! Congratulations, and please don't stop. —Janna
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