La Antigua Guatemala Daily Photo

Sol Latino is a band that plays mostly Andean and Latin American music. For a long time Sol Latino wonder around the different venues and bar/restaurant circuit in La Antigua Guatemala. Eventually, they managed to get an investor to open up a restaurant-bar so they could have their own stage where to play every night. La Peña de Sol Latino became their home base; thus, they needed to wonder no more.

Just wondering, how many signs from La Antigua Guatemala do you think I have published here?

I will let you in a little secret: I was caught taking the photo of the watchers (the guard and the photographer) so I pretended I was not taking their photo, but rather they were actual visual noise on my attempt to capture the street lamp, the stop sign and the roof detail. It worked, they continued their voyeuristic activities and so did I. Boy oh boy, the things I do for you guys!

So yesterday and today’s photos are the resulting images of the pretense; I hope you like them a bit and not think less of them now.

Have I told you about my sign fetish… I don’t know if a cure exist for this sing disorder, but for sure La Antigua Guatemala signs do not help; there are SO MANY of them.

Do you know the etymology of fetish? If not you can find in this site… go happy hunting!

Happy Birthday Chata! (I-heart-U) Go rent this movie and let me know your feelings about it.

The quality of the sunset light during the winter months in La Antigua Guatemala is the best of the year. Almost anything you photograph has this warm feel. If you are in Antigua now, click away like crazy. Even a simple shadow can be warmth, don’t you think so?

The opposite corner of the Cookies is the Joyería del Ángel, which by the way is the twin business for Posada del Ángel. Both businesses are run to the highest standards and thus you can find just of about any high-end and exquisite jewelry produced any where in the world right here at Joyería del Ángel, in La Antigua Guatemala.

Obviously what they sell there has not influenced my appreciation for this wonderful light-blue, celeste in Guatemalan Spanish, corner. I simply liked the light hitting the building and the tourists walking by that afternoon. Also, I like the geometry of the white stripes, the Joyería del Ángel sign and the lamp. You will have to excuse the white sky in many of the photos taken during the rainy season; not much I can do.

Disclosure side note: I am not being paid anything for saying nice things about the Posada or Joyería del Ángel. Even though I know the general manager, these things I say them because I know the businesses and have been give unrestricted access to photograph them. That is all. If I ever I am being paid for promoting or saying nice things about a particular business, I will let you know with a disclosure. That is the deal.

In Guatemala the rainy season brings the rainbow season too. The rainy season in Guatemala wets the months or May through October, sometimes even November which are basically the summer and fall seasons in the Northern Hemisphere where Guatemala is located. Most Guatemalans equate the wet months of May though October with winter, so they call it invierno, winter, even though we are in the summer season. Are you confused yet? Well read up my entry on The Land of the Eternal Spring for some clarification or to totally give up on logic.

Tomorrow is Father’s Day in Guatemala, always on the same date, June 17th. I hope to catch something for you.

UPDATE: For a humoristic look at the weather and weather forecasting in Guatemala and to see an unbelievable photograph of thunderstorm in Guatemala City, please read El Canche’s entry on Predicting the Weather in Guatemala.

La Antigua Guatemala is the preferred location for summits, international conferences, high-level political official meetings, visits of presidents and kings and queens. So it is no surprise to see the VII Summit of First Ladies of Central America, Panama and Dominican Republic being hosted in La Antigua Guatemala. The slogan for the summit is: Woman, axis of development in the family and community.

For some unknown reason to me, this summits hasn’t generated any press coverage. Checking the web sites of the two Guatemalan newspaper that I read, neither elPeriódico nor Prensa Libre had any news-bits about the agenda or anything related to the summit. It was through the old trusted google that found an article in the Guatemalan government official newspaper, Diario de Centro America, and another column in the Spanish news portal of Yahoo.

Basically, the first ladies want to promote strategies in favor of the women of the region. If you ask me, this sounds to generic and broad to be taken seriously as a plan to better the situation of women in Central America. They could’ve taken a look at my entry of Guatemalan Women & Killer’s Paradise for two concrete campaigns for their agenda: The elimination of violence against women and solid plans to end the femicides and to bring the killers to justice. But then again, this would not be a suitable agenda to discuss for some fine first ladies while drinking the best coffee of world while staying at the only five stars hotel in La Antigua Guatemala, right?

What do you think about of this sort of summit?

The sign above is at entrance doorway of the Colegio Mayor de Santo Tomás de Aquino, School of Saint Thomas, and you can see it in context in the façade of the building shown two days ago.

I really like the fact that many signs, even commercial signs, in Antigua Guatemala are made from hand-drawn ceramic tiles. You can check out all the different kinds of signs around Antigua Guatemala, by browsing the Signs category.

Tomorrow I will post the first processions photos from the Lent season. Come back tomorrow to fill your retinas with shades of purple from the cucuruchos’ dresses.