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There only three alamedas (tree-lined streets) in La Antigua Guatemala. Alamedas are public walkway or promenade shaded with trees; from álamo ‘cottonwood’ + -eda ‘grove’. The alamedas in Antigua Guatemala are Alameda Santa Rosa, Alameda El Calvario and Alameda Santa Lucía.

Have you taken a stroll through Alameda El Calvario yet?

Sólo hay tres alamedas en La Antigua Guatemala, las cuales ya aparecen en la traza original de la ciudad. Las alamedas son El Calvario, San Rosa y Santa Lucía; ésta última también conocida como calzada a pesar que el rótulo al inicio de la Alameda Santa Lucía la declara como alameda.

You’d be amazed on everything that might be for sale on the streets of La Antigua Guatemala during Lent. This time while walking on the streets during the Procession of Jesús de San Bartolo, we happened to run into these candles, I think they’d make some great souvenirs for your house, and the price is reasonable. What do you think?

text and photo by Arturo Godoy.

Without a doubt Ermita de La Santa Cruz is one of the more dramatic and enchanting venues in La Antigua Guatemala. Especially after it gets dressed up with spot lights and projecting imagery on the façade.

Below you will find two more behind the scene images prior to the concert of Bach en La Habana by Tiempo Libre and Orquesta Sinfónica Juvenil Municipal. You will also find a video clip about Tiempo Libre’s Bach in Havana new album.

If you were in La Antigua Guatemala this weekend you might get a chance to dance to danceable marimba music at Parque Central as part of the Valentine’s Day celebration. There will be marimba ensembles from different regions of Guatemala. The marimbas will begin playing at 3 p.m. at Antigua Guatemala’s main plaza.

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XI Festival Internacional De Cultura Paiz opened with a energy-charged reunion concert by the two most representative bands from Central America: the Guatemalan rock band Alux Nahual from Guatemala and Éditus, the Grammy-winning jazz group from Costa Rica at Ermita de la Santa Cruz; one of the best venues in La Antigua Guatemala for concerts.

This time the Festival Internacional De Cultura Paiz will showcase a series of cultural and educational events through the entire year as opposed to previous festival which only lasted a few weeks.

There will be plenty of events in the upcoming weeks. There are two events scheduled for Saturday: the concert Bach en la Habana by Tiempo Libre and La Orquesta Sinfónica Juvenil Municipal and the exhibition El Universo de Carlos Mérida.

The concert could be heard from at least than two kilometers away from La Ermita de La Santa Cruz; I know because thats the distance that separates my house from La Ermita.

I was looking forward to photographing the inauguration concert of Festival Internacional De Cultura Paiz, but things just became really complicated at the end of the afternoon and I was unable to assist. Luckily for us, my friend Jennifer Lara attended and she was able to snapped a few shots with her iPhone. She was kind enough to share them with us. Thank you @ienilara.

Photo by Jennifer Lara.

Below you can can see the different events for February and March 2011.

Here’s one of the television spots that have been promoting the festival in national television in Guatemala.
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We finish our little mini night photography tour with this simple image of a red wall and sign illuminated by a lamp. Depending on the quality of your monitor and its calibration, you may or may not be able to read what’s on the sign.

Since we are talking about monitors, calibrations and color profiles, let me share with you a little pro secret: if you surf the web with Safari browser, everything will look better than if you use any other browser because Safari reads the color profiles embedded in the images as well as it uses a better rendering engine to display, “print” really, the web pages. Please, keep it hush hush, we don’t other people to know.

Do you know where in La Antigua Guatemala is this wall and lamp located?

I am really enjoying taking photos of beautifully illuminated signs and buildings in La Antigua Guatemala. This illuminated owl sign is very close to El Mesón del Obispo sign shown a couple of days ago.

Certainly owls are abundant in La Antigua Guatemala. Can you guess how many tecolotes (owls) have appeared in AntiguaDailyPhoto thus far?

About a month ago I shared with you photos of the new look of Palacio de Los Capitanes as well background information regarding the renovation. I mentioned that after two and half years and Q16 millions/$2 millions spent in renovations Palacio de Los Capitanes has finally opened again. The new façade is painted with yellow and white paint.

Here’s a follow up photo which shows the new spot lights which make Palacio de Los Capitanes the most visible building in La Antigua Guatemala at night. Honestly, you have to see it for yourself; it’s wonderful!

I really like the visual effect obtained by raising a metal sign a few inches off the wall and putting some lights behind it. In my opinion this kind of signage is more tasteful than say a neon sign.

I am sure you will agree with me that in general business signage is so much prettier and less repulsive in La Antigua Guatemala than in most other town and cities in Guatemala, don’t you agree?

As you may know, here in La Antigua Guatemala, like in many places, on odd-numbered avenues traffic runs North and on even-numbered avenues traffic flows South.

How many places North of Antigua Guatemala do you know where you can have these landscape views? Can you guess which place I’m referring to? How do you get to this place?

A hint: a few days ago the post would have been titled Sunset Amongst Volcanoes, any hypothesis as to why the change of title?

text and photos by Arturo Godoy.

Meet Pinar Istek, the photojournalist behind XelaDailyPhoto.com with her omnipresent Cabro beer; her favorite from Guatemala she claims in An irresistible fact from Xela. It was at this meeting that the idea to create a DailyPhoto for Xelajú was conceived.

I am very grateful for the fabulous work being produced by Pinar Istek, Josh Bachman and Enrique Hernández about Guatemala’s second largest city, Quetzaltenango in Nahualt, Xelajú in Maya or simply Xela for shot. Each day for the last 60 days they have shared their fascination and awe for Guatemala’s main Mayan cultural and business metropolis.

If you have not pay a visit to XelaDailyPhoto, you surely missing out on another important facet and region of Guatemala. Just follow the white rabbit!

These plastic balls are the most popular and thus the most often seen balls in Guatemala. They are very inexpensive and very disposable, sometimes only lasting one chamusca game. Chamusca is the Guatemalan-Spanish word for an informal football match. Often, all you need is a few friends, a dirt field and a colorful fútbol ball to build life-long relationships. Of course, these plastic balls are very dear to us since they are part of what defines us; they are part of our treasured memories.

As a photographer I was very excited when I saw these colorful balls hanging from the ceiling a shop recently. You know how much a love color and repetition.

I also love ephemerides and this morning we had the opportunity to witness one ephemerides which only happen every 486 years. That’s is a full Moon eclipse during the Winter solstice, which makes the longest night of the year even darker during the duration of the eclipse. I took some photos of the eclipse, but I did not stay out for the duration of it. However, my dear friend Nelo did and he’s sharing his photos of the full Moon eclipse sequence as seen from La Antigua Guatemala.

So here I am sharing a slide show about another ball, a different kind of round ball, one we can all identify with: The Moon.
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We interrupt our regularly scheduled December comfort foods series to bring you the following special bulletin.

Since yesterday night, December 15, there have been sightings of Joseph and Mary’s quest for shelter around the streets of La Antigua Guatemala. María and José are walking around Antigua Guatemala, knocking on people’s doors to ask for posada. Our eye witness reporter has been able to gather the following information regarding the quest for lodging:

Every home has a nativity scene and the hosts of the Posada act as the innkeepers. The neighborhood children and adults are the pilgrims (peregrinos), who have to request lodging by going house to house singing a traditional song about the pilgrims. All the pilgrims carry small lit candles in their hands, and four people carry small statues of Joseph leading a donkey, on which Mary is riding. The head of the procession will have a candle inside a paper lamp shade. At each house, the resident responds by refusing lodging (also in song), until the weary travelers reach the designated site for the party, where Mary and Joseph are finally recognized and allowed to enter. Once the “innkeepers” let them in, the group of guests come into the home and kneel around the Nativity scene to pray (typically, the Rosary)… This according to Mrs. Wikipedia Enciclopedia de Quiensabe.

We will update you with new information as soon as our on-site reporters finish their ponche and tamales…

#$%&/()”!¡?¿… We just received this video feed from our diligent multimedia reporter Kara Andrade. (more…)

Since Eric mentioned the fantasmas (ghosts) in the comments of San Agustín Ruins by Night, I figure I ought to share a ghost evoking image as a follow up.

La Antigua Guatemala is famous for being a town with many ghosts. I don’t know when La Antigua Guatemala became known for its ghosts and aparecidos, but I am sure it was sometime when its name was Santiago de Guatemala. Many people swear to have seen La Llorona (weeping lady), La Siguanaba, El Sombrerón and other such Guatemalan legendary characters.

Would you like me to do a series on the ghost and Guatemalan legendary characters?

I believe this is the second time I share a photo of Ruinas de San Agustín with you guys. Interesting enough, both images have been night photos. The first photo appear in Dramatic Illumination of San Agustín Ruins in June 2007. Comparing both images I noticed that back 2007 there were more spot lights illuminating this ruins. Also, I believe I did a better job back in 2007.

I have been meaning to do a mini series about the churches and ruins which are beautifully lit by spot lights place at strategic places. What do you think, are you ready for a new series of night photographs of La Antigua Guatemala?

By the way, today’s photo is a follow up to Cathedral Spot Lights Zooming published a couple of weeks ago. If you missed it, you should check it out!