La Antigua Guatemala Daily Photo

A group of women met at Parque Central to discuss how expensive all the útiles escolares (school supplies) are for this coming school year and to pass tips on where to get the best prices. Just like Black Wizard says, school supplies should also be free.

Sometimes you just have to ask yourself what kind of strange brew are the Canadians brewing way up north, heh. See, first they steal our bright minds; then they take our gold and buy out our postal service; they insert strange things into our antigüeño breakfast (bacon they call it); even our money is now Canadian (it reads Canadian Bank Note on the brand-new Quetzal bills); just to name a few things. In return they send salsa-dancing-craze Spanish students and the horrible and hostile weather. Come on, this is Guatemala, a tropical country in Central America, you know, the tiny land that impedes the Caribbean Island from moving over the Pacific Ocean. So what business does it have freezing-cold-ice-capping winds in La Antigua Guatemala. See, we don’t need no stinking ice-capped mountains and volcanoes in our gorgeous temperate-always-sun-shining-eternal-spring weather. Those volcanoes you see in the background are ice-capped (see larger image).

We will most definitely need stricter migration rules for all things Canadian; don’t you think so?

The photographer was capturing fleeting emotions, split-second gestures, temporary smiles or pensive introspections, passing pedestrians, et-cetera. Stealing souls, pues!

Okay, I promise this is the last shot of La Antigua Guatemala’s Central Park at night for a while. I just thought I needed to show all the angles and besides and I also wanted to show what is possible when you are walking around and the lighting conditions don’t allow for photographs to be taken without a tripod. See, thanks to the mini tripod LAGDP received from Santa Claus, a tripod is always present for those photo opts that do require a little more than a steady hand (and boy, because of all the coffee drinking I do, a steady hand is one thing I lost long time agoooooo).

But, before I move away from the night photo series, let me know your opinion of it; did you enjoy it?

I figured you would like to see the illuminated angels a little closer, so I took a few more shots. This one has a couple making up (you guys are voyeurs!) by the fountain and this next one you could use it as a post card since it is only the two angels slightly out of focus. I hope you enjoy them both!

Even smaller parks, like the one in front of the Escuela de Cristo Church, get their light dress for the Christmas season in La Antigua Guatemala. Yet the best and most expensive lighting is reserved for the Parque Central (Central Park) as you have seen in the previous days’ photos.

Christmas’ Eve or Noche Buena in La Antigua Guatemala is celebrated by staying up all night burning firecrackers and fireworks, eating tamales or turkey and drinking real fruit punch or hot real chocolate, visiting family, friends and neighbors for the respective abrazo de Noche Buena and buenos deseos (Christmas Eve hugs and best wishes); many even go to midnight mass. At midnight the presents under the Christmas tree, around the nacimiento (nativity scene), are opened and everyone laughs and hugs indiscriminately everyone around. These celebrations rate the highest on the nostalgic memory scale; everyone who is living abroad wishes to be in Guatemala for this season and for this night in particular.

A todos los chapines en el extranjero, y en especial a mi familia, les envío mis más sinceros abrazos de Noche Buena y mis mejores deseos. Les prometo que por ustedes, este día no haré dieta alguna. ¡Qué tengan unas felices fiestas!

Best wishes and Noche Buena hugs to all the visitors to La Antigua Guatemala Daily Photo.

Well, what do you know, even Santa Claus pays a visit to the illuminated Central Park. LAGDP’s Santa Claus lives in Motley, Minnesota and she paid a visit earlier in December as a response to the entry where I requested support for this web site through the Amazon Wish List that I maintain for La Antigua Guatemala Daily Photo. Carolyn was kind enough to wear a red fluffy dress and bring the following presents: a mini tripod, a book on Wordpress and a set of rechargeable batteries and charger.

Everyone, please, let’s thank Carolyn from Motley, Minnesota for such kindness and because starting with yesterday’s photograph all the upcoming photos were taking using the mini tripod and the rechargeable batteries. It’s incredible what a little tool like the mini tripod can do for photo opts. I will also improve on the layout and functionality of this web site as soon as I get through reading the book on Wordpress, the software engine behind LAGDP. It is a great feeling to know that you guys support all the work I put on this site through your comments, post cards, gifts from the Amazon Wish List and donations towards the hosting bills.

Thank you all for your continued support!

Post cards request update: I forgot to mention that last week I received a post card from Iceland thanks to Andre, a Norwegian living in Iceland at the moment. I have a soft spot in my heart for actual really real post cards and letters, so please keep ‘em coming! If you don’t know what I am talking about, please do read the entry Postscript.

La Antigua Guatemala’s Central Park gets a light dress for the Christmas season. If you remember some of the photos from last year, like Tree branches of Fire or Lit Branches at Central Park, you would know that taking photos of the illuminated park is quite difficult since the resulting photos hardly capture the magical atmosphere of the trees with thousands of Christmas lights. I promised I have tried my best. This year, I have a few more takes on this gorgeous light dress for the La Antigua Guatemala’s Parque Central.

By the way, I was lucky enough to have one of my photographs be the December 2007 cover for Revue Magazine. Oops! it is December 22nd, I just telling you about it even though this issue of the magazine has been on the streets and online since December 1st. Oops!

It is official: The California avocado if from La Antigua Guatemala. I had mentioned a couple of times the antigüeños are known as Panzas Verdes (green bellies) because of all the avocados they eat (see trivia 2) and that one Wilson Popenoe took the antigüeño avocado to California (see trivia 3). Thanks to an email from Guy from Inner Diablog, a Guatemalan blog published from the U.K., who alerted me about an avocado monument around El Calvario Church on the Walter Williams road to San Juan del Obispo. Well, I drove several times around the area and I did not find such monument, but I did find the Walter William Road monument just outside El Calvario Church. So back to hunting for the avocado monument I asked my good friend and ever-flowing source of antigüeño trivia, JM Magaña, about the location of the avocado monument and he told me it was right there in Central Park, right across the La Antigua Guatemala Cathedral. Boy oh boy, Parque Central is full plain-view secrets. Okay, so this is the short version of how I found out that the California Avocado is really from La Antigua Guatemala. Below you can see the plaque planted right in Central Park and its location relative the Antigua Guatemala Cathedral.

I guess not all the gossip around Antigua is untrue. Another piece of hearsay is that the novel El Papa Verde (The Green Pope) by Miguel Ángel Asturias, 1967 Nobel Prize in Literature, based its main character in Frederick Wilson Popenoe, who worked for the United Fruit Company and lived at Casa Popenoe. The Green Pope is part of Miguel Ángel Asturias The Banana Trilogy, three books (novels) about what the horrible things the United Fruit Company did in Central America. From avocados to bananas, history repeats itself. Read on Citizens for Boycotting Chiquita at Immigration Orange to learn what the UFCO, now known as Chiquita Brands International, Inc. is doing at present in Colombia. Please, don’t eat Chiquita Bananas!

To be honest, I am not sure this is Santo Domingo Park. It is the Santo Domingo statue and it is sort of a park, so I put two and two together. If I am mistaken I sure I will be told right away by the people that know better.

Can you name the volcano in the background and give us its height?

Tomorrow we will start a series requested by Sompopo a few times. I armed myself with lots of courage and I went inside. Stay tune!

Disclosure side note: I am not a photographer, much less a good photographer. I am a cheater; that is what I am. Let me explain. As an art director for Revue and Recrearte magazines I get to see hundreds or thousands of images and photos about many places in Guatemala, including La Antigua Guatemala. So it is easy for me to see what is photographed the most and what angles most people chose. So when I go out with my camera I try to avoid all the common angles and to stay away from the most obvious shots and the most popular photos. See I take shots like today’s with that information in the back of mind and so I come through with what may seem like an original image; well, maybe it is, at least I haven’t seen it. There you have it, I have disclosed my way of approaching photography in La Antigua Guatemala.

Those who have followed this blog for a while, especially the Guatemalan Fair series, would know that today, July 25th, is La Antigua Guatemala Patron’s Day; otherwise known as the fair day of Saint James. Why is Saint James the patron saint of La Antigua Guatemala? If you read the entry What’s in a name? That which we call La Antigua Guatemala you will find out that La Antigua Guatemala used to be the capital city of Guatemala (Central America to be precise) and at the time its name was La Muy Noble y Muy Leal Ciudad de Santiago de los Caballeros de Guatemala, or The Very Noble and Very Loyal City of Sait James of the Knights of Guatemala as was pointed out by Manolo in his comment.

Can you imagine telling your relatives and friends you are going to The Very Noble and Very Loyal City of Sait James of the Knights of Guatemala to adopt a child or two; they would probably ask you where in the world is that and then say a few words with insane as one of them.

Santiago was a very popular name for the conquistadors to use as they rechristen the new lands of the American continent. If you check the entry for Santiago in Wikipedia, you will there are over 60 cities and towns throught the world that carry that name and that is a very short list since you could probably find about 60 towns with the Santiago name, just in Guatemala. But why was Santiago such a popular name for the Spanish and Portuguese conquistadors?

The remains of Saint James the Greater are said to be buried in Santiago de Compostela in Galicia (Spain). Saint James is the patron saint of Spain and is related to the reconquista in the role of moor-slayer. His burial town, Santiago de Compostela, is considered the third most holy town of Catholicism (after Jerusalem and Rome). The pilgrimage to the grave of the Saint has become the most popular pilgrimage for Western European Catholics from the early middle ages onwards; making him one of the patron saints of pilgrimage. (source Wikipedia)

Enough, I get it, you say. Now tell me why in the world you pick a palm tree to tell us all this [boring] history? Simple, blame Pamela from Tenerife Daily Photo. She pointed out that Tenerife’s Bishop is to visit La Antigua Guatemala on July 25th to visit the burial site of Santo Hermano Pedro Betancourt. Also, often she points out the close relationship between Islas Canarias, Spain and La Antigua Guatemala; sometimes she even copies the subjects of the entries from this humble site. Rudy, you are rambling again, get to the point, you shout. Okay, this palm tree in Central Park of La Antigua Guatemala was brought from Gáldar, Las Palmas in the Canary Islands, which by the way shares the Santiago name.

The Plaque below, planted next to the palm tree says the following:

The Honorable City Hall of Gáldar
TO THE ANTIGÜEÑO PEOPLE
Under this canarian Palm tree
It will be remember through perpetuity
The brotherhood
Of the Jacobus Cities
Of La Antigua Guatemala
And Gáldar (Canary Islands)
United through the common name of
Saint James of the Knights (fast and liberal translation from yours truly)

The Saint James Trivia Side Note:

The name “James” in English comes from “Iacobus” (Jacob) in Latin. In eastern Spain, Jacobus became “Jacome” or “Jaime”; in Catalunya, it became Jaume, in western Iberia it became “Sant’Iago”, which developed into Tiago in Portugal and Galicia; Tiago developed into Diego, which is also the Spanish name of Saint Didacus of Alcalá. James’s emblem was the scallop shell (or “cockle shell”), and pilgrims to his shrine often wore that symbol on their hats or clothes. The French for a scallop is coquille St. Jacques, which means “cockle (or mollusk) of St James”. The German word for a scallop is Jakobsmuschel, which means “mussel (or clam) of St James”; the Dutch word is Jacobsschelp, meaning “shell of St James”. (source Wikipedia)

Rudy, all of that for a palm tree; you’ve got to be kidding me, you say, right?

June 17th is the date when Father’s Day is celebrated in Guatemala, always on the same date every year.

Many Guatemalan families come to La Antigua Guatemala on the weekends to have breakfast or lunch in one of the many fabulous restaurants around town and to pass a relax day with the family. One the activities may include a horseback ride around Parque Central for the children, while the father or mother walks next to the horse around the block. Or ride for the whole family in one of the many horse-powered carriages.

In the photo above, I was lucky to catch a glimpse of a father carrying his daughter pink backpack while she takes a horseback ride around the Central Park. I wonder what’s inside the backpack? Other aspect worth noting are the bags in the back of the horses; do you know what are they for?

The strip of road that goes from El Calvario church to San María de Jesús has an interesting name: Walter William Road. I know English and Europeans names are very popular and used extensively throughtout Guatemala as first names, but the William part as last name is not as easy to get, you have to have a father with the William last name.

So, how did Walter Williams, the founder of the Missouri School of Journalism, managed to get a piece of road of La Antigua Guatemala named after him? Come back tomorrow for the answer. Also make sure you read up on Walter Williams.

Just two days ago I was showing the original mermaids in the Santiago Museum and I said I did not have a close-up shot of the existing mermaids from the main fountain in Parque Central so you can compare them. The closes thing was the main fountain in Even the Fountains Take a Break. Thanks to Christina from Omaha DP for providing a link to a close up of the mermaids from her last trip to Guatemala. That day I went to take a few shots on my lunch hour so I can do this follow up. Here is an even closer look at the mermaids; there are four of them.

Tomorrow, May 10th, is Mother’s Day in Guatemala. I am sending big hugs and kisses to my own mother now living in Las Vegas; I miss you very much!

Tags: Antigua Guatemala Daily Photo / Antigua / Guatemala / Mermaids Fountain / Central Park / Parque Central