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One sees clearly only with the heart. What is essential is invisible to the eye. —Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

On ne voit bien qu’avec le cœur. L’essentiel est invisible pour les yeux. —Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

It’s nice to see the patients from Obras Sociales del Hermano Pedro Hospital or the elders from Fray Rodrigo de La Cruz elderly home enjoying the magic energy found most of the time at Plaza Mayor, better known as Parque Central.

Because of its confortable temperate weather La Antigua Guatemala is also a popular destination for retiring and convalescing. It’s said that Antoine de Saint-Exupéry The Little Prince while convalescing in Antigua Guatemala and Lake Atitlán.

The Little Prince (French: ”Le Petit Prince”), first published in 1943, was voted the best book of 20th century in France, and maintains worldwide sales of over one million copies per year. It has been translated into more than 230 languages and dialects, and has sold more than 200 million copies worldwide, making it one of the best-selling books ever published. It is the most read and also the most translated book in the French language (source Wikipedia).

Don’t you agree with me that there’s a magical energy emanating from Antigua Guatemala?

I have said it often and I even declared it as irrefutable fact: the best place to have ice cream in Antigua Guatemala has to be the Plaza Mayor (main plaza), better known as Parque Central. So, it comes as no surprise that there are seven ice cream shops within one block from parque central; maybe more. Still, if you don’t believe me ask these three happy-ice-cream-eating nuns.

One more thing, remember that the ice cream in Guatemala is unbelievably delicious because it is the real McCoy.

If you don’t know the Guatemalan artists Ricardo Arjona and Gaby Moreno this is your chance to catch them both doing a duet arrangement. They are the most famous and popular Guatemalan artists abroad. (more…)

La Antigua Guatemala is very culturally rich and enchanting town; thus it comes as no surprise that La Antigua Guatemala is the premier touristic destination in Central America. Antigua Guatemala has evolved into a cosmopolitan city to accommodate travelers and tourists who choose to spend some time in this 500-year old Spanish Colonial Town embedded between coffee plantations, flower farms and volcanoes in the highlands of Northern Central America.

So far most of the visitors have come from North America and Europe. However, it is quite common to see Asian tourists stroll around town; and when I mean Asians, I mean the entire continent.

In the words of Jeannine who recently commented about Antigua Guatemala:

…it feels sooo good to know that I’ll be back in one of my favorite cities in the world !! ( though for me it’s more like a nice little village actually, cause people are so kind and open, everyone says hello, you can always find strangers to chat with in Parque Central and when you’re there for two weeks, you always seem to meet the same people all over town almost every day. I so love Antigua and reading your blog every day makes the time till the next vacation shorter ;o) !

How about you, do you feel welcome when you’re in La Antigua Guatemala?

Believe it or not, in Antigua Guatemala we can sense the dry season is approaching. Take the picture above for instance, it was taken after we had some rain. In my Diarios del Móvil (Mobile Dairy) I commented that I can smell the end of the rainy season in Antigua Guatemala and some people in Facebook began asking how do I know.

Well, I believe that one important factor are the winds blowing from the north which are cold and have a different smell. The winds I believe push the clouds away and clean the sky line. Another important detail is the position of Earth around the Sun which makes for a magical light that makes everything even more enchanting. That’s how we know.

If you have never visited Antigua Guatemala during the dry season (November through April) you’re missing out the best of what Antigua Guatemala. If I was you, I would start looking for inexpensive flight tickets right away.

It’s your turn to write the caption. The most original caption will win this photo as a post card. Good luck!

This past weekend the municipal government promoted the work of the artisans from the villages around Antigua Guatemala through handicraft fair at the Plaza Mayor and what better sound track than to have live marimba music.

That’s why the Kaqchikel Marimba played at the Main Plaza; normally they are found at Calle del Arco on the weekends. I was walking by while they were taking a break and ask if I could take there portrait; they said NO and then they laughed. I guess they are so used to having their picture taken that they were surprised that someone actually asked permission.

Here’s a sampling of their live performance at Calle del Arco. Enjoy!

This plaza located in colonial La Candelaria, on the road that takes you to Cerro de la Cruz is the most recent park that I am aware of. To be honest, I am not sure if there was a plaza here before and it was just renovated or if it’s a brand new park.

Does anybody know?

As every year, there’s a book fair as part of the festivities of Santiago, Saint James, La Antigua Guatemala’s patron saint. As you might already know, Santiago de Guatemala was the former name of La Antigua Guatemala and thus Saint James has been the patron since the funding of the city in July 25, 1524 first at Tecpán, then 1527 in Ciudad Vieja and 1541 in what we call today Antigua Guatemala.

So the actual date for the Saint James patron day is the July 25, but the activities begin about three to four weeks earlier and normally go beyond a week after the 25th. This week, for instance, the book fair stands were set up at Parque Central.

If you’re looking for good offers on Guatemalan books in Spanish and English this is your chance. Also, Guatemala’s International Book Fair, FILGUA, is also happening this week in Guatemala City.

Tomorrow will be the world famous half marathon Las Rosas. Follow the white rabbit to see images and information from the Half Marathon Las Rosas from last year.

I am sure most people in La Antigua Guatemala don’t know about this monument or its location. In fact, this monument gives name to the plaza where it stands. Plaza Isabel La Católica is located at the cross roads of Calle Ancha and 6a avenida norte. From this corner you can go to San Felipe de Jesús and Jocotenango.

What other things can I do near Plaza Isabel La Católica?

Do all local governments tag or label every public work they execute? I ask because this is something I never noticed before coming back to Guatemala, but here every bench, post, park, bridge, et cetera is tagged or labeled with a sign, or like in this case, the label is built into the bench itself.

How is done in the city where you live?

Parque Central, as we informally call the Plaza Mayor (Main Plaza), is among the favorite photo session locations in La Antigua Guatemala. Heck, there are a half a dozen photographers who make their living there as shown in Pueblo Chico, Chisme Grande and Photographing the Photographers. Wedding photographers also like to use Parque Central as backdrop for their photo session as shown in Antigua Guatemala as Wedding Destination. Of course, Quinceañera photo shoots are also quite popular in Parque Central.

Normally you could see a couple volcanoes in the background and deep blue skies above the tree canopy. Yes, we demand our gorgeous blue skies and weather back. Do you know where our temperate eternal Spring has gone?

Ephemiredes Aside: On June 30 is observed the Día del Ejército (Army Day holiday) in Guatemala, and on July 1 the Día del empleado bancario (Guatemalan Banker’s holiday); which really all it amounts to is that the banks will be closed for two days. However, new holiday laws that were enacted last year which move holidays that fall in the middle of the week to Monday or Friday so that Guatemalans can have long weekend and perhaps do some traveling within the country. For that reason, INGUAT launched a “Internal Tourism Campaigns” a couple of weeks. In other words, Día del Ejército holiday will be tomorrow. Most banks will be closed on Friday and Monday.

Every once in a while the readers of AntiguaDailyPhoto participate in a creative exercise: to invite a plausible dialogue or conversation among the characters that appear in the pictures. That’s right, that means YOU reading this text right now.

I will help you get started by sharing with you that the three men above are tourist guides. Of course, you can make them work in whatever lends to your creative conversation.

If you need to read some of the previous creative exercises to get the creative fluids going, follow the white rabbit to the comment section in the following entries:

• The Cucurucho and The Photographer
• Arch-framed Women in Jocotenango
• Opposite ends of life #2

Perhaps it is the fact that La Antigua Guatemala is surrounded by so many coffee plantations and fincas (farms) as well as protected areas that birdwatching does not require far away trips. In fact, just go to a park or restaurant with trees to be able to watch birds. The bird above was capture from the window of the Duane Carter Library, La Biblioteca as we call it, located on Portal de las Panaderas, above G&T bank, right across from Parque Central.

Of course, if you want to watch birds as well as enjoy the quiet and peace of the highland forest around Antigua Guatemala, contact Filadelfia Resort and Tours where you can do birdwatching and canopy tours as well as coffee tours. Filadelfia Resort and Tours is located in San Felipe de Jesús, a village about three kilometers from La Antigua Guatemala, but with access to protected forest land with lots of bird tweeting.

By the way, does anybody know the name and species of the bird in the picture above?

Police patrol trucks, really? I am sure that’s a normal question asked when people are told that all police patrol units in Guatemala are actually trucks; well most of them for sure. I believe police trucks are used in Mexico and Central America, but I am not sure if they use trucks anywhere else as police patrol vehicles.

Have you seen police trucks in other countries outside of Central America and Mexico?