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These news may come as total shock to some of you, but I figure today is as good day as any to let you know that because of Antigua Guatemala’s preservation and protection laws there can not be parking meters. Believe me that’s a good thing. However the municipal government may not agree with me since that means they lose yet another way to tax us. Well, that’s how it used to be until not too long ago when a mayor realized that the city could by law charge for parking without installing the parking meters. Nevertheless, the government officials knew that they could not pass the legislation needed if they tax the people who actually live here. I know city governments all over the world do charge for public parking to its own neighbors, but trust me when I say this could not be possible in Antigua Guatemala. Thus, they created these parking permit decals for antigüeños that go on your front windshield and pretty much exempts your from having to pay the Q10 per day for parking as everyone else. Once a year you have to go to the transit or treasure department and prove that you live here by way of showing your DPI (Guatemala’s national ID) or the title of your property, the circulation cards for your vehicles and show your boleto de ornato (decoration ticket) which is a variable obligatory tax that Guatemalans must pay every year to their local municipality. Ornato is Guatemalan Spanish for the aesthetic or beauty of town or place.

And with today’s entry we begin a mini series about the parking problems of Antigua Guatemala. Each day I will bring different issues regarding the parking situation of Antigua Guatemala.

Día de la Candelaria (Candlemas) Aside: Around Antigua Guatemala, many people keep their Nacimientos and Christmas decorations until February 2nd, Día de la Candelaria (Candlemas), which incidentally is Groundhog Day in the United States. The day after February 2nd the Christmas lights around Antigua’s Main Plaza will be pick up and put away.

Now it’s time to begin preparation for Carnival first, and then Lent which begins on Ash Wednesday.

Let’s do an observation experiment. What things do you find interesting in the picture above?

One of the things about cultural and traditional events that I like is that they are people magnets and it’s so much easier to photograph people and situations that normally are difficult. Take as an example the photograph of the Guatemalan lady and the Maya man from yesterday or the ease with I was able to capture these Maya teenagers while they pay attention to the Mayan ceremony (see video clip from two days ago).

Oh what a culturally rich and diverse country is Guatemala for being such a small territory, don’t you think?

As I said before, it is impossible to think of the Guatemalan, Mexican and Mesoamerican diet without maize. From the Popul Vuh (Popol Wuj in modern spelling), the Mayan equivalent of the Bible, which states that humans were literally created from maize, to Miguel Ángel Asturias‘ novel Hombres de maíz (Men of Maize) which is one of the best novels to understand Mesoamerica and its people. Guatemala and Mexico share the birth place of maize, which was and is the most important crop in human history. The richest diversity of maize can be found in Mesoamerica!

Many of the dishes of the Guatemalan cuisine are based on the milpa crops. The term milpa refers normally to a maize field, but it is so much more. In a milpa field there a dozen crops at once: maize, avocados, multiple kinds of squash, chiles (hot pepper chilli), beans, tomatoes, tomatillos, camotes (sweet potatoes), jicama (a tuber also known as sengkwang, yam bean, singkamas, Mexican turnip), amaranth (also called pigweeds) and mucuma (a tropical legume). “Milpa crops are nutritionally and environmentally complementary.” said Charles C. Mann in his book 1491. H. Garrison Wilkes, a maize researcher at University of Massachusetts in Boston is quoted in the same book, “The milpa is one of the most successful human inventions ever created.”

Interested gender aside: I believe that every time I have made a reference to Hombres de maíz I have used pictures of women. So, that’s why I am entitling today’s entry as women of maize.

Let’s do it!

The most creative caption will win this photo as a post card mailed through post office in Antigua Guatemala. This time will close the contest after 7 captions, so get yours early on if you want to have a chance a winning. We have done this creative exercise before, take a look at the following entries for ideas and inspiration. Good luck to all participants!

• All Aboard Now
• Invent A Tour Guides Conversation
• The Cucurucho and The Photographer
• Arch-framed Women in Jocotenango
• Opposite ends of life #2

What better way to start the new year than with a brand new clay comal to cook the best tasting tortillas. A comal like the ones shown above will set you back Q30/$2.75 if I recall correctly. Sadly, clay comales are disappearing as most tortillerías now are using metal comales with gas instead of leña (logs) which was used with the traditional terra-cotta comal. On the post Making Guatemalan Tortillas you can see the new comal being used in many tortillerías versus the traditional comal as shown on the post How to make the perfect Guatemalan Tortilla.

If you have had the opportunity to try tortillas made with each kind of comal, which one do your prefer? Do you think there’s a difference in the taste?

Everyone needs to take a break every once in a while, I am taking mine right now; best wishes for this new week and please take it slowly.

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…)

Can anybody help me understand why a country with a +55% population of indigenous Maya hires European-looking models to dress as Maya indigenous women?

Please help me comprehend what’s wrong with our indigenous women that Guatemala’s Tourism Board hires light-skin ladinas and white women to represent our women?

I need help understanding what’s wrong with the other 45% of the population? Don’t mestizos, ladinos, blacks and whites fit the “Guatemalan profile”?

Please, do not get the wrong idea, not all Guatemalan women wear the colorful Mayan textiles and the Guatemalan society is so much more complex than this cartoonish image which is being promoted by the Tourism board. If you don’t believe, take a trip through the Guatemalan Women category to see the full rainbow of possibilities.

The basket business could easily be another series about the ambulant food vendors who make a living selling all kinds food from a canasta (basket). These canastas can be used to carry and/or sell all sorts of things like tortillas, atoles (thick drinks), panes (bread), dobladas, tostadas, beef stews, fruits and vegetables, flowers, or tamales like in the picture above.

What other things have you seen in these baskets?

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.

That’s right, it’s already May, which marks the commencement of the rainy season, thus the umbrella time. We haven’t seen the Sompopos de mayo yet, but they are not as punctual as they used to be. We’re a bit late as well since we should’ve made the rainy season announcement last week, like Hugo Muralles did in GuatemalaDailyPhoto.com with a photo of a drenched flower still holding onto some rain drops.

Do you know what Sompopos are? If not read our Myths and Facts about the Guatemalan Sompopo and follow the white rabbit to all the photos and posts regarding Sompopos.

Happy Guatemalan Mother’s Day!

I especially wish a Happy Mother’s Day to my own madre. As Luna McCarthy mentioned in XelaDailyPhoto this morning: Mother’s Day always falls on May 10 in Guatemala, as opposed to many countries where it falls on the 2nd Sunday of May.

Today is also a holiday for mothers in Guatemala, so moms get the day off from work. There are numerous traffic reports in Twitter about how light the traffic is today in Guatemala City. Some even wonder if all the traffic is actually generated by the working mommies. Follow the hash tag #traficoGT to read all the reports.

Mother’s Day observed in AntiguaDailyPhoto in previous years:

In 2010, I cherished memories of my mom and I eating POPS ice cream when I was a kid. Although, in general, I don’t like sweets, I have never passed up the opportunity to eat ice cream; now I know why. I would like send a very special Gracias to my own mother for teaching me how to be a fairly decent human being (most of the time; I think!). I am glad I was able to spend some time with you recently.

In 2009 we had a contest to win a signed 4×6 post card with Guatemalan stamps to the first person that could correctly tell what Mayan language the Mayan mothers speak.

In 2008, I showed you an indigenous mother helping her son to overcome his fears in the entry Mother’s Safety Zone.

In 2007 I posted a very long entry showing you three kinds of Guatemalan mothers: the cowgirl mother, the urban rocker mom, and the indigenous mamá in the entry May 10th: Mother’s Day in Guatemala. I also touched the subject of inter-country adoptions which was it was hot topic back then. That’s no longer an issue, but if you want to go back in time to read about those three kinds of moms and the adoption issues, follow the white rabbit.

I wonder what what is she thinking, I wonder what are the Guatemalan women thinking about on this International Women’s Day?

In Guatemala, more than in other place in the world, there is a need for caring and protecting women’s rights. My best wishes to all the women of the world on your day and always, as every day should be women’s day.

I believe I’ve been talking way too much. It is your turn to talk now. AntiguaDailyPhoto is fun if we both talk. So, I am all ears; what’s up?