La Antigua Guatemala Daily Photo

Somethings are changing in the Guatemalan lifestyle. Others, luckily, remain the same, like hot-just-out-of-the-oven bread delivery in the rainy afternoons in La Antigua Guatemala.

Here we see an indigenous woman purchasing some pan frances and sweet bread to prepare the afternoon “refa” (short for refacción or snack break), the only refacción some people got in their childhood even though there is also a morning refacción.

The smell of the hot Guatemalan bread can make you stop for a bit from a busy schedule, like it did to me just the other day. I bought a cubilete and one champurrada to dunk in my cup of coffee.

What kind of bread would you buy from the panadero delivery?

It is not unusual to find people selling handicrafts, furniture, orchids, telephones, pens and pencils and anything really; so it comes as no surprise to see an indigenous woman selling paintings with La Antigua Guatemala motifs.

These costumbrismo paintings are done by local painters sitting on small stool right on the streets.

I am sure one day I will find one of my photos as a painting… I know for a fact that’s already happened since a couple of artists from abroad asked permission to use them as reference.

Now, here’s a little surprise I am going to let you in… beginning next Monday, I too will be selling my photos through this site. You will be able to order very affordable signed (or not) 4″x6″, 8″x10″ and 11″x14″ prints in color, black and white or sepia on glossy, matte, luster or metallic paper of any photo available at La Antigua Guatemala Daily Photo. Stay tune for more details or contact me if you just can’t wait.

The indigenous people of Guatemala rarely show their love in public; affection yes, but kissing kind of love, very seldom. Perhaps, this reservation is another aspect of the Guatemalan identity.

What do you guys think?

Before what we know today as Guatemala vanishes into the fragile realm of memory, I am glad I can take some mementos to help me remember once I become yet another winter sleeper.

I know it is very difficult to love or even understand this tiny banana republic, full of contrasts and contradictions. I know, it makes no sense to mourn it, to lament all the stuff that is being lost as I type this sentence. I know.

Cazuza was right: Time doesn’t stop! (O Tempo Não Pára)

I came across this 7-minute video tour about Guatemala. I would like to share it with you. Below the video, there is a fragment of Luis Cardoza y Aragón’s poem Why do we lover our land?!

We don’t love our land because of its great size and power,
because of its weakness or tiny size,
because of its snow and white nights or its solar rain,
We love it, simply because is ours.
— Luis Cardoza y Aragón (fragment from the entry Why Do We Love Our Land?

I dedicate this video and poem to Sompopo, who, one day, will find the means to visit this land.

I hope you guys and gals enjoy them and let me know your feelings about them.

The Guatemalan way of life is rapidly disappearing right in front of our eyes. Today’s entry is such a case, as the image of women taking their maize to mill to make masa (maize dough) is fading away. Recently, I read an article in Prensa Libre which stated that people are abandoning the use of ‘real’ maize to make masa in favor of corn flour because the price difference was now so tiny that it made economic sense to abandon the use of maize.
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ACT 1:
So there I was, consumed by own thoughts, after having had a few moments at the Benches at the Museo del Libro Antiguo pondering the big tough questions in life, walking back to the office and I glanced over to my right and saw the wonderful light bathing the La Antigua Guatemala Cathedral (oh, life is beautiful and full of these tiny moments, I said to myself). A few more steps and I immediately saw a photo opportunity as there was a Guatemalan military chicken bus parked right in front of the Cathedral. See exhibit 1 below (first photo from the left).
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In my opinion, it was a nice gesture to let handicrafts into the hallways of the Museo del Libro Antiguo (Old Book Museum) through the month of May. The handicrafts add some vibrant colors to the otherwise muted color palette of the museum.

I have some more shots from this encounter… would you like to see them?

Through our mothers’ safety zone we learn to crawl, walk, run, swim and fly! It is only fair that we assign one day out of the year to celebrate their unconditional support and the safety zone they provide for us.

In Guatemala, it is on May 10th that Mother’s Day is celebrated as “Día de la Madre.”

I wish a very happy Mother’s Day to all the mommies out there and a very special Gracias to my own mother for teaching me how to be a fairly decent human being (I think! ) most of the time.

Can you guess what’s in the big bag?

The fresh produce available at the Farmers’ Fair and at the market are so irresistible. As you can see in the picture above, many people took advantage of the produce available at the fair instead of going all the way to el mercado.

Today’s Palm Sunday or Domingo de Ramos as today’s known in the Catholic Realm. Last year, Domingo de Ramos fell on April 1st and the photo of the day was the palm flower arrangements available in the La Antigua Guatemala’s market.

Today’s photo is very similar to last year’s, but this time the photo was captured in the atrium of San Francisco El Grande Church.

Today’s photo also marks the official beginning of the Holy Week or the Semana Santa. Stay tune we will be covering the big business of Semana Santa!

These Indigenous people came from Santa Clara La Laguna, Solola, to sing and collect some money from the good Samaritans visiting or living in La Antigua Guatemala. Everything was fine until the Municipal Police decided this was too exotic and this kind of activity may seemed too third world.

I find the singing of the indigenous people extremely haunting and touching, even though, they are singing evangelical hymns. To me this singing has another layer of pain and denouncing which is above the meaning of the words they sing; something much older and more mystical than the religious hymns brought by the European Christianity.

I don’t know, maybe I hearing more than what really is there… what do you think?

Once again Manolo, in his effort to become the pebble in my shoe, points out that I am such a voyeur… Can you believe that! Manolo made such comment about the capture of a group of women tourists taking a sunbath in a public place, La Fuente Restaurant to be precise, while having lunch or a snack break.

I do not think I am crossing the line since I am capturing everyday life scene as I come across them; sometimes influenced by your comments and suggestions. Nevertheless, it is a good idea to check that I am not crossing the line of capturing private moments, so I found this great discussion about Street photography or voyeurism at photo.net, one my original favorite site (boy, we are talking all the way back to the mid 1990s). Anyway, I leave a teaser quote by Barry Fisher who said this:

…Often the object is moving anyways. I have no simple answer as to when or not to. If I really think someone is going to object or they’ve actually indicated they don’t want to be photographed, I will usually honor that but then, for me, its a balancing test of many factors. I suppose it has more to do of how you identify with personal space. If you believe or are in a frame of mind that “we are all here in public sharing space and time, and I’m going to capture the wonder of it all” then I suppose you won’t think of it as being voyeuristic. But if you feel like you are capturing people’s private moments even stealing them, like we all must at sometimes, then you are a voyeur at that moment. Do you have a problem accepting that you may be a voyeur? —Barry Fisher at Photo.net

We are talking about voyeurism as in the act of observing people without the sexual gratification which is normally associated with the word; just to clarify it. I believe that I do tend to be a voyeur or obsessive observer when it comes to capture the most natural street life scenes. My goal is to capture the intriguing split-second scene. I do not like posed photographs, especially posed street photos because once the subject is aware of the lens the natural feel is lost; the window that I open for you into the daily life of La Antigua Guatemala is broken.

Yet, sometimes I ask permission before actually clicking the shutter and once the permit is granted I wait until the subject goes back to the natural state; less defensive mood. Such was the case for this shot of Jacque (Jack in English he said) drawing this colorful chicken bus in front of Hotel Aurora.

Is this voyeuristic enough for you (Manolo)? Or is it just an honest shot of what you may encounter yourself while strolling around the streets of La Antigua Guatemala? What is it?

Like these two ladies, many Guatemalans sit to talk about the future under the new Social Democratic Government that will take office tomorrow, January 14, 2008. Like these two ladies, many have esperanza (hope) in the future with a new Social Democratic president. Like these two ladies, many wonder if the new Social Democratic cabinet will be more inclusive and responsive to the needs of the masses and hope that just having one woman Ministra and one indigenous Ministro (Secretary of an executive department) in a country where 60% of the population are indigenous and at least, if not more, 50% of the population are women, will not be a handicap when the times comes to address the needs of the aforementioned people, which in turn represent the majority of the population. Like these two ladies, many Guatemalans hope for an end to the violent crimes, femicides, insecurity, discrimination on the basis of gender and ethnic background and injustice; just to mention the most pressing issues. Like these two ladies, Guatemalans just want the promised “Solid and Everlasting Peace” in the Peace Accords of 1996.

Let’s hope for the better…

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.