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This is the second monument I found about the Santo Hermano Pedro. The first one was spotted and photographed at the very entrance or exit of La Antigua Guatemala. Today’s imaged of the Santo Hno. Pedro de Betancourt was photographed at Plaza a la Paz.

So who was this character who has inspired so many people and that eventually became a Saint? First, here are the entries in Antigua Daily Photo related to Santo Hermano Pedro, as he is known now. Back on October 25 of 2006, I posted a forged metal lamp with his image.

Known as the “St. Francis of the Americas,” Pedro de Betancourt worked and died in Guatemala. Pedro was born into a poor family on Tenerife in the Canary Islands in 1626. He worked as a shepherd until age 24, when he began to make his way to Guatemala, hoping to connect with a relative engaged in government service there. By the time he reached Havana, Cuba he was out of money. After working there to earn more, he got to Guatemala City the following year. When he arrived he was so destitute that he joined the bread line which the Franciscans had established… As quoted from Wikipedia (click to continue reading).

I wonder how many other monuments about the Saint Brother Pedro of Betancourt there are in La Antigua Guatemala; does anybody know about any others?

What’s so special about the Esquisuchil trees around La Antigua Guatemala?

For starters, the esquisuchil trees (bourreria huanita) are very old and very few. Quite possibly, the oldest specimen is located in San Miguel Escobar where it was planted by Guatemala’s first bishop Francisco Marroquin in the 16th century. From the esquishuchil tree in San Miguel Escobar, the Santo Hermano Pedro de Betancourt (1626-1667) took pods and planted several trees around La Antigua Guatemala, being the most famous located inside the San Francisco El Grande Church; his burial grounds.

Most, if not all, of the esquisuchil trees around La Antigua Guatemala have plaques to highlight their importance and give out background information. The specimen of esquisuchil tree in the park of San Pedro Las Huertas is not an exception. If you can read Spanish, you can click the thumbnail below to read the plaque.

Tomorrow is Mother’s Day in Guatemala, let’s hope I can get a shot of all the mamas!

It is official: The California avocado is from La Antigua Guatemala. I had mentioned a couple of times that 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!

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 Saint 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?

What’s in a name? That which we call La Antigua Guatemala. By any other name would enchant us the same.

This is a BIG controversy. This is a petty controversy.

The English-language speaking community refuses to recognize the official name of La Antigua Guatemala because it is too long or lack of knowledge or poor Spanish-language skills; who knows really?. They just want to call it Antigua. But Antigua is a Caribbean Island. Yet, they refuse to call it La Antigua Guatemala, which, by the way, simply means the former Guatemala City.

To add to this confusion, many Guatemalans just call it Antigua too, although more often they say La Antigua. This error is even published by newspapers and magazine. Worst yet, the road signs just say Antigua Guatemala. Even Wikipedia just have it listed as Antigua Guatemala, which by the way means Old Guatemala.

So what is the big deal? Nothing much really. Just like Shakespeare said, a rose by any other name would still smell as sweet. I believe I have touch the subject a couple of times before, but I believed it needs further clarification. Below is the quoted text from April 30th, 2007.

… La Antigua Guatemala means almost the same thing; it could be translated as The Old Guatemala City. So, now that you know Antigua means old, you can understand that calling the city OLD or ANTIGUA is a misnomer since the word old is only the adjective modifying the name Guatemala. When people just use Antigua instead of La Antigua Guatemala is almost like if we only used “new” for New York or New Zealand or “San” for San Francisco. On top of it, the single word Antigua refers to a Caribbean Island.

Now for the really interesting part of the controversy we have to deconstruct Harry the FOUR pieces of the name. That is right I said four (4) pieces of the name. Let us begin:

LA: The article is very important because it is the only part of the name which really makes the location unique. La or The is what separates La Antigua Guatemala from any Old Guatemala.

ANTIGUA: The adjective modifies the noun Guatemala in many different ways. It could be translated as antique, old, former, ancient, previous, just to name a few. Antigua by itself does not mean La Antigua Guatemala or Former Guatemala City or The Old Guatemala City.

CIUDAD de/CITY of: This invisible part is my contribution to the controversy. This part is invisible because in Spanish sometimes we obviate the obvious. We say I am going to Guatemala/Mexico if we are in the rural areas and we mean to say our going to the capital city or to Guatemala City. When we say La Antigua Guatemala we really are saying The Old Guatemala City or The Former Guatemala City. So, believe when I say the word city is there, we just don’t pronounce it. Okay, let see if it flies.

GUATEMALA: The noun Guatemala has an invisible last name which is city. Guatemala City and Mexico City are only two of the capital cities that carry the name of the country and thus need the word city to differentiate it.

Would this entry change any minds? I hope so. It is okay to call La Antigua Guatemala, Antigua, La Antigua or Antigua Guatemala in informal situations. People do that all the time with LA (Los Angeles), NYC (Nueva York), Vegas, Frisco, et-cetera. But, it is unacceptable to use a short name in formal situations like maps, travel guides, travelblogs, newspaper articles, books, magazines, and so on. I think?!

Even though I said before that people enjoy walking and strolling La Antigua Guatemala. I sort of lied. See walking is still the best way to get to know and to enjoy La Antigua. But the problem is that the sidewalks are uneven, there are all kinds blocking part of the sidewalk and many people hit their head with the concrete or rock window sills. Sometimes the sidewalk gets broken by a driveway or the cement cover of the water meter is missing and there is huge hole where you break your foot. So I sort of lied, but you can still enjoy the strolls around Antigua Guatemala, if you are careful.

However, if you are handicapped, La Antigua Guatemala could be a nightmare. There aren’t wheelchair ramps in the corners; the sidewalks are too narrow; and you still have to deal all the problems listed above. La Antigua sin barreras (La Antigua Guatemala Without Barriers) was a project/NGO which tried to fix the sidewalks and made them wheelchair/handicap friendly. Whichever block they were able to fix, the placed a tiny handicap white-and-blue tile. You can see how small the tiles are by looking at this other photo. I don’t know whatever happened to La Antigua Guatemala Without Barriers project, but for sure they were not able to fix all the sidewalks around Antigua Guatemala. Too bad, because by fixing the sidewalks for the handicap, they were fixing the sidewalks for everybody else.

Does anybody know what happened to La Antigua Guatemala Without Barriers?

And in front of the door that I hadn’t crossed in so many years,
I remembered the small key, short and round, and how to turn it to open; the tiny hand of the door knocker, the mail box, the wood, the cord to open the door without knocking. At the end of the street, the perfect triangle of Volcán de Agua, enormous, serene and blue. —Luis Cardoza y Aragón

Luis Cardoza y Aragón was born in La Antigua Guatemala in June 21st, 1901. He was one of the best writers of Latin America and the World. He’s considered to be as good as Miguel Ángel Asturias (1967 Nobel Prize in literature) if not better. He is quite possibly the greatest mind of the last century born in La Antigua Guatemala. He was a brilliant essayist, novelist and poet. His essays in art rival those written by Octavio Paz, and some considered them better. He’s even listed as a philosopher by some professors. Luis Cardoza y Aragón bibliography is quite extensive (browse it if you want to get an overall idea of his works). You can also browse the page dedicated to him in the website literaturaguatemalteca.org and read some of his poems and works, if you can understand Spanish.

So, how come I only show you a plaque pointing to Luis Cardoza y Aragón’s birthplace and home in La Antigua Guatemala. Why don’t I go and photograph the monument, or park, or building named after him? After all, it doesn’t take much to get a road name after a person like Walter Williams who got a monument and road named after him just because he was present at the moment they inaugurated the road.

To commemorate and to honor Luis Cardoza y Aragón as one of the brightest minds of La Antigua Guatemala there are only two pieces: today’s plaque placed in the façade of his former house by his own family and another plaque in the Colegio Santo Tomás building which was posted here as Why do We Love Our Land?! For sure, La Antigua Guatemala is malinchista and ungrateful.

I leave you with another fragment of one his poems about Guatemala:

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

Translation side note: Please forgive the rough translations which I do on the fly and very freely and to the best of my abilities. For sure, a better translation exists or if one of you can do a better job, please leave that in the comments. Thanks.