AntiguaDailyPhoto.Com

Here’s a rainy season vista from A Room With A View. Believe it or not, La Antigua Guatemala always shows its most beautiful face even when the heavens cry incessantly. Don’t you agree?

I am so looking forward to the end of the rainy season. I want blue skies and rich, saturated colors again.

There is a lot of activity around Parque Central even when it’s raining. If you pay attention while having a cup of coffee at Café Barista you can even spot a Belgian car on the street or other unexpected things. This was interesting, as it is every once in a while when unexpected things show up while reviewing your photos. I only noticed the Belgians after going over the photographs, but does anybody know these Belgians?

Guatemala has many traditions that have remained until now and will hopefully remain for centuries to come. One, as you already know are the rich colors found in foods, landscapes, nature, textiles, walls, etc., and even in ideas.

Have you heard of Incaparina? It was invented by a Guatemalan to fight malnutrition. The words that make up the name Incaparina come from “INCAP” and “harina” (flour), as the Guatemalan researcher was working at INCAP. Incaparina still exists, and other nutritional foods have been invented as well, but no one like its Incaparina.

In different ways, even politics are involved in different levels in what I tried to convey above. Yesterday was Guatemala’s Independence Day. Do you know what other countries celebrate their Independence on this same day? Which countries do you know that have other dates to be considered as their “true” Independence Day? When do you think should Guatemala’s true Independence be celebrated?

Anyway, do you consider your home country to be truly independent?

Nylon becomes ubiquituos in Guatemala during the rainy season. Nylon is quite possibly the cheapest protection one can buy against the rain. You can even find nylon capes everywhere. The picture above was taken at El Carmen handicraft outdoor market which appears like magic on the weekends on the street in front of El Carmen ruins.

Don’t be fool by all recent posts; we’re in the middle of the rainy days. This photo shows the clouds moving in from the east, a heavy downpour that was pounding hard Guatemala City with hail storm.

Some people love the rainy season in Guatemala; others, like myself, prefer the dry season. Nevertheless, the rainy season is very important for the cycle of life.

Do you prefer the rainy or dry season?

The commonly used expression, “Those who ignore history are bound (or doomed) to repeat it” is actually a mis-quotation of the original text written by George Santayana, who, in his Reason in Common Sense, The Life of Reason, Vol.1, wrote “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” Rooted in the philosophies of Socrates, Plato, Aristotle and many others to follow, his biography (1863-1952) and more contemporary intepretations and observations about man and life can be found at Wikipedia by searching for George Santayana. Stanford University online also provides an outstanding and much more detailed background on this important and profound philosopher, essayist, poet and novelist.

Santayana’s quotation, in turn, was a slight modification of an Edmund Burke (1729-1797) statement, “Those who don’t know history are destined to repeat it.” (source: Wikianswers)

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.

Call it synchronicity or better yet, serendipity because that’s the story behind this simple rainy season vista. For a while now I have decided I wanted to take a photograph of a corner while leaving enough of the perpendicular street and the next block on the frame to make an interesting composition. Think of it as more refine corner shot than the one appearing in Quotidian Corner Life; which is by the way the diagonally opposite corner from where I took this photo. As I have mentioned before, corners are among my favorite places to take daily snapshots of La Antigua Guatemala since there’s so much going on at the crossroads.

Anyway, here I am coming back from a mandado, errand, as I see a picture forming in my head with the repetitive patters of the water bottles, perhaps a new take on the Agua Pura Salvavidas post from 2006 I said to myself; the yellow corner, and the following street with the houses at a perpendicular perspective. That’s it, I pulled out my camera, moved closer to wall so the rain would not fall on the camera, configure the aperture, shutter speed and white balance to capture the scene and begin framing the composition. In the viewfinder I saw the silhouettes of some girls walking by so close to me that I could not see anything else. I was trying to recomposition the photo when I heard one of the girls saying “Take my photo,” as she walked across the street and stood next to the water bottles. Certainly she was not talking to me so I got my face out of the viewfinder to see the other girls standing next to me with a camera on hand. Fine, be part of my photo I said to myself as I put my eye on the viewfinder and just as I was ready the press the shutter button, a line of people with umbrellas formed on the perpendicular street.

Just as the Universe sometimes aligns against you, other times the Universe just puts all the pieces in place for us to steal an image from the never-stopping chaos which we call life.

Synchronicity click.
Serendipity click.

Today’s photograph could be considered a follow up to Monk in San Francisco El Grande Church photograph taken during the dry season. Don’t you agree?

Even though it is difficult to see, these rain threads are an actual record of heavy rains. Boy oh boy, when it rains in Guatemala it really pours. Sometimes it feels like a lake was just pour over La Antigua Guatemala in less than hour.

Anyway, here’s a simple image showing a downpour at the Antigua Compañía de Jesús or the former Company of Jesus monastery. I hope you like it.

Okay, I want answers, I want the truth!

What are you people up north doing to sabotage our gorgeous, Spring-like, best-time-of-the-year Dry season? Come on, it has to be you. We never have rain in February, even if it’s a loco month. Come on you people, surely we understand how horrible and tough your winters can be; we feel for you, we do. But, please, don’t take your frustration on us, your kind neighbors to the south with perfect temperate weather. If you need a break from your harsh winter, come on down to perfect-weather Antigua Guatemala. You will be welcome and we’ll enjoy your company in the XI Festival Internacional De Cultura Paiz and in the International Jazz Festival. Honest, we will be the warmest hosts you have ever known. So, please, stop messing around with our weather.

Here’s a follow up image to Rain Drops, which because of the extreme close-up was unclear that you were looking at a chili. Today’s image also shows you the benefits that come with the rainy season, an abundance of green and the fruits of Earth.

Have you ever wonder why Guatemala is so exuberant green?

What better way to capture the beauty of the rainy season than with rain drops?

I have decided that instead of complaining about the horrible light and photographic conditions of the rainy season I am going to take it as a challenge to capture its beauty and strength as well as its effects.

I know I can if I set myself to do it since already I have had some success capturing the rain. Surely you remember Contemplating the heavy rain, Dream of a Sunday Afternoon in Central Park, One Way to the Decisive Moment, Rain Drops over a Nopal Pad or First Official Rain of 2009; right?

What do you think, am I up to the challenge of withdrawing beautiful imagery from the rainy season?

[gmap]

Today we had the first official rainfall of the rainy season 2009 in La Antigua Guatemala. Even though, yesterday and a few days ago we experienced some light and fast drizzle, it was not until today that we had our fist real heavy precipitation. If you are coming to Antigua in the next following semester, make sure you pack your umbrella and raincoat.

I think the world can be easily divided in two kinds of people: the ones who like the rain and those who don’t. What about you, do you like the rain?

First Photo Retouched Aside:
By popular demand, I have digitally removed the white letters from the green umbrella. This is the first time I manipulate an image from the AntiguaDailyPhoto since from the very beginning I set myself to do all the editing at the time of shooting; thus, that’s why I always take many shots to get just one or two candidates for the AntiguaDailyPhoto stream. Anyhow, in this particular case, it would have not mattered how many shots I took since the lady did not turn her umbrella around and beside, I am almost sure the umbrella had the same publicity on both sides. I hope you forgive me for having retouched the image.