La Antigua Guatemala Daily Photo

This is the façade of Café No Sé in La Antigua Guatemala, headquarters of the John Rexer’s 1a avenida sur empire. His efforts to take control over the whole 1a avenida sur (1st Avenue South) are a little more humble than Pinky and The Brain Gutiérrez who want the whole world to convert to their tender, juicy and crunchy recipe of fried chicken.

Now onto other subjects, did you know that last Wednesday, February 6th, was Ash Wednesday, the official beginning of Lent or Cuaresma as it’s known in La Antigua Guatemala.

Are you ready for 40 days of religious and cultural celebrations prior to the Holy Week?

The bar man is waiting for the hippies customers to show up… even though it looks empty in the early afternoon, you can barely fit inside at night. If you like live music and a bohemian atmosphere, Café No Sé is your place in town.

Yes Manolo, the weather gods are on LAG side. Above you see a group of tourists having the Sun for lunch and enjoying it too. Yes the temperate weather gods have been given La Antigua Guatemala temperatures between 68 and 74 degrees Fahrenheit in the harshest Winter month. Oh boy, life is wonderful in La Antigua Guatemala…

Don’t you wish you could be in La Antigua Guatemala having a bath of this wonderful sunshine?

The Casa del Conde doorway is bound to bring some tears and sweet nostalgic memories to many of LAGDP visitors. See, La Casa del Conde or Café Condesa as it is widely known is one of the La Antigua Guatemala landmarks and of the places to get a cup of the coffee in town. It is interesting that for being a landmark of this colonial town, I just barely show it to you… I guess I like to take the long way home. But others have mentioned it before in Antigüeño Breakfast at Rainbow Cafe and Chef Salad from Café Concepción (BTW, this restaurant does not exist anymore).

Like I said, many visitors to La Antigua Guatemala Daily Photos have memories of this place; would you mind sharing your experiences at Café Condesa or at any of the businesses at Casa del Conde?

Bistrot Cinq is the newest kid on the block of La Antigua Guatemala restaurants. It is an upscale bistro with exquisite decoration. I know restaurant decoration should be different than home decoration, but honest I want to move here. I guess for now at least I should go try the food. I will post my report later on. Stay tune!

Even fast-food restaurant have exquisite architectonic details to make them be in harmony with the colonial architecture of La Antigua Guatemala. Maybe you remember the fountain inside the Burger King’s restaurant shown here back in April 10th.

Don’t let anybody, including me, take away the pleasure of visiting this fast-food restaurants, if your conscience/soul/principles/memories/nostalgia/health allows for it. I promise you I am NOT, by any means, the exorcist! I AM, however, the native informant.

It is not difficult to find internet access to check your emails while taking a break from Spanish classes. As you can see, even McDonald’s would give you free internet access and a computer if you trade your soul.

From the tables of Cafe Micho’s, right across yesterday’s fountain, in the corridor facing south of the Jaulón building, you can meet with friends and family for coffee or beers, or simply enjoy a sandwich from one the best bistros/pubs in town. The tables all face to the central patio, with the fountain slightly off-center. You can enter this beautifully restored building from the east and south entrances; from the south entrance you enter the Jaulón building through and arched doorway.

Cafe Micho’s is a great place to have a dark Moza beer (a bock type brew and my favorite beer from Guatemala), while taking a breaking from all this walking around town.

La Naranja Pelada restaurant either falls under the category of tacky or kitsch; you decide! Besides all the specimens on the walls don’t go with us. To have stuffed animals in the brink of extinction like the caimán (cayman) shown above is enough for us to go elsewhere. The reasons I have to show all the recent photos of La Naranaja Pelada have to do with documenting a place with a little fame because of the ceviches they serve there. Seviches are a very important Guatemalan dish and very popular snack/meal around La Antigua Guatemala. I also found La Naranaja Pelada to be very tacky and kitsch. There is still one more shot about La Naranaja Pelada and then we will wave our goodbyes.

What is your opinion about La Naranaja Pelada, based solely on the photos and copy you seen so far?

Guy’s description of the restaurant fit it to the t: “…wood-panelled and decorated with specimens of local ‘game’ such as snakes, turtles and armadilloes.” La Naranja Pelada restaurant falls into the tacky category of restaurants or bars that have an exotic, underground sort of, appeal for intellectuals and ordinary people alike. Another example of this is the bar El Olvido in Guatemala City. I dislike most of what I saw inside La Naranja Pelada (peeled orange), but especially the animal decoration on the walls and bar. Also the full-size ‘Marlboro Man’ poster is of poor taste in my book. This weekend We rented the film Thank You for Smoking directed by Jason Reitman and there was a chapter about the Marlboro Man who was dying from all the years of smoking. Talk about synchronicity.

Just about now, many of you may be asking where I am going with this mini-series, right? Well, be patient. I am almost there… to be continued.

Crea fama y acuéstate a dormir. —anónimo (Create fame, then sleep. —Anonymous)

The first time I ever heard about La Naranja Pelada (The Peeled Orange) was at Inner Diablog, a blog published from London but filled with hindsight and hard-to-find information about Guatemala. On top of all, Guy writes so eloquently that it is a pleasure to read his entries. Honest, Guy’s blog and his writing is an inspiration to me. Check it out!

In the area around Antigua the best ceviches are to be found in a small seafood restaurant on a backstreet of Jocotenango called La Naranja Pelada. The dining room is wood-panelled and decorated with specimens of local ‘game’ such as snakes, turtles and armadilloes. (source: Inner Diablog)

The second time I read about La Naranja Pelada was about a meeting of Guatemalan writers that took place there. Then I read a recommendation by Pepe Zarco, one of the columnist of Prensa Libre.

This was enough to pique my curiosity. I have to find the La Naranja Pelada… To be continued

Wi-Fi access is becoming so wide spread around Antigua Guatemala that soon you may be able to stand in any corner and get two or three free access points. Y tu piña también is yet another unique coffee house which serves rich aromatic Antigua coffee, Guatemalan licuados (fresh fruit smoothies) with piquete from a wide selection of mezcal shots, fresh fruits and vegetable salads, cookies, exotic pastries and Wi-Fi access so you can check the daily photos from around the world; all while listening to the best selection of world music.

Boy oh boy, bagels, English muffins, exotic pastries, all the cookies in the rainbow, the best coffee and Wi-Fi internet access can almost make you forget you are in a Spanish colonial town embedded between coffee plantations, flower farms and volcanoes in the central mountain range of this tiny banana baby-exporting republic known as Guatemala.

The Bagel Barn is one of those rare places that offer magnificent coffee, light and tasteful bagel sandwiches and free WIFI so you can update your blog or site if you bring a laptop with wireless connection. I showed the Bagel Barn blackboard menu before to talk about WIFI access points throughout Antigua Guatemala. Free WIFI access points —wireless internet access for those who don’t know what wifi is— are actually available in many restaurants and cafes around Antigua. You can check you email, look at some photos on Flickr or watch videos on Youtube, on Pollo Campero, McDonald’s, Burger King and other small bistros. Boy! how I wish I had a new laptop.

The photo above is not very good, but I sure you can still see the metal coffee-bean back on the chairs. Is WIFI freely available in your hometown?

Tags: Antigua Guatemala Daily Photo / Antigua / Guatemala / coffee / bagels / WIFI