La Antigua Guatemala Daily Photo

This is the technical data sign in front of the Esquisuchil Tree or Tree of Santo Hermano Pedro. Come back tomorrow for a picture of the tree and the historic and background information on this rare specimen.

Don’t we all? ¡Sí se puede! (Yes we can!)

The poster above is about a concert promoting the Human Rights in Guatemala. The concert was held in La Antigua Guatemala’s Central Park and the listed bands were Radio Viejo, Unicornio, Yoyito, Caja Lúdica, Amigos de la Marimba de San Pedro Carchá.

Human Rights are not respected nor enforced in Guatemala. From babies, women, man and everybody really, their human rights are violated often, if not daily.

I believe that the Procurador de los Derechos Humanos in Guatemala should be holding these sort of concerts and awareness campaigns at the police stations, at the adoption lawyers union, at any kind of lawyers associations, in courts, and in congress, just to name a few of the places where human rights are violated the most.

What is your view on the subject of Human Rights in Guatemala?

As the U.S. real estate market plummets, especially the sub-prime real estate, the Guatemalan real estate market grows even healthier, especially in and around La Antigua Guatemala. So much so that now some properties are sporting a NOT for sale sign as a way to keep harassment from potential buyers down. I am quite sure it is not working!

The sign above the wall can be translated as NOT for sale, Private property. What do you guys think about this sign?

Sometimes just showing a sign can be considered a political act. Today’s photo about one particular architect’s sign falls under the political act category. How can a set of architectonic values, positions and opinions be considered political? Well, if you knew JM Magaña, you would know that the architectonic changes or conservation he has implemented in La Antigua Guatemala and Guatemala City are indeed political acts. So be it, let the showing of the sign above be a political act.

Now, can you tell us how many times JM Magaña has been quoted in the La Antigua Guatemala Daily Photo?

Today we resume the sign fetish series.

How do you get this vigorous red color? First you find red wall looking west or poniente, in case you need to ask the locals where west is; that is looking toward the Fuego (Fire) and Acatenango Volcanos. Then, you wait for the warm light of the late afternoon in a cloudless day and you click to your hearts content. Simple, right?

P.S. I uploaded this image at 1200 pixels wide for those crazy enough to use it as wallpaper for you desktop.

All the weekends of Lent (Cuaresma) and during the Holy Week La Municipalidad de La Antigua Guatemala (Municipality or City Hall) imposes an entrance fee to all the visitors on wheels.

So on top of all the traffic, crowds, processions, carpeted streets, you have to bring spare change (lots of it) to pay to visit La Antigua Guatemala. Fortunately, the locals (and I mean the villages around LAG) don’t to pay to enter the city.

The sign reads: Prepare you payment for parking and demand your ticket (3 Km ahead). Fine you say, I don’t mind paying for parking, except once you have paid, you entered the city and you realized there is no special parking or anything of the kind; only the same unsafe streets.

Sol Latino is a band that plays mostly Andean and Latin American music. For a long time Sol Latino wonder around the different venues and bar/restaurant circuit in La Antigua Guatemala. Eventually, they managed to get an investor to open up a restaurant-bar so they could have their own stage where to play every night. La Peña de Sol Latino became their home base; thus, they needed to wonder no more.

Just wondering, how many signs from La Antigua Guatemala do you think I have published here?

The photo above has two traffic signs: The Stop Sign and the Must Turn sign. First you stop and then you must turn; but which way I must turn, you ask. The answer is it doesn’t matter. In Guatemala traffic signs exist to give visitors a false sense of civilized drivers. Along the roads, there are all kinds of traffic signs, including speed limit signs, which nobody obeys.

Here’s a hypothetical question for you. In Guatemala, who has the right of way among these options: pedestrian, bicycle, motorcycle, car, bus, truck, eighteen-wheeler truck? If you plan to visit Guatemala, you must know the answer before you arrive.

Are pirujos and shucos sandwiches getting out of hand? Come on, who can eat a sandwich this big.

Just to clarify, the sandwich pirujo takes its name from the pirujo bread, which is a sort of elongated French roll. On the other hand, shucos is the name giving to the Guatemalan hotdog. Both sandwiches come with guacamol, yes without the ‘e’, a sauce made with avocados.

Follow the links for pirujos and shucos if you want to learn about these Guatemalan sandwiches, which you make at home, your home, if you know how. Right?

Domain name side note: Guatemalans find the spelling of domain names enchanting and they use them as the name for their companies even though they do not own or even plan to own the actual domain name. For instance, the sign above for an internet cafe has the logo of Roy dot com, which is not by any means the domain name for that cyber cafe.

No Food, No Cameras, No Guns, No Backpackers and No Private Guards inside, the sign reads. Only in Guatemala you can find this kind of signs (I think). Guns are a big trouble, you know; people do crazy things with them and not only in Guatemala; naked guns are worn in the belts like cellphones or keychains; even banks and offices have an unusual piece of furniture to deposit customers’ guns at the entrance. Certainly Guatemala is not the only gun-crazy country in the world, nevertheless, it sad to see signs like the one above, captured at Angelina’s Doorway.

My condolences to the families and friends of the students who lost their lives yesterday in Illinois.

It is because of people like Fernando or Fernanda that the rest of us get into trouble for not showing all of our love at once. I mean what kind of nerve to plaster the whole portón (doorway) with thousands of Post-it notes with love messages.

Valentine’s Day in Guatemala is known as El Día del Cariño. Cariño and caress share the same etymology and it means affection. The Day of Affection would be a close translation for El Día del Cariño, thus it is much more than Valentine’s Day because it is the day to show your affection, love and appreciation to your co-workers, neighbors, friends, family, and of course, your girlfriend or wife; whatever the case may be.

Valentine’s Day is celebrated in Guatemala by giving ‘normally‘ flowers, chocolates, cards and whatever your creativity allows to show you affections. There are many gift exchanges among your peers in workplaces, schools and with your own family. February 14th is a great day to be in La Antigua Guatemala, don’t you think so?

If you were in La Antigua Guatemala, how would you celebrate El Día del Cariño?

Signs: They come with all kinds messages; some with weird information too.

If you’ve been visiting La Antigua Guatemala Daily Photo for a month or longer, you will know that the sign category gets a lot of attention from my viewfinder. You can browse the sign category to see 48 samples of the different signs capture thus far.

Obviously, the sign above and the Hippies use backdoor sign, from a couple of days ago, make great decoration for the hippie hole that is Café No Sé. It adds a sort of branding to the joint where you can drink Ilegal Mezcal, add salt and pepper to your Cuban burritos from a Venado Aguardiente Añejo bottle.

John Rexer is the man behind the hippie hole known in La Antigua Guatemala as Café No Sé (I don’t know cafe), Y tu piña también Café, Dislexia Bookstore, La Cuadra Magazine, among others.

John Rexer, New Yorker by birth, Mexican by heart and Antigüeño by choice, came to La Antigua Guatemala a few years ago and after surfing the local scene, he realized a joint was needed for backpackers, hippies, ex-pats and others looking for the other side, the flip side, of LAG. A sort of bohemian atmosphere where people were free to express their artistic vein, or simply to relax while eating the local variant of Tex-Mex food or drinking cheap beers or his own Ilegal Mezcal brand (the generic name for Tequila-like agave distills).

Now, after several years in this colonial town, his plans to take over the whole block of 1a avenida sur are actually working and working very well, I may add. It takes a ‘real’ hippie to make the best entrepreneur; at least in La Antigua Guatemala.

I found out about the sign above via Buried Mirror and I knew a mini series was long over due about this hippie joint in La Antigua Guatemala.

Do you know what place am I talking about?

Who ever came out with this great idea for a sign, for sure, was a hippie who now is very wealthy. Check out this amazing slide show that reveals all the different places where the sign has been posted.