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Poinsettias or Flor de Pascua are in full bloom in The Land of the Eternal Spring for the Christmas season. The most common color is red, but now you can find yellow, white, pink and mixed at your local nursery and shops. Pascuas are an integral part of the Guatemalan decoration for the Christmas season and beyond. They are also given as gifts quite often.

An archived article at Prensa Libre entitled: Pascuas que cambian de colores (Poinsettias of different colors) I read that, according to industry statistics, Guatemala is the top grower of poinsettias in the world. Guatemala produces 60 million poinsettias which represents 80% of the production in the world.

I believe life should be about giving instead of receiving, especially so around Christmas, thus here are my first offerings for the season. First a video clip from my favorite Guatemalan artist Gaby Moreno singing about Christmas time. Next you will find a link to download a wallpaper for your computer, iPad, tablet or mobile device. Enjoy!

If you would like to have a yellow poinsettias wallpaper for you computer, download it from here.

I read this tweet about the Earth Hour (Hora del Planeta):

@AndyStalman: Mas que apagar las luces habría que encender las conciencias! #HoraDelPlaneta

Which I roughly translated to “Instead of turning off the lights we should turn on the consciences.”

I thought, why not do both. I mean it certainly can not hurt to turn off the lights for one hour and perhaps the idea behind these kind awareness campaigns is to turn on the consciences.

So, with these thoughts in mind, I share with you another free wallpaper from Antigua Guatemala to use on your laptop or desktop computer, sort of something to tickle your own thoughts about it. Enjoy! and feel free to share with as many people as you like.

Here’s an overview of how Earth Hour was observed in La Antigua Guatemala last year.

Is Earth Hour observed where you live?

Okay, enough I say; it’s been way too long since I gave away free wallpapers; since December 23, 2010 to be exact, it was the Christmas present from AntiguaDailyPhoto. Honest, I should give away free desktop/laptop wallpapers at least once a month, don’t you agree?

Download the three free wallpapers from Antigua Guatemala from here:

1. Yellow wall
2. Chipped wall
3. Zapote wall

Enjoy and share them with your family and friends. Moreover, if you want to download all the free wallpapers I have shared with you previously, feel free to browse the Wallpapers category and if you like what you see, share this link with your family and friends as well.

Also, it is time to feed the Only in LAG category and what better way to do it than with a Cucuruch’ants procession video produced by Guy Howard and his wife, which they entitled “Cucuruch’ants.” Enjoy!

In Guatemala poinsettias are known as Flor de Pascua, Flor de Noche Buena or simply Pascuas. Poinsettias are native to Guatemala and Mesoamerica and in general can be found in the wild or in gardens as undocumented aliens. Poinsettias or Flor de Pascua are in full bloom in The Land of the Eternal Spring for the Christmas season. The most common color is red, but now you can find yellow, white, pink and mixed at your local nursery and shops. Pascuas are an integral part of the Guatemalan decoration for the Christmas season and beyond. They are also given as gifts quite often.

If you would like to have a yellow poinsettias wallpaper for you computer, download it from here.

In an article from Prensa Libre entitled: Pascuas que cambian de colores (Poinsettias of different colors) I read that, according to industry statistics, Guatemala is the top grower of poinsettias in the world. Guatemala produces 60 million poinsettias which represents 80% of the production in the world. How about that?

Other interesting reads about Poinsettias in Spanish/Google-translated.

• Pascuas y pinabetes, negocios de fin de año / Poinsettias and Pine trees, an end-of-the-year business
• Estrella de Nochebuena; pascua florece con la Navidad / Star of Christmas Eve, Poinsettias blossom with Christmas
• Pascuas que cambian de colores / Poinsettias of different colors

It’s been a while since I shared a wallpaper with you, so I thought why not make one of Antigua’s handmade stone walls into a wallpaper for you computer. So, if you want to give this wallpaper a chance on your computer, download it from here (1280 x 960). If you would like to see what other Antigua Guatemala wallpapers are available (35 thus far), follow the white rabbit to the Wallpapers category. Enjoy!

Aquí me quedo film aside: Once again, I am happy to report that another Guatemalan film, which was in production in August 2009 when I shared with you a teaser trailer, is now showing in the Guatemala movie theaters. Below are the original teaser trailer and film preview trailer for Aquí me quedo, a new film by Mellega Films, written and directed by Rodolfo “Chofo” Espinosa and produced by Andrés Rodríguez of Cinespacio and filmed in the sister Republic of Quetzaltenango, also known as Xela.

Wow, time flies by; I just realized I have not shared a wallpaper with you since the Earth Day Wallpaper From Antigua Guatemala on April 22.

Let’s fix that right away. I took this photo earlier this morning driven by the Stephanie’s comment on Blink And The World Will Change:

Thanks for using the maximum zoom on this photo! This is the most detailed photo I’ve ever seen of Volcan de Fuego. Usually the photos are more distant so you appreciate the form (and the sky) but don’t get a rich sense of the color and textures. I think this is my favorite of the volcano pictures.

So, today’s photo serves two purposes, I show you a extreme close-up Volcán de Agua’s crater and share with you another wallpaper for your computer. Download the 1280×960 Crater of Volcán de Agua wallpaper here.

Of course you can download other wallpapers by browsing the Wallpaper category. Let me know which ones you’ve downloaded.

Volcán de Agua Teleférico aside: Not too long ago I read in the newspapers that there’s a definite plan to built a Teleférico (tramway) from Santa María de Jesús to the crater of Volcán de Agua. If I remember correctly, the funds for such a tourist project will come from Taiwan.

Today is Earth Day so I am sharing with you a wallpaper for your computer from a typical green vista of Colas de Quetzal often found in the gardens and patios of the houses of La Antigua Guatemala. If you like it, please let me know in the comments.

Now go crazy following all the stuff related to Earth Day!

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Beauty in things exists merely in the mind which contemplates them. —David Hume’s Essays, Moral and Political, 1742 (source: phrases.org.uk)

I agree completely, what about you?

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As mentioned before the Gravilea trees are planted next to coffee bushes to provide the necessary shade for the coffee plants. Once every two years normally, the coffee plantation workers trim the gravilea trees to keep the proper balance between sun and shade.

I hope you enjoy this muted wallpaper of the gravilea trees against a starry night. Let me know what you think of it. As always, you can download the gravilea trees wallpaper by clicking the link.

New Contributors for AntiguaDailyPhoto.Com Wanted: Starting in July, AntiguaDailyPhoto will open its doors to guest contributors to expand the rainbow of points of view and perspectives about La Antigua Guatemala. If you are interested in becoming a guest contributor, please get in touch with me through the contact form or through a direct message in Twitter to get the details.

La Antigua Guatemala is known as the Ciudad de las perpetuas rosas, the city of the perpetual roses. Well, surely you can find roses everywhere in and around Antigua Guatemala; there are even rose farms near La Antigua that grow roses for exportation to the U.S. and Canada.

However, I believe the name should actually be the City or perpetual bougainvilleas as these flowers can be found everywhere in Antigua Guatemala at any given time. Bougainvilleas are really perpetual flowers and an integral part of the jardín antigüeño, Antigua garden. Bugambileas, as they are known in Spanish, go by scientific name of Bougainvillea glabra and belong to the Nyctaginaceae family. Bougainvilleas can be found in red, violet, purple, fuchsia, red, orange, gold, yellow, pink, white, burgandy, terra cotta, kite red, and in light and dark shades of many of the aforementioned colors.

We finish the jardín antigüeño series with the bougainvilleas. I still have other photos, but I will post them at a later time as part of the regular daily flow. Just a little over-sharing: All the flowers shown thus far as part of the jardín antigüeño were photographed at our garden.

I do hope at least some of you have found this series interesting or at least useful with the free wallpapers. Please, let me know your thoughts about the series.

You can download the Guatemalan flowers wallpaper from here: Bugambilea Naranja, Bugambilea Roja Papolata, Bugambilea Enana, Bugambilea Fuscia and Bugambilea Roja wallpapers.

Source: Guate Flora: Plantas ornamentales más utilizadas en jardínes guatemaltecos (Guate Flora: Ornamental Plants Most Often Used in Guatemalan Gardens).

Geranio is the Guatemalan name for Geranium, which is also known in Spanish as Pelargonio. Geranios or Pelargonios can be found with flowers in red, pink, purple, white and orange. Geraniums need a lot of water and in Guatemala they blossom year round. Pelargonios also need a lot of sun.

You can download the Guatemalan flowers wallpaper from here: Geranio Blanco and Geranio Rojo wallpapers.

Source: Guate Flora: Plantas ornamentales más utilizadas en jardínes guatemaltecos (Guate Flora: Ornamental Plants Most Often Used in Guatemalan Gardens).

Oh life, you blink and it’s gone.

A while back I read in the New York Times Sunday edition of the Prensa Libre about the passing away of a man 87 years old that for 55 years had no short-term memory. It turns out that he underwent brain surgery when he was 27 and even though the doctors had healed his ailments, they also damaged the area of the brain responsible for memories. Interesting enough, the article was not about memory loss, rather about Identity loss. If you have no memories, you have no identity the article argued.

The first time I was exposed to the concept of short-term memory loss was in the film Wintersleepers by director Tom Tykwer and later in the American film Memento by director Christopher Nolan. In both films we follow the main characters who have lost their short-term memory through a period of their lives and experience all the complications that having no short-term memory can cause. In both films, the characters with memory loss use photographs as memory, short and long term.

So, what’s memory anyway? Nothing but a series of photographs or static images we keep dearly to know who we are now who we were then and what we have experienced. Thus, coming to this realization, wouldn’t you think it makes sense that we pause every once in a while our hurried lifestyles to take note of the flowers, the aroma of coffee, to pet your cats, to say ‘I love you or I care for you’ to your family and friends and take mental snapshots for our memory bank.

There are only two instances where everybody in the entire world has an equal opportunity: Time and Memories. No one can live more than 24-hour days and all of us have the same chance to keep a large bank of memories. What are you waiting for? Times does not stop for anybody.

Okay today flowers go by the Guatemalan name of camarones (shrimps in plural). The golden camarón is actually a combination of yellow and white flowers. The scientific name for the Guatemalan golden shrimp flower is Pachystachys lutea. The red Guatemalan shrimp flower’s scientific name is Beloperone guttata or Justicia brandegeana. Both camarones belong to the Acanthaceae family. Camarones can grow under direct sun light or part sun/shade (help here for the proper term) and they blossom all year long requiring moderate watering.

Like the days before, you can download the Guatemalan flowers wallpaper from here: Camarón Amarillo and Camarón Rojo wallpapers

Source: Guate Flora: Plantas ornamentales más utilizadas en jardínes guatemaltecos (Guate Flora: Ornamental Plants Most Often Used in Guatemalan Gardens).

Pentas are among the most beautiful and prolific flowers in jardín antigüeño. In the gardens of La Antigua Guatemala you can be sure to find flowers year round, but not all the flowers blossom all year or at the same time. Pentas are a delightful execption since they have many live bouquets all year round and thus are excellent flowers to put on or near windows. Pentas come in pink, red, purple, white and light violet which provide a nice contrast to their luscious green foliage. Pentas require lots of water and sun.

Like in previous days, you can download the Guatemalan flowers wallpaper from here: Pentas Rosadas and Pentas Red wallpapers

Source: Guate Flora: Plantas ornamentales más utilizadas en jardínes guatemaltecos (Guate Flora: Ornamental Plants Most Often Used in Guatemalan Gardens).

Boy, it seems like nobody cares about the flowers found in the gardens of La Antigua Guatemala or the free wallpapers. I believe out of all the series the Jardín Antigüeño is the one with least feedback of all. Not even a wake me up when you are done!

Julias are flowers that blossom all year long. Julias scientific name is Salvias spendens and normally can be found dress in salmon, red, purple, white and red & white.

Once again you can download the Guatemalan flowers wallpaper from here: Julias Salmon and Julias Purple wallpapers.

Source: Guate Flora: Plantas ornamentales más utilizadas en jardínes guatemaltecos (Guate Flora: Ornamental Plants Most Often Used in Guatemalan Gardens).

Throughout the archives of AntiguaDailyPhoto.com you can find many of the plants and flowers available in and around the Antigua Guatemala gardens. In fact, I even created the Guateflora category to host some of the findings.

This week we will feed the Guateflora and Wallpaper categories with flowers commonly found in the jardín antigüeño, the Antiguan garden. Some, if not all, all the pictures of flowers in this week mini series can also work as computer wallpapers, so if you find something you like, please make sure you download it now.

Today’s flower goes by the common name of Nazareno, Nazarene, which is interesting purple or violet-colored flower with two shades in each of its shapes. The scientific name for the Nazareno flower is Petrea voubilis, a native plant of Guatemala, which grows in temperate weather, just like the weather in La Antigua Guatemala, with low irrigation and blossoms all year long if kept under the sun. Source: Guate Flora: Plantas ornamentales más utilizadas en jardí nes guatemaltecos (Guate Flora: Ornamental Plants Most Often Used in Guatemalan Gardens).