Happy Birthday Chata! (I-heart-U) Go rent this movie and let me know your feelings about it.
The quality of the sunset light during the winter months in La Antigua Guatemala is the best of the year. Almost anything you photograph has this warm feel. If you are in Antigua now, click away like crazy. Even a simple shadow can be warmth, don’t you think so?
After all those years, all those rainy seasons, all those earthquakes this old wall still stands.
We continue with “the sign fetish” and today’s turn is for La Tienda de Doña Gavi sign. Believe it or not, this tiny store is one of La Antigua Guatemala landmarks and it’s located on the street behind the Cathedral. Doña Gavi sells all kinds of organic stuff in this cozy shop including avocado ice cream. If you come to Antigua, you must visit this shop. If you don’t trust my recommendation, read the On the Road Travel recommendation below:
La Tienda de Doña Gavi
3a Avenida Norte #2, around the corner fromPosadaJoyería del Angel, open 11:30am – 6:30pm.
Dona Gavi serves up the best – and most unique – ice cream in Antigua. Choose from avacado, corn, fig, cherry, lemon, and other local fruit flavors. The mango ice cream is incredible. In fact, it is a treat just to meet Dona Gavi and explore her store. Cones are Q16. (source)
La Tienda de Doña Gavi also provides a good contrast with her textured walls against the completely white skies of the rainy season. See, I have been complaining (almost nagging) about how white or gray the skies are because of the rain without realizing I could use these neutral backgrounds as backdrops for the wet and saturated colors of the buildings façades. Nevertheless, I am happy with what I have captured while taking advantage of a disadvantage (see One Way to the Decisive Moment).
Remember there will be general elections in Guatemala next coming Sunday 9th. I will try to do something special for the day. Stay tune!
The opposite corner of the Cookies is the Joyería del Ángel, which by the way is the twin business for Posada del Ángel. Both businesses are run to the highest standards and thus you can find just of about any high-end and exquisite jewelry produced any where in the world right here at Joyería del Ángel, in La Antigua Guatemala.
Obviously what they sell there has not influenced my appreciation for this wonderful light-blue, celeste in Guatemalan Spanish, corner. I simply liked the light hitting the building and the tourists walking by that afternoon. Also, I like the geometry of the white stripes, the Joyería del Ángel sign and the lamp. You will have to excuse the white sky in many of the photos taken during the rainy season; not much I can do.
Disclosure side note: I am not being paid anything for saying nice things about the Posada or Joyería del Ángel. Even though I know the general manager, these things I say them because I know the businesses and have been give unrestricted access to photograph them. That is all. If I ever I am being paid for promoting or saying nice things about a particular business, I will let you know with a disclosure. That is the deal.
Often as you stroll around La Antigua Guatemala, you come across walls with lots of texture made from the many layers of natural lime-stone-based paints. Below is a quote from an previous entry about Natural paint textures.
Because the high levels of humidity around Antigua, people have to paint their walls often. Not every time the walls get painted they use the same color and after so many years when the paint peels, you get the gorgeous texture where the different colors peek through. The Antigua Protection Agency recommends that people use lime-stone-based paints because they allow the walls to breath. The lime-stone-based paints have shine, similar to pearls, so that is how you get some incredible colors as light changes through the day.
Some people may find this kind of photographs boring and uninspiring; others get their kicks from the yellow texture on the wall. To which kind of people do you belong?
No, this stencil-art graffiti portrait of Rigoberta Menchú is not part of Banksy’s art portfolio. According to NEARsyx, our Guatemalan expert in uban art, this portrait is quite possibly the work of H.I.J.O.S. (Sons and daughters for the Identity and Justice against Oblivion and Silence), a collective of sons and daughter of the disappeared during Guatemala’s civil war. Their main objective is to bring justice and to not let Guatemalans forget the recent history; The Peace Accords were barely signed 11 years ago in 1996.
Who is Rigoberta Menchú, anyway? Well, she thought you may want to know, so she coauthored a book by the name of “Me llamo Rigoberta Menchú y así me nació la conciencia” (My name is Rigoberta Menchú and this how my Consciencie was Born) back in 1982. TThe book became a great success when translated into English (as “I, Rigoberta Menchú“), giving her a role on the international stage at the time of the ongoing conflict in Guatemala [source: Wikipedia]. If you have the means to buy the book, available through Amazon, you should get it if you are interested in learning a bit about Guatemala’s recent history. You can also read the entry about Rigoberta Menchú in Wikipedia. She was the recipient of the 1992 Nobel Peace Prize and Prince of Asturias Award in 1998.
What is Rigoberta Menchú’s Mission, anyway? She has embarked in an impossible mission. She is running for the Guatemalan Presidency. So what, why is this an impossible mission? Isn’t she Guatemalan and thus possess the legal rights to run for the presidency? Well, yes, that is correct. But, and this is a big but, she is a woman; worst yet, she is an indigenous woman; even worst, she is an indigenous woman from the left.
See, not everything is fine and dandy in the paradisiac lands of Guatemala. Real democracy is still over a century behind. In Guatemala, a woman could not get elected as president, just yet, although it has happened several times in Latin America (even in Central America). In Guatemala, an indigenous person could not get elected as president, just yet, although it has happened twice in the American continent with Benito Juárez and Evo Morales. In Guatemala, a person from the left could not get elected as president, just yet, even though most countries in South America and even Nicaragua in Central America have elected people from the left.
Now you can see why her candidacy for the presidency of Guatemala is such an impossible mission. I guess she decided that one can be part of the problem or part of the solution; she opted for the latter. Who was it that said, those who do not learn from history are bound to repeat it.
If you could vote in the next elections in Guatemala, would cast your vote for a woman? for an indigenous person? for somebody from the left (democrat)? would you cast your vote for Rigoberta Menchú? or none of the above?
Okay, not much time today and you need something light every once in a while. Here is a little niche, nicho in Spanish, found at Posada del Ángel, which is a small luxury hotel in La Antigua Guatemala. I have shown other photos of this gorgeous bed and breakfast.
Here are the other photos:
» Guatemala Sells Light and Color
» Really Green Garden at Posada del Ángel
» Rusted Plant Pot
» Plant Pot at Posada del Ángel
Ever since I took a snapshot of a Electrified barb wire fence I wanted to come back to the subject to get an inside view. I imagine that you will see many concentric circles getting smaller as the approach the vanishing point. The question is can one find beauty in these type of subjects? I believe it is only in the constant search of the right angle and/or perspective.
What do you think?
All work and no play makes for a very dull day the saying goes and that is why these shoe-shiner kids take a break to play and do some outdoors rock climbing on the walls of the historic building of Compañía de Jesús, former house to Bernal Díaz del Castillo.
What I learned from these kids is that rock climbing is possible in La Antigua Guatemala; child labor still present in Antigua and I don’t know if ever it will be eradicated; regardless of the labor conditions, kids will find a way to play. Good for them!
The Antigua Guatemala is full plaques pointing to historic sites or events that happened here. The Antigüeños must luck the humor or wit described in the Ridicule film (if I am not mistaken) because all the plaques actually point to a real site or event, unlike modern day Paris where you can find plaques pointing to a site where on April 17th, 1967 nothing happened there (or other dates).
For instance, in the shot above you can see a plaque informing that this building was the residence of Bernal Díaz del Castillo, a conquistador, who wrote an eyewitness account of the conquest of Mexico by the Spaniards under Hernán Cortés. The plaque can be found in the south façade of the Compañía de Jesús building which now houses the Cooperación Española NGO or Agencia Española de Cooperación Internacional as it is called in Spanish.
Díaz took part in one of the most successful military campaigns in history, which brought an end to the Aztec empire in Mesoamerica. During this campaign, Díaz spoke frequently with his companions in arms about their experiences, collecting them into a coherent narration. The book that resulted from this was Historia verdadera de la conquista de la Nueva España (”The (True History of) the Conquest of New Spain”)…
As a reward for his service, Díaz was appointed governor of Santiago de los Caballeros, present-day (ed. La) Antigua Guatemala. He began writing his history in 1568, almost fifty years after the events described, in response to an alternative history written by Cortés’s chaplain, who had not actually participated in the campaign. He called his book the Verdadera Historia (”True History”), in response to the claims made in the earlier work. (Source: Wikipedia).
The flavor in life is found in the little details. The transit signs in La Antigua Guatemala are a very good example of that. You take something boring but necessary as a stop sign and turn it into a beautiful detail; which makes your walks around town a little more pleasant to the eyesight. The stop signs (alto in Spanish) in La Antigua Guatemala are made from red ceramic tiles and metal frames.
To all the regular visitors, I wish you a very pleasant weekend full of warm experiences.
As mentioned yesterday, cupolas are a very popular architectonic feature in many residential homes and hotels. Cupolas break the otherwise flat rooftop line of the La Antigua Guatemala. White is also the favorite color for cupolas around La Antigua Guatemala. Sometimes I wonder how many cupolas there are in La Antigua; thousands at least. This photo was taken near El Calvario Church, in the south of part of town.
Boy oh boy, I enjoy breaking the rules. For today we are breaking the photographic rule that says you should avoid taking photos at noon. This is a follow up shot to one my favorites: Shadow casting lamp. Check it out and I hope you like too.
This shot could be anywhere in the world, except for the fact of the blue in the sky can only be Guatemala; so they tell me.
Because of the reasons I described yesterday, more people tend to use electrified barbed wire to protect their houses; sometimes, they use two or three rows stocked.
I have shown many beautiful walls around La Antigua Guatemala, but this is a type of wall, which I dislike, that can also be found here. Like Pamela, I despise the view of the naked block, concrete block, breeze block, or whatever they call it in your neck of the woods. How about you?
Let it be known that I am not breaking the rules with yet another photo with cats. Even though our little Tito is in the picture (now you have seen all three of our cats: Lolita, Camilo and Tito), really what I want to show you is the pumice-stone blocks which are used to build houses in Guatemala. Also, I want to show you the broken glass, chaye in Guatemalan Spanish, which is put on top walls as protection against burglaries.
So there you have it, as you can see the today’s photo is not about a cat. Now, if you really find Tito more interesting than a grey naked wall, you can click this link to get a close-up portrait of Tito.
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