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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!

Tags: Antigua Guatemala Daily Photo / Antigua / Guatemala / shoe-shiner kids / rock climbing / Compañí­a de Jesús building

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).

Tags: Antigua Guatemala Daily Photo / Antigua / Guatemala / Bernal Dí­az del Castillo / plaque / Compañí­a de Jesús building

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.

Tags: Antigua Guatemala Daily Photo / Antigua / Guatemala / stop sign / window / red wall

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.

Tags: Antigua Guatemala Daily Photo / Antigua / Guatemala / Cupolas / rooftop

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.

Tags: Antigua Daily Photo / Antigua / Guatemala / lamp / shadow casting lamp / yellow wall

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.

Tags: Antigua Guatemala Daily Photo / Antigua / Guatemala / Tito / our cats / pumice-stone blocks

There are still many walls in La Antigua Guatemala made from stones. The lucky owners of such wall choose to show the guts. What would you do if you had a wall made from stones?

Tags: Antigua Guatemala Daily Photo / Antigua / Guatemala / wall / stones / doorway

Not all the walls in La Antigua Guatemala are made from stones, bricks or pumice blocks, some are actually made from organic recycled materials like the canes from the maize field. I am sure this doorway could not be admitted in MarieMc’s wonderful collection of Doorways Around the World. The fence is not as green or as alive like the hedgerow I showed to you back on September 28th, yet there is still something in the photo that moves me to post it here. Maybe is the spelling error on the sign painted on the door (it should read prohibida), or the doorbell on one of the poles, or the different shades of brown. I really don’t know. Can you help me?

Tags: Antigua Guatemala Daily Photo / Antigua / Guatemala / San Miguel Escobar / Maize Cane Fence / Doorway

Many houses and business buildings get a new paint job right before the Holy Week. The streets of La Antigua Guatemala get repaired as well. All this rejuvenating and face-lifts of this old town are needed to make Antigua Guatemala look its best for the Holy Week (Semana Santa in Spanish). As a matter of fact, there’s no other celebration as important, as colorful, as religious, as expected, as huge, as memorable as the Holy Week in Antigua Guatemala.

Normally I stay away from the crowed streets, and I mean really crowed streets. In the Semana Santa week, La Antigua Guatemala receives so many kinds tourists: Firsts and foremost, the Guatemalans, the regional Central Americans and Mexicans and everybody else and their cousins. I will try to come to take some snapshot for your benefit. Wish me luck.

By the way, the building being painted above is the candy store of La Dulceria de Doña Marí­a Gordillo —check it out for a sweet view of the traditional Guatemalan candy. You can also see all the other photos about the world-famous candy store of Doña Marí­a Gordillo.

Come back tomorrow for an entry about Kings, Queens, Presidents and Prime Ministers Wanted ad.

Tags: Antigua Guatemala Daily Photo / Antigua / Guatemala / La Dulceria de Doña Marí­a Gordillo / paint+jobs / Lent in Antigua

Back on February 8th, 2007 on the entry New Aesthetic Values for an Old Town, I mentioned how many things are still made completely by hand, thus it is impossible to get two items to look the same. The angels in this wall at Doña Luisa Xicotencatl are a very good example of the beauty achieve by the artisans around Antigua.

This photo is dedicated to the memory of Sergio.

Although this image is not as impressive as photo of the kid caught in the mid-air stride in Run Lolo, Run, it is nonetheless a good capture since the bicycle-rider is framed. The house, that serves as backdrop and frame, belonged to Santo Hermano Pedro de Betancourt (Saint Brother Peter of Betancourt), which is Central America’s only Saint. I have posted a couple of entries before about Hermano Pedro de Betancourt who was born in Tenerife, Canary Islands in 1626. I noticed that I like framing my subjects, in action, against a static rectangle in a wall or doorway as you can see in one of my favorite shots: Framed Shadow.

Countdown side note: Today’s entry is number 296 so far and we continue with a countdown to post 300th. In the days before today, I promised that I would send the best ten photos (4″x6″) from Antigua Guatemala Daily Photo to the person who left the first comment after the 100,000 visit. Well, sometime today we received the 100,000 visit, but I did not notice it until now (sorry! I was way too busy). There are now 100,590 visit according to the stats counter. The last two comments belong to Luggi-Foeger, from Los Angeles Daily Photo and Santy, from Jakarta Daily Photo and to be fair I don’t know who made the first comment after the 100K mark, so I will extend the contest to both of them only. The first of them who come to make a comment will receive the 10 photos. Good luck to both of them and I thank all of you for helping the Antigua Guatemala Daily Photo get past the 100,000-visit milestone.

Oh what the heck, I am feeling generous. Here is yet another yellow wallpaper for your desktop. Lessie is right, I find myself photographing yellow walls because I love them. So here you have all the yellow wallpapers for your desktop, I have posted so far: Wall texture, Another wallpaper and Textured Yellow Wallpaper. You can listen to the song below to get in the yellow mood.

To download the image as wallpaper, all you need to do is click the photo above and you will be taken to a larger-size image that you can download. The rest depends on the operating system you use.

Have an exceptional yellow day!

Is either yellow a very popular color in Antigua or I have a tendency towards photographing yellow walls. I mention this because this is the third wallpaper I share with you and I just noticed they are all yellow.

To download the image as a wallpaper, all you need to do is click the photo above and you will be taken to a larger-size image that you can download. The rest depends on the operating system you use. Other wallpapers on this site can be found my clicking here and then clicking of the resulting titles.

Have a marvelous day!

Yesterday I showed you a fountain with four streams. Today we have a rare find. This fountain is inside the Museo de Armas de Santiago, which is next door to the Ayuntamiento building or Municipalidad. Right above the fountain’s tank is the Santiago Emblem (Saint James) embossed on the wall. Although I see many photos of Antigua often, I haven’t seen this one.

Has anyone who’s been to La Antigua Guatemala seen this fountain before?