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.

It was almost a year ago when I published a photo of the public laundry washbasins in Ciudad Vieja and Heidi asked how do they wash their clothes? As an answer I did a follow up photo of public laundry washbasins at work (about two months later, heck this was fast), but this lavaderos, the Spanish term for washbasins, lack the beauty found at Tanque de la Unión public washbasins. While taking a photo of those washbasins in La Antigua I stumbled upon one of my favorite photos: Arches reflected on Tanque de la Unión and its more abstract sibling Upside down arches; just posted a few days ago. It is only now, almost a year later (boy, I am fast!), that I can show Heidi how are the washbasins used for laundry.

If you have click all the links above, you can see that the public laundry washbasins consist of one shared water tank with basins all around it, sort like stations, where women take their clothes to wash them by hand. In the photo you can see only a fraction of washbasins stations around this huge public lavadero in San Pedro Las Huertas. In one of the captions for the photos linked above I said that “public laundry washbasins (sometimes rivers or lake shores) serve as the gathering place for news, gossip and community building through the interactions that take place. Public washbasins could be considered the first news broadcasting sites; batteries not required.”

Countdown side note: 6 more days to May 1st. Thank you all for all your support, comments and feedback through this 360 days. I also want to THANK all the people who have donated towards the hosting bills through the donation buttons right below the search box. About 50% of the hosting bill was paid through donations made by people like you. THANK YOU!

Tags: Antigua Guatemala Daily Photo / Antigua / Guatemala / public washbasins / San Pedro Las Huertas / women doing the laundry

Yesterday I showed you a public laundry washbasin in Ciudad Vieja. Today I bring to you the Tanque de la Unión public laundry washbasin (->more info in Spanish). In colonial times these public water tanks and washbasins served as the places for doing your laundry and for water distribution. In many places in Guatemala this stills holds true. Furthermore, public laundry washbasins (sometimes rivers or lake shores) serve as the gathering place for news, gossip and community building through the interactions that take place. Public washbasins could be considered the first news broadcasting sites; batteries not required.

Tags: Antigua Daily Photo / Antigua / Tanque de la Unión / public laundry washbasins

On May 13th I posted a photo a public laundry washbasin in Ciudad Vieja and Heidi asked how do people wash their clothes in such facilities. Here I have a follow-up photo taken at the same time and day. People, usually from low income areas, take their dirty clothes to the public laundry washbasin which is nothing more than a large water tank with many sinks where women can wash them by hand using only soap and a small plastic vessel. The mystery is now resolved, but the magic has been taken away.

Tags: Antigua Daily Photo / Antigua / Ciudad Vieja / public laundry washbasins

In Antigua and the surrounded communities there are still exist public laundry washbasins. The one pictured here is in Ciudad Vieja (aerial shots), about 1 mile from Antigua. Ciudad Vieja (history+map) was the Capital of Guatemala and Central America before it moved to Antigua in the 16th century.

Tags: AntiguaDailyPhoto / Antigua / Guatemala / Public laundry washbasins