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Calle del Arco is the place to be on the weekends in Antigua Guatemala if you want to listen to live music. For sure you can find live marimba music, either Maya or traditional Guatemalan songs, but sometimes you find blues, jazz or urban rock ensembles. This was the case for the past weekend.

Below you can watch a short video clip, if you can provide the name of the song, you win a post card. Good luck! (more…)

Every Saturday and Sunday the city closes 5a avenida norte, better known as Calle del Arco, to all traffic. Only allowing people to walk through the street. This group of a father and his sons made the experience very festive and lively. Throughout the whole street you can hear the soul of this city flowing through this music.

Do you have a local spot where you like to hear music?

text and photo by Zach Olson.

This Sunday afternoon at Calle del Arco was just as guest contributor Arturo Godoy said in The mime just wants to get married post, “Often it’s a bit complicated to go out on Sundays because La Antigua Guatemala gets crowded… Remember that anything and everything can happen as you walk around Antigua Guatemala on any given Sunday.”

That’s exactly what I felt when I walked onto Calle de Arco this past Sunday as the enchanting Mayan music coming off from the marimba from Grupo Maya Kaqchikel. The crowds were making a natural amphitheater around the marimba players. Watch the short video clip below to get an idea.

Everywhere you look there were people, locals and foreigners alike, having a good time. Every a few steps, people were snapping shots or having their photograph taken. There were several algodones (cotton candy), globos (balloons) and chupetes (triangle-shape hard candy) vendors all along Calle del Arco. To top it all, of course, there was a large procession on Calle del Arco as well. For a few hours this past Sunday everything seemed to be in harmony; one of those Life is good! moments I have talked about.

Do you remember when was the last time you had a chupete candy?
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Sunday was such a great day in La Antigua Guatemala; nice weather conditions and a wonderful atmosphere all around town with people enjoying the processions. The Holy Week aromas could be smelled everywhere. Music, balloons, chupetes, clowns, cucuruchos, town fair food; what a cornucopia for the senses.

If you don’t already have your plane ticket, I suggest you buy now, life is too short to miss Semana Santa in La Antigua Guatemala.

Portfolio Aside: Some of the photos that you see here everyday were turned into high-quality large-format prints to add colorful imagery to the walls of Máximo Nivel Spanish School in La Antigua Guatemala. If you’re interested in getting large format prints from my photographs to add color to your walls or as gifts, please, get in touch with me. Of course, you can also purchase 8″x10″ and 11″x14″ high quality prints from the Buy photos page. If you want to keep up with all the places where the AntiguaDailyPhoto images show up, check the Portfolio page regularly.
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Who said New York is the only city that never sleeps?

The New Year celebrations is one of the occasions in which Antigua Guatemala does not sleep! I didn’t get much opportunity to take many photographs of the crowds, as it was indeed crowded. It was fun, activities all over, lights all over, people all over, every one having a great time, even the sky (check out the moon while the sun was rising).

Enjoy the starting of the New Year!

text and photos by Arturo Godoy

Okay, here is my contribution to the Costumbrism Photographs From La Antigua Guatemala.

What better specimen for the costumbrism photography of Antigua than a typical corner from La Antigua Guatemala with a corner window, Spanish-tile roof, colonial-style street lamp, cobblestone street, window plants, tree branches peeking in, gorgeous blue sky, stoned walls, whitewashed walls, wooden beams holding up the roof and absolutely no people in plain view?

Watercolors from La Antigua Guatemala can be found and bought in just about every tourist town in Central America. In Calle del Arco you can find many of the watecolor painters sitting on their little stool and with their portable studio over their knees.

Although, I do not like pinturas costumbristas, costumbrism paintings, many people seem to find them irresistible. Nevertheless, I am happy to know many of these painter are able to make a living doing what they love; not many people can say that, right?

The best thing about street photography: serendipity
—Philip Greenspun (source: Photo.Net)

“Stare. It is the way to educate your eye, and more. Stare, pry, listen eavesdrop. Die knowing something. You are not here long.” —Walker Evans (source: Photo.Net)

See, I have tricked you into thinking I am a genius. I merely happen to be there when things happen, I am simply a witness; that’s all.

Shoe-shinning is quite inexpensive in La Antigua Guatemala, about Q2/US$0.25 so there is no reason not to have one’s shoes shinning and clean.

Most of the shoe-shiners are boys who carry a black little wooden box around Antigua Guatemala and offer theirs services to locals and foreigners alike; although for sure they charge foreigners a higher fee.

But, how can you say NO to a little kid, about six or seven years of age holding his entire business enterprise on his right hand while being drenched by the rain? That’s why you often find tourists having their shoe-shine, for better or worse by kids who are not in school, but making a living on the streets of La Antigua Guatemala.

To finish the miniseries on The Arch of Santa Catalina, here it is the actual arch with white stucco and classic Antigüeño yellow bands. You can also appreciate the mildew and grime caused by the high humidity levels in Antigua Guatemala.

Oh how I wish I could capture in images the feelings, the energy and the tranquil atmosphere one gets while strolling around Calle del Arco. This warmly-lit late afternoon shot is the closest I ever gotten.

Let me know what this images makes you feel?

Yesterday’s shot of the Arch of Santa Catalina was taken from the South looking towards the North, with the main dome of Iglesia de La Merced being framed by the arch itself.

Today’s vista shows you a view in the opposite direction. From underneath the Arco de Santa Catalina looking South, towards Volcán de Agua and most of the stretch of the 5a avenida norte known as Calle del Arco (Street of the Arch).

Can somebody tell us how long in blocks is Calle del Arco?

Somehow, I manage to do everything backwards, on purpose, or not.

See El Arco de Santa Catalina is the most famous landmark from La Antigua Guatemala; the photo that everybody carries in the camera memory or film, whatever the case may be, to show they have been to Antigua Guatemala. So you might think it is only obvious that one must begin a photographic journey of La Antigua Guatemala with The Arch of Santa Catalina, right? Well, me thinks differently and that’s why I have published 1,093 consecutive entries and 8 additional static pages totaling 1101 pages and not once I have shown you the Arco of Santa Catalina as the main subject. I even made a reference at 90 days into the journey:

Somehow, not by conscious intention, I have managed to avoid the common references and photos of Antigua. For better or for worse, at 90 days from the beginning of this blog I have yet to publish a photo of Santa Catalina’s Arch and Calle del Arco which is the most emblematic photo of Antigua; the equivalent will be not to have published a photo of Statue of Liberty in New York or the Eiffel Tower in Paris after 90 days.

Even though I have shown you pictures of Calle del Arco (The Arch Street), which it is actually an avenue, I believe not once I have shown the actual Arco de Santa Catalina; wait it a minute, maybe once in Weekend Scene at Calle del Arco. I invite you to browse all the archives in which a reference was made to Calle del Arco and if you can find another photo with the arch, I will print it and mail it to you as a post card.

Anyhow, I as I approach the publishing of page number 1,111; I figure I should include some photos of the Arch of Santa Catalina and some other photos around Calle del Arco. I have earned my right to so by now; don’t you agree?

This is what Guatemalans think of when you utter Tanques de gas (gas tanks); it doesn’t cross their mind the fuel tank (gas tank) in the car. These stove gas tanks are ugly too and dangerous, if you ask me, to have around the house or on the street like in Calle del Arco. But, believe it or not, Guatemala does not have underground gas pipes going into each house. So people have live with this horrendous and risky gas tanks at home, sometimes right next to the stove.

Aren’t you glad the taxes you pay keep you in a safe and nicer environment?

Even though Guatemala’s Independence is celebrated on September 15th and the days prior to that date, in reality Guatemala’s independence is observe throughout September with flags and civic acts in schools.

As you can see in the picture above, flags hang from many windows and balconies at Calle del Arco. You can also look for the omnipresent chucho and the eternal bank queues around Antigua Guatemala’s Main Square.