Music

Red Box Movies — Antigua Guatemala Style

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In the mercado municipal of Antigua Guatemala you can find quite a few booths that offer movie selections similar to what you might find through the Red Box Movies, except here you take the discs home and you don’t have to return them. You may argue that this practice is so wrong, but when you … Read more

Marimba Day in Guatemala

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Apparently, the marimba is everywhere nowadays. For starters, Guatemala has an official Marimba Day, which is observed on February 20. They play marimba everywhere and they even hold a marimba festival at the Palace of Culture in Guatemala City. In Antigua Guatemala, there are marimba music recitals, as well many radios play lots of marimba … Read more

This Christmas Give Your Talent and Creativity As Gifts

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Instead of buying stuff, these two musicians decided to play and sing some Christmas carols for a group of shoe-shiner boys who gave them their total undivided attention. What a wonderful way of showing appreciation and love for others. In my opinion, this is much better than actually buying gifts. So, this Christmas, if you … Read more

XI Festival Internacional De Cultura Paiz Begins

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XI Festival Internacional De Cultura Paiz Concert by Jennifer Lara @ienilara

XI Festival Internacional De Cultura Paiz opened with a energy-charged reunion concert by the two most representative bands from Central America: the Guatemalan rock band Alux Nahual from Guatemala and Éditus, the Grammy-winning jazz group from Costa Rica at Ermita de la Santa Cruz; one of the best venues in La Antigua Guatemala for concerts.

This time the Festival Internacional De Cultura Paiz will showcase a series of cultural and educational events through the entire year as opposed to previous festival which only lasted a few weeks.

There will be plenty of events in the upcoming weeks. There are two events scheduled for Saturday: the concert Bach en la Habana by Tiempo Libre and La Orquesta Sinfónica Juvenil Municipal and the exhibition El Universo de Carlos Mérida.

The concert could be heard from at least than two kilometers away from La Ermita de La Santa Cruz; I know because thats the distance that separates my house from La Ermita.

I was looking forward to photographing the inauguration concert of Festival Internacional De Cultura Paiz, but things just became really complicated at the end of the afternoon and I was unable to assist. Luckily for us, my friend Jennifer Lara attended and she was able to snapped a few shots with her iPhone. She was kind enough to share them with us. Thank you @ienilara.

Photo by Jennifer Lara.

Below you can can see the different events for February and March 2011.

XI Festival Internacional De Cultura Paiz Schudule

Here’s one of the television spots that have been promoting the festival in national television in Guatemala.

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Twilight Zone at Antigua’s Central Park

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What an interesting combination of colors and light temperatures can be achieved during the twilight zone in La Antigua Guatemala’s Central Park. Oh I can hear the intro and fade music of the twilight zone but it’s being played with a marimba and decorated with chirimilla accents and pre-Columbian drum beats; now this music really … Read more

Traditional Guatemalan Cuisine Sampler

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First of all, click the play button below. It’s the sound track for this entry. It’s been a while since I presented you with a Guatemalan cuisine sampler, right? To be exact, it was February 19th, 2007 (go check it out). We will have a little fun with this Guatemalan food sampler photo. ONE: Tell … Read more

Dí­a de la Santa Cruz y el Albañil

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Dí­a de la Santa Cruz y el Albañil

In Guatemala and many countries in Latin America today, May 3rd, is celebrated the Day of the Holy Cross and also the Day of the Construction Worker. The Day of the Holy Cross is known in Guatemala as Dí­a de la Santa Cruz and you can see many Albañiles (construction workers) placing an adorned cross at their current construction site.

Below you can find a fragment of the text I published last year regarding this celebration:

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Guatemalan Adoptions Could Be Mixed Blessings

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There are many complications when you take an adopted child from Guatemala to a foreign land and to a foreign culture. One complication could be that he or she will be marked as strange because of her Mayan traits and the dark color of the skin.

Hispanic and Indigenous children might be walking on uneven streets if they are taken to mostly white neighborhoods where racism and discrimination could part of their daily bread.