Fuel Home Delivery in La Antigua Guatemala
Does one have the right to change his/her mind? I ask because the first time I posted the use of wood as fuel, I was against it. By the second time I showed a photo of wood being used as fuel, I had learnt that not all instances of the use of wood as fuel were bad from an article that appeared in National Geographic en español. Recently, I learned about the benefits of finding renewable sources of fuel, like biodiesel (Can you see an entry on Biodiesel coming up pretty soon?). So, I can change my mind, right?
Well, we are not going to talk about wood as fuel anyway. No sir, no. We actually are going to talk about the colonial measurements which are still in use the 21st Century Guatemala. How you may ask yourself we moved from renewable fuel sources to colonial measurements in the same photo of a truck full of wood logs? Easy, my friends, that’s how easy it can be done. Let me explain. See, the photo above is about fuel home delivery and the transaction that occurred there. The amount of wood missing from the truck, which was delivered to the lady in delantal (apron) is a colonial measurement known as una tarea (one workload). Workload or tarea (also known as homework) is the best word I can think of to translate the word tarea. The lady in the apron bought una tarea of wood logs, which, she said, was enough fuel for two weeks for her household. She paid Q180/US$24 for una tarea of wood logs.
Other colonial measurements still in use in present-day Guatemala are: Una mano (one hand or five of anything), un manojo (a bunch), una libra (a pound; this one may hurt many of you, but for sure, the civilized world now uses the kilo), una picopada (a truckload), una fila de frances (a row of french rolls), una arroba (@ or 25 pounds) un quintal (100 pounds), una cuerda (a cord equals 1/6 of city block), una medida (a measurement of whatever fits inside a small can or basket), una penca de banano (that’s a banana cluster), et-cetera or basically that’s what I can remember right now. I am sure the Guatemalans visitors will share other colonial measurements being used in Guatemala. There was a recent article about colonial measurement in Prensa Libre’s Revista Domingo under the title of Costumbres que pesan {ñ}.
Semana Santa in Guatemala City Side Note: For those of you who did not have enough Holy Week photos, here is a link to Slide Show of Holy Week photos in Guatemala City by the Guatemalan photojournalist James Rodríguez of MiMundo.Org. If you have the time, I recommend his photo stream at Flickr and his website very highly.
One final post scriptum: Today’s entry can be also called the Boeing 707. Do you know why?
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