Blame NYChapin for today’s photo of a forest area among the milpa fields. This is about 2 miles up the hills of Volcán de Agua as climbed from the village of San Pedro Las Huertas. Boy oh boy, the things I do for you guys. 😉 The picture below, on the other hand, was taken … Read more
So far in these milpa fields I have found beans, squash, red onions, fruit trees, and flowers. However, as explained before, in a milpa field there a dozen crops at once: maize, avocados, multiple kinds of squash, chiles (hot pepper chilli), beans, tomatoes, tomatillos, camotes (sweet potatoes), jicama (a tuber also known as sengkwang, yam … Read more
According to Don Alejandro, campesinos walk about a mile or two each day around 6am to 7am to work on their milpas. They do this from April through December. If you have a mule or donkey, the loads are a little easier, but if you are not, you have to carry heave loads up and … Read more
Don Alejandro, 78, has four cuerdas [1/6 of block equals 1 cuerda] on communal or municipal land where he grows maize and beans. He works on his milpa or maizal field from April through October. Harvest time is November for the maize and December for the beans. This photo was taken on the outskirts of … Read more
It was Manolo who introduced to the term colono (a salaried worker) in comparison to a campesino (a self-employed farmer). Manolo also made this statement: Real Guatemala -> Royal Guatemala -> Feudal Guatemala, which I think is true quite often. As I have mentioned before, the campesino, the fieldworker, is an ever-present stamp in the … Read more
Alright, we will finish the first part of the Real Guatemala series with portrait of two police officers who were deployed during Semana Santa, Holy Week, to keep everyone “safe.” Only a few times during the year we get the opportunity of seeing so much policías on the streets of Antigua Guatemala, but never as … Read more
The land belongs to those that work it with their own hands. —Emiliano Zapata La tierra es de quien la trabaja con sus manos. —Emiliano Zapata One more addition to the Real Guatemala series. The campesino, the fieldworker, is an ever-stamp in the daily life of Guatemala we see then going to work the fields … Read more
Of course, we can not leave out the albañiles, construction workers, from a series about the Real Guatemala. I don’t know if everyone is building or rebuilding their houses because it seems there are albañiles everywhere you look. Here for instance, we’re looking at the almost finished salón municipal, municipal ballroom, in Ciudad Vieja. Watch … Read more
Each morning the streets are filled with people of all ages going or coming from doing errands, as simple as buying fresh tortillas or pan (bread), or taking kids to school, or whatever. Here we can see a grandmother on her way to get tortillas. Inside the tienda we can see people buying all kinds … Read more
Even though you can not fully see the girlfriend, believe me she’s there, she just pulled her upper body to be in the picture. Anyhow, I will let you to the caption for this. The best one will receive a post card made from one of my photo via the postal service. Let the creative … Read more
Of course, these ladies who prepare us our daily tortillas can not be missing in series about the real Guatemala. Here we see the clay comal ready to receive the uncooked corn cakes to be turned into fresh tortillas. Below the comal we can see the fire and the ever present pot with frijoles (black … Read more
Here’s a Guatemalan idiom for your ever-increasing Spanish vocabulary: “zapatero, a tus zapatos” Ne sutor ultra crepidam — “Let the shoemaker venture no further.” Another idiomatic translation might be: cobbler, stick to thy last. Used to critize someone who opines about a subject without knowing it. (source: Wiktionary) What other translation can you offer for … Read more
We continue our series Real Guatemala series with a photograph of a grandmother from Ciudad Vieja buying the eggs and salchichas at la tienda to prepare el desayuno for those going to work or school. Do you know what else would be served at breakfast for the typical Guatemalan home?
These women from Ciudad Vieja are wearing what I would consider the typical dress code for rural Guatemala women, except, of course, for the typical Guatemalan traje or corte worn by indigenous women. Here they are going to their mandados. How do you like the Real Guatemala series thus far?
We continue the Real Guatemala series with some Spanish words for your ever-increasing Spanish vocabulary. First acólitos, that’s the closes translation for acolytes, although the most often used word is quite possibly monaguillos for alta boys. The interesting thing about the photograph is that I see two girls and I thought altar boys were always … Read more