Guatemalan Tamales for Christmas
In Guatemala, Christmas is a family day; an occasion for strengthening the family bonds. Christmas is also a feast day full of …
Guatemalan tamales — Chepitos
Chepitos are the other kind of tamalitos de frijol I have had the opportunity to try in Guatemala. The difference between tayuyos …
Guatemalan tamales — Tayuyos
There are two kinds of tamalitos de frijol that I have encountered in Guatemala: Tayuyos and Chepitos. Today I bring you tayuyos …
Street vendor selling tamales outside a church
We continue with the series of portraits of strangers made on the streets of Antigua Guatemala that later on I print to …
Guatemalan Vegan Tamales?
What is the world is coming to? What is this vegan tamales thing? Oh come on, if you take the meat and …
Buying banana leaves for tamales
Almost eight years ago I set out to bring you images of the daily life in and around Antigua Guatemala and for …
Guatemalan Chuchitos, Tamalitos, Tamales and Paches Explained
Our loyal and long-time reader Jessica Flores explained the differences on Facebook. Here are my quick and dirty translations on the fly: …
The Giant Guatemalan Tamales from Oriente
Believe it or not, not all the Guatemalan tamales are created equal. Some tamales are bigger than others. This is a self-evident …
“Los Abuelitos” Guatemalan Tamales Shop
Question: If La casa de Los Abuelitos has already a red lantern signaling that they sell tamales, then why on earth would …
Guatemalan Tamales for Christmas: colorado, negro & chuchito
A few Guatemalans living abroad asked for photos of tamales colorado (red) and negro (black) made especially for Christmas Eve and Christmas …
Happy Holidays Wishes from Antigua Daily Photo
The color red is the official color of Nochebuena and Navidad in Guatemala and nothing exemplifies this better than the Pascua plants, poinsettia flowers… TAP to read the entire post and see the full size photo.
New Year’s Eve Guatemalan Dinner: Lomo Relleno
n Guatemala the New Year’s Eve dinner can vary a lot, from the typical tamales, to baked turkey, baked hen, pepián or one of the favorites of the night: lomo relleno, stuffed top loin. The stuffing can include black chorizo, red chorizo, white longaniza, ham, ground meat, olives, hard-boiled eggs, to named the most popular stuffings.
Mayan Nativity Scene for Christmas Eve
Here’s your illustrated Guatemalan Spanish word of the day: Nacimiento for Nativity Scene. For those who are not familiar with Catholic imagery, …
First Posada Navideña of 2020
Let the nine days of posadas navideñas begin. Since this morning, December 15th, there have been sightings of Joseph and Mary’s quest …
Día de los Reyes in Antigua Guatemala
For Día de Reyes or Epiphany we break a piece of bread known as Rosca de Día de los Reyes. Whoever gets the plastic baby placed inside has to pay for the tamales and ponche on Día de la Candelaria, February 2nd, or Groundhog Day. Click through the link to see Rosca de Día de los Reyes…
Rosca de Día de Reyes
For Día de Reyes or Epiphany we break a piece of bread known as Rosca de Día de Reyes. Whoever gets the …
Happy Holidays from Antigua Daily Photo
Navidad or Christmas is an easy-going day in Antigua Guatemala. Except for the burning of firecrackers and fireworks at noon and at …
Here comes Noche Buena to Antigua Guatemala
Here’s your illustrated Spanish words of the day: Noche Buena, literal good night, for Christmas Eve. Noche Buena is such an important …
Winter is coming this week to Antigua Guatemala
And this is what Winter feels like in Antigua Guatemala: Freezing cold temperatures of about 10ºC/50ºF for about two hours between 6am …
Guatemalan Food — Caldo de Mariscos
Here’s your illustrated Spanish word of the day: Mariscos for seafood. Can someone explain to me how could I have missed caldo …
Lomo Relleno Dinner for New Year’s Eve
For New Year’s Eve dinner, food can vary quite a lot, from the typical tamales, to baked turkey, chicken, pepián or one …
Who Wants A Giant Guatemalan Tamal, Anyone, Anyone?
As I have said before, the giant tamal de oriente is not only bigger, but it also included lots of meat, usually pork or turkey. The seasoning ingredients are different as well.
Guatemalan Food: Chuchitos con chipilín
How many kinds of tamales are there in Guatemala? As explained in the entry, The Main Ingredients of the Guatemalan Chuchitos, these …
Spices and Ingredients of the Guatemalan Cuisine
Here is another take on the ingredients and spices of the traditional Guatemalan cuisine. I have shared with you guys pictures and …
Meet The Giant Tamal from Guatemala
Did you know that in Guatemala alone, there must be over 100 different kinds of tamales if not more? Tamales are an …
Maya woman cooking corn on the cub
Who wants freshly made corn on the cob? As I have mentioned before, we are hombres de maíz, men of maize, therefore …
Black Tortillas Tuesdays and Saturdays
I have found a tortillería that offers black tortillas twice a week, on Tuesdays and Saturdays. Of course, you can find black …
The Main Ingredients of the Guatemalan Chuchitos
Here are the two main ingredients for chuchitos, the Guatemalan corn tamales wrapped in maize husks. Here I caught Jennifer, grand daughter, …
Maya Girl Picking Freshly Made Tortitllas
Last week we did a mini series on campesinos and the milpa fields located on the skirt of Volcán de Agua. Today …
Keeping the Banana Republic Alive
One of the benefits of having a Banana Republic (not the clothing store, but the real thing!) is the tremendous amount of …
Christmas Season Aromas from Antigua Guatemala
One thing I can not share with you is the aroma of Christmas that I get while walking around town. The Christmas …
Posada Nights in Antigua Guatemala
Since the night of December 15, there have been sightings of Joseph and Mary’s quest for shelter around the streets of La …
Typical Guatemalan Diner’s Food
Most Guatemalan comedores (diners) serve either typical Guatemalan food or simply diner’s food as shown here. Often, both kinds of food are …
Get close to appreciate more
When you get close enough, everything turns interesting, don’t think? Now imagine if we apply the same approach of macro photography to …
Guatemalan Tamalitos de Frijol
These are tamalitos de frijol, which basically are small tamales, thus tamalITOS, with black beans mixed in before cooking and wrapped with …
The Giant Guatemalan Tamal
The gigantic tamal from oriente (Eastern Guatemala) is the equivalent of 4 to 6 typical tamales or about a dozen Mexican typical …
Guatemalan Christmas Breakfast
Here’s a typical Guatemalan breakfast for Christmas, which is normally a quite day except for the fireworks and firecrackers which begin at …
Guatemalan Corpus Christi Food
The Corpus Christi or body of Christ is celebrated the first Thursday of June, first on the cathedrals and then at the …
Guatemalan Christmas Food
Among the most popular foods found for dinner in Christmas Eve and during Christmas are tamales colorados (red tamales), tamales negros (black …
Posada Enactment for the Elders
Beginning on December 15, there are sightings of Joseph and Mary’s quest for shelter around the streets of La Antigua Guatemala. María …
Corn Husk Dolls
Since We’re Men of Maize it’s no wonder that we also do many things with the by-products of maize. We use corn …
Business In A Basket
The basket business could easily be another series about the ambulant food vendors who make a living selling all kinds food from …
Architectonic Baroque Details
La Antigua Guatemala is full of hidden treasures which are visible at plain view. One must be ready to look for them …
Breakfasts At Sabe Rico
Sabe Rico Restaurant, Chocolatería & Delicatessen is a great place to have delicious and nutritious breakfasts in La Antigua Guatemala. The range …
Feliz Noche Buena
Merry Christmas Eve! In Guatemala, Christmas Eve is as important as Christmas. People stay up all night waiting for midnight to have …
Nine Days of Posadas
We interrupt our regularly scheduled December comfort foods series to bring you the following special bulletin. Since yesterday night, December 15, there …
Guatemalan Weekend Tamal Breakfast
Here’s what a typical Sunday morning Guatemalan breakfast may look like. I say Sunday morning breakfast because normally one can only find …
Noche Buena in La Antigua Guatemala
Christmas Eve or Noche Buena in La Antigua Guatemala is celebrated by staying up all night burning firecrackers and fireworks, eating tamales, …
Guatemalan Bread Sampler Revisited
The last time I showed you a sampler of Guatemalan bread was on May 1, 2007. Wow, times flies! Today’s photo was …
Guatemalan Cuisine: Tamalitos de frijol
Certainly some of you can help us determine the differences between chuchos and chuchitos, which were both mentioned yesterday in Guy Howard’s …
Red Lantern District
Not a farol left over from last year’s posadas. Nor indeed a house of ill repute, except perhaps with regards to the …
Guatemalan Christmas Decorations: El Nacimiento
Right at midnight on December 24th/25th, baby Jesus is put in the Nacimiento scene set up on December 8th (do you remember?). …
Guatemalan Christmas Decorations: Cordones de Pino
As I said at the very beginning of the Guatemalan Christmas Decoration series, the pine tree provides many elements of the Christmas …
Guatemalan Christmas Decorations: Manzanillas
The chamomile rings are known as manzanilla in Guatemala (tejocotes in Mexican Spanish). The aroma of a Guatemalan Christmas decoration is provided …
Reuniting the Living with the Dead
Ignacio Ochoa has published a recent article about the history of kite making in Santiago Sacatepéquez under the name of Messenges in …
Guatemalan Cuisine: Tacos
Tacos is yet another word shared by the Guatemalan and Mexican gastronomy. If you’re accustomed to Mexican dishes, you have to be …
Christmas’ Eve or Noche Buena in La Antigua Guatemala
Christmas’ Eve or Noche Buena in La Antigua Guatemala is celebrated by staying up all night burning firecracker, eating tamales or turkey and drinking real fruit punch or hot real chocolate, visiting family, friend and neighbors for the respective abrazo de Noche Buena and buenos deseos (Christmas hug and wishes); many even go to midnight mass. At midnight the presents under the Christmas tree, around the nacimiento (nativity scene), are opened and everyone laughs and hugs indiscriminately everyone around. These celebrations rate the highest on nostalgic memory scale; everyone living abroad wishes to be in Guatemala for this season and for this night in particular.
Traditional Guatemalan Christmas Food: Fried Plantains
But like in anything else in life, something good emerged from such a tragic history. Fried plantains, rellenitos (fried plantain mass filled with black beans), atol de platano (plantain-based hot and thick drink) and even the wrappings of traditional Guatemalan tamal came from the banana trees. Man, I could on and on talking about bananas recipes and dishes in Guatemala like Bubba did in Forest Gump about shrimp.
Marimba Orquesta Chicken Bus Ave Lira
Like Manolo said, with Marimba music as the background for many parties and celebrations around La Antigua Guatemala and the rest of the country, I can almost smell the pine needles under my feet and the tamales and ponche (fruit punch) in the air. Oh what memories… sometimes I even wish I could like this type of music. 🙁
Guatemalan Fair: The Pine-needle Processional Carpets
The making of these processional carpets is such a community-forming and bonding activity since in the process participate many, if not all, of the neighbors and family members. These traditions, festive calendar dates and special celebrations mark very strongly what makes a normal human being into a hard-core Guatemalan. You break the link or access to these experiences and you only have a person that was born in Guatemala; a fact as worthless as the fact of having had a pair of boots once.
Christmas colors from the Antigua Guatemala’s Market
Red is the most prominent color around Christmas time. You can see it in the many people who dress up like Santa …
Guatemalan Cuisine: Chuchitos y atol de platano
Continuing with our milpa crops, here we have the most widely eaten Guatemalan tamal(e), which goes by the name of chuchito (puppy …
Pump up the color
I am sorry guys, I know it gets boring, but I have to bring another photo with rich colors. These are wrappers …
Guatemalan Cuisine: Pache
Guatemalan Cuisine: Pache, originally uploaded by rudygiron. Tamales are an ancient American food, made throughout the continent for over 5000 years. How …