As soon as you step outside downtown Antigua Guatemala, you can find the REAL Guatemala. A quick visit to Ciudad Vieja, about 3 miles from Antigua Guatemala, can do the trick as well. My favorite places are the parks around the church of Ciudad Vieja. If you like walking, jogging or cycling, Ciudad Vieja provides … Read more
Birds are quite common around the fountains and water faucets in Antigua Guatemala. I guess coffee plantations are a great places for birds to live and feeding, but there might not be too many water sources and that’s why, I think, birds tend to flock to the abundant water fountains in and around Antigua Guatemala.
I am afraid the paraphrasing of the title might scape most people since it is a nerd thing that only the most geeky from the olden days would understand. Anyhow, here’s a worker for hire with a mule and fumigator that can travel to you parcel and get rid of those pesky pests. I wonder … Read more
Here’s a sepia take on this picture that many people seem to enjoy very much. All these houses are newly built, but are made to look antique, used, and aged. The same applies to the photograph, which is digital, but it was desaturated and then I added it a hint of sepia toning to make … Read more
This patchwork can be seen on the hills around Ciudad Vieja and I was asked to photograph it for nostalgia reason by a Guatemalan living abroad. I wanted to frame it in such a way as though the patchwork was being looked at from a window. So, I went to the newly renovated main square … 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
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?
I’ve continued with my experiments of creation of stereographic projections, commonly known as tiny planets. Here is the MiniMundo of the Parque Central of Ciudad Vieja. If you click on the link below, you will find more MiniMundos. Favorite it so you can come often as I will me posting more tiny planets there. Enjoy! … Read more
I honestly wonder if any of the public clocks in Guatemala actually work. The clock tower in Ciudad Vieja for instance has been set at this hour for as long as I can remember. Obviously, Guatemalans have a different respect and sense for time as say, the British. Needless to say, this clock tower is … Read more
November 1 is one of the most important dates in Guatemala. On November 1 Guatemalans go to the cemeteries to remember and honor their dead. Interesting enough by going to the cemeteries to engage with the departed ones, Guatemalans forge stronger relationships with the living ones and transmit the importance of remembering and honouring their … Read more