A few things we should know about the two coins shown in the picture above. First, the 25 centavos coin is normally known as a “choca” coin in Guatemala; as in give a choca. A choca used to be a lot of money in the 80s as one could have paid the metropolitan public transit … Read more
I don’t know if it was a trend at one point or another in La Antigua Guatemala, but I have found several houses in La Antigua Guatemala with Mayan stela replicas as part of the decoration. Above you can see a close-up detail from the Mayan stela replica below. Does anybody know when it was … Read more
Today, I continue learning about the Guatemalan coffees. In the past I have mention how I thought coffee plantations were beneficial for the environment because they provided almost undisturbed forested land for birds like Bushy-crested Jay which is native to Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua. Also, I shared with you the biannual procedure of … Read more
In this photograph I try to captured the different ages or stages of the coffee berries. Since we are showing the different ages of coffee I thought I should share with you the information about the different premium coffees from Guatemala. According to Anacafé, Guatemalan National Coffee Association, there are eight distinct strictly hard bean … Read more
These are the hands the rock the coffee berries off the branches swiftly, almost effortlessly it seemed. There’s something about these hands that moves me . What kind of stories are behind these hands? What life have they lived?
This has to be the rainiest year ever in my entire life. I had never ever seen so much rainfall. After several consecutive days of non-stop rain I posted this in Twitter: @rudygiron: Éste es el año más lluvioso de toda mi vida y sinceramente ya me tiene harto y deprimido. @rudygiron: This has to … Read more
How can one find beauty in such a rustic forged metal knocker? I don’t know, but the instant I saw it I knew I had to add it to my door knocker collection. I found this door knocker in Finca Filadelfia; look for it next time you visit La Antigua Guatemala.
Today while doing some banking mandados, errands, out of curiosity I ask if they already had the brand new Q200 bill (200 quetzals is about US$25). The bank teller told they only had one to show people what the new bill look like and asked me if I would like to see it? Sure, I … Read more
This how imagine a parking lot looked like at the beginning of the 20th Century in La Antigua Guatemala. Nowadays, however, I believe these antique bicycles with their old bicycle license plates are just a publicity stunt by La Cuevita de los Urquizú to make people stop and visit their typical Guatemalan cuisine buffet. That’s … Read more
For as long as there’s love, couples will feel the desire to record their names, interlocked, as proof that at one point they were in love. There’s even a famous and popular Mexican corrido song which describes one such love story in which the lovers recorded their names on a penca (nopal pad). Who wants … Read more
This is how Guatemala’s Instituto Nacional de Sismología, Vulcanología, Meteorología e Hidrología, INSIVUMEH for short, measures the hours of sun light for the day. In Guatemala we are lucky to have many days with lots of sun light through out the year. If the sun-powered technology wasn’t so expensive we take advantage of the enormous … Read more
One important goal for me is to show you what’s possible and what’s available in La Antigua Guatemala. Believe it or not, some people believe we still live on tree canopies. Often in Twitter or Facebook, Guatemalans make a point of “no vivimos en árboles” or “por eso piensan que vivimos en árboles” (That’s why … Read more
Café Santa María is quite possibly the most popular comedor in Antigua Guatemala nowadays. I eat there at least twice a week and often I come across acquaintances and friends from all walks of life. La Antigua’s Geeksquad even have met there a couple of times. By the way, the reason so many people from … Read more
The Maya were among the most prominent story tellers. The Maya ‘wrote’ just about everything. I am sure that if the ancient Maya scribblers had access to Twitter and Facebook, they would have had busy timelimes; heck they would have used aggregators to fill their lifestream with every imaginable media.
Can you guess what kind of furniture has these fasteners on it? Hint, hint, a recent sign has the word you’re looking for… P.S. is fastener the right word for these metal bolt-pins?