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Ephemerides, Page 3

There Goes 2008

That’s it. As the sun sets today we will be waving goodbye to 2008. I want to take this opportunity to thank …

Obama in Antigua Guatemala

Maybe we will get it right this election. —The Brunscheon, Oregon We hope so. —The rest of the world Well, as some …

Mother’s Safety Zone

Through our mothers’ safety zone we learn to crawl, walk, run, swim and fly! It is only fair that we assign one …

Valentine’s Day in La Antigua Guatemala

Valentine’s Day in Guatemala is known as El Dí­a del Cariño. Cariño and caress share the same etymology and it means affection. The Day of Affection would be a close translation for El Dí­a del Cariño, thus it is much more than Valentine’s Day because it is the day to show your affection, love and appreciation to your co-workers, neighbors, friends, family, and of course, your girlfriend or girlfriend; whatever the case may be.

La Antigua Guatemala Daily Photo’s Top 12 of 2007

New Year’s Eve Celebrations in La Antigua Guatemala:
For starters there are many things that make New Year’s Eve similar and different than Christmas’ Eve. If Christmas’ Eve is celebrated with the family at home at your parents’ home; New Year’s Eve can be celebrated anywhere: a discotheque, a park, the beach or La Calle del Arco, a popular venue in La Antigua Guatemala

Feliz Navidad, Merry Christmas from LAGDP

With the help of a little tripod and an out of focus shot, you can turn even the most banal and commercial Christmas tree into an awesome Christmas card. I hope you like it even though it is not to easily distinguishable as a Christmas tree.

Virgin of Guadalupe Celebrations in La Antigua Guatemala

In La Antigua Guatemala, religious celebrations draw together all kinds of heterogeneous people and the feast day of Virgin of Guadalupe is no exception. In the day of La Virgen de Guadalupe, Our Lady of Guadalupe, you can find gringa mamas, indigenous mamas, ladino mamas and white mamas all taking their children dressed with indigenous clothes to visit the altar of La Virgen Morena. In many cases you have grandmas and the whole family taking part of the visit to Virgin of Guadalupe inside Iglesia de la Merced.

The Ecological Way to Celebrate the Burning of the Devil in Guatemala

For those who would rather break a piñata than playing around with fire, I present to you the Lucky 7 Burning of the Devil Piñata for you to fill it with all your frustration and negative vibes and virtually burn it or break it with your mouse, trackball or tablet until your let it all out. Happy Burning of the Devil everyone!

Guatemala Will Now Be a Social Democrat Country

As of 22 hours local time of Sunday 4th of November, Guatemala’s Electoral Supreme Tribunal or Tribunal Supremo Electoral (TSE) in Spanish has declared the Socal-Democrat Alvaro Colom as the new elected president of Guatemala.

The Best Fiambre in the World

I don’t know why the word salad brings all kinds of vegetables to mind. Fiambre is a salad, but it mostly has meats, all kinds: sausages, hams, chicken, sea food, meats pork and beef. It is Domino’s or Pizza Hut that has a meat lover’s pizza with a mere 5 meat. Move over meat lover’s pizza; fiambre has over 25 meats.

Guatemalan Independence Day 2007 Slideshow and Video

I haven’t seen the film yet, but the title alone is hauntingly enough, for me, to make me want to see it. Live and become could be the short answer for those searching how to make a Guatemalan from a newly adopted baby. With that in mind, I leave you a short slide show and a video clip of the activities around the Guatemalan Independence Day.

I dedicate these photos, video and sounds to all my Guatemalan readers living abroad; may these vistas bring you home for a little while.

Nightly Parade on Independence Day

A simple snapshot of a nightly parade on Independence Day in La Antigua Guatemala. I have lots of photos and videos to process and not much time to write a lot at this moment. Stay tune for the full coverage of the Independence Day in Guatemala.

The Spanish-style roof tiles in Compañí­a de Jesús

Elsewhere in La Antigua Guatemala, there is all kinds of Independence activities, similar to what I showed you last year. Today and tomorrow will be filled with patriotic sounds coming from the many students school bands and their parades, as well as the many Independence marathons which carry the patriotic fire in their torches back to their communities and villages. I will try to get at least some different shots of the activities, if work allows it. In the meantime, you can get a feel for the festive and noisy atmosphere we live now in La Antigua Guatemala by checking the entries below.

Guatemalans Voted in National Elections on September 9th

People were pointed to their voting centers by a mailed slip with the information or by visiting one of citizens’ registration booths made available by the Tribunal Supremo Electoral (Electoral Supreme Tribunal). At the voting centers, people were oriented by the posters with table numbers and voting registration number (número de empadronamiento in Spanish). Once the voters had the right table, they walked to the queue and waiting their voting turn. At their turn, they approached the table where they had to show their cédulas (Identification card) and they were asked to repeat some of the information in their cédulas. Their voting registration number was checked against the logbooks provided by Tribunal Supremo Electoral. If all checked correctly, voters were given four ballots: One for city mayor, another for regional congress seats, another national congress seats and the last one for president and vice-president. With the four ballots and a crayon, voters walked to the voting booth and marked their election and walked back to the voting table to deposit their ballots in the urnas (ballot transparent bags). After that, voters had to sign the voting registration logbooks and their cédula was given back and their pointing finger marked with indelible ink. Basically, this is the voting process in Guatemala.