The Cuaresma (Lent) period which leads into Semana Santa (Holy Week) begins every year with Miércoles de ceniza (Ash Wednesday). As in previous years, I set myself aside and let my dear friend Nelo share his excellent Cuaresma imagery since he’s quite possibly the person with most photos of Lent and the Holy Week; he’s … Read more
As published last year, these colorful Guatemalan cascarones [eggshells] filled with confetti are known as cascarones de carnaval [carnival] and they mark the arrival of carnaval and then Ash Wednesday (Miércoles de ceniza), which is the first day of Lent (Cuaresma). That’s right folks, on Wednesday we will begin the count down to The World … Read more
Sem você nem tristeza teremos Pra nos lamentar Sem você nem morrer de saudade Nem mesmo chorar Pois não há chorar E o amor? O amor desaparecerá. E o amor? Da lembrança ninguém nem se lembrará E o amor? Se perder ninguém mais vai no olhar E o amor? Palavra vazia ninguém mais namorará Namorará … Read more
… now you see me, now you don’t… Un Angel para un Final by Silvio Rodriguez on Grooveshark At the closing of the 31st of December, we’ll be saying our goodbyes to 2011 and I want to take this opportunity to thank all the wonderful people who have left comments or sent feedback. I want … Read more
Today’s theme for The Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe on December 12 in Antigua Guatemala will be photographic backdrops and photo stages. In the slide show below you can find find examples of the Guatemalan kitsch at its best. As I have shared with you in previous years, in La Antigua Guatemala, religious celebrations … Read more
La Antigua Guatemala remains as one of the few places where you can meet with hundreds of people willing to Burn the Devil and the bad spirits in a cleansing ceremony through the purifying power of fire. The idea of the La quema del diablo celebration was to get rid of the devil, the bad … Read more
Thanksgiving is yet another holiday from the U.S. that is celebrated in Antigua Guatemala, especially by the local expat residents living in town. Because of this, often you find restaurants that cater to those who do not want to go through the ordeal of cooking the turkey and Thanksgiving dinner. Other expats just celebrate the … Read more
The Guatemalan presidential elections are finally over and we can go back to building a better country and let the new President elect and his team do whatever it is that they do. Below, there’s a screen shot of the almost final results with 53.78% of the votes going to the Partido Patriota and 46.22% to the Partido Líder. You can visit the web page for Tribunal Supremo Electoral (Supreme Electoral Tribunal) for the final results.
Compared to the first voting round, today there was almost nobody there. Compare the photos from the September 11 election process and with today’s photos. Nevertheless, I wanted to experiment with a time-lapse video, so I shot 1,800 photos to create the time-lapse video of the voting center at the cultural center César Brañas. As you can see in some parts of the video, there’s almost nobody; that’s how efficient the voting process was this time. I hope you enjoy the time-lapse video, please, let me know either way.
I am not sure whether now there are more people celebrating Halloween in La Antigua Guatemala or if I am just more aware of the alienation of Guatemalans in general. Although it is kind of difficult to use the word alienation for a town like Antigua Guatemala where most people are not locals. Perhaps, that’s … Read more
So, what’s up with the crazy and weird title I hear you asking… well, let me explain. First the sunshine part. After 11 days of continuos rains we were greeted with sunshine and chilly winds on October 20. If Twitter had hyper-local trending topics, then the #climaGT hash tag could had been the trending topic … Read more
Here’s yet another vista from Iglesia de La Merced, one of the most important churches in La Antigua Guatemala, if not the most important. As always follow the white rabbit to take a look at all the different vistas from Iglesia de La Merced.
Ephemerides Aside: In Guatemala, October 12 is a national holiday known as Día de la Raza or Day of the Race. October 12 is celebrated as Columbus Day in the United States, as Día de la Raza in many countries in the Americas, as Discovery Day in the Bahamas, as Día de la Hispanidad and Fiesta Nacional in Spain and as Día de las Américas (Day of the Americas) in Uruguay. These holidays have been celebrated unofficially since the late 18th century, and officially in various countries since the early 20th century. SEE MORE…
If you want to have a laugh, read The War of the Worlds, a humorous parody based on the original “The War of the Worlds” (October 30, 1938) radio show The Mercury Theatre on the Air as it was broadcasted. On a date like today’s, in 1492, Two Worlds Collided and the rest is, as we say, living history!
Weather Aside: Any protests or celebration of October 12 were marred by a tropical depression which brought heavy and constants rains which in turn caused landslides and overflowing of rivers. That’s the reason for now showing an Oct. 12 related photograph.
Even Google celebrated Guatemala’s Independence 2011 with a Doodle. Also, President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton sent their congratulatory remarks to the people of Guatemala: On behalf of President Obama and the people of the United States, I congratulate the people of Guatemala on the 190th anniversary of your independence this September 15. … Read more
As every year, on September 14, people from all over the Guatemala begin marathons to go to another part of the country to get the flame for the Independence Torch back in their communities. There are many places the have a torch where other people from other towns can light their torch to bring back … Read more
I don’t know if it was my imagination, but I saw a lot more people in this election than in the elections four years ago.
A finger marked with indelible ink is the proof you have voted in the Guatemalan General Elections. Above a marked finger in front of one of the voting centers in La Antigua Guatemala where elections progressed in a calm and quiet family atmosphere. It almost felt like a civic party.
The voting process was very similar to the General Elections of 2007, except for the fact that most people voted with the new counterfeit-proof new national identification card known as DPI and a few variations in the procedure. People were pointed to their voting centers by slips the were mailed a few weeks ago with the voting 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 waited for their voting turn. At their turn, they approached the table where they had to show their DPI or cédulas (old identification booklet). Their voting registration number was checked against the voting lists provided by Tribunal Supremo Electoral. If all checked correctly, voters were given five ballots: One for municipal mayorships, another for regional congress seats, another national congress seats, one more for Central American parliament and the last one for president and vice-president. With the five 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, DPI or cédula IDs were given back and their index finger marked with indelible ink. Basically, this was the voting process in Guatemala for 2011.
Children were also given the opportunity to simulate the election process by voting for president and vice-president. The children’s election process mimicked the adult voting process with similar ballot and erasable purple ink. Children between 5 and 17 years of age could participate. Children voting centers were located at different locations throughout La Antigua Guatemala.
I prepared a Flickr Slideshow of the Guatemalan Elections 2011 with keyframes showing the election process described above.
Please, let me know what you think of it and if you believe I have done my job at giving you a feeling for the election process in La Antigua Guatemala. I will be waiting for your feedback.
One more thing; I also grabbed a Storify chronicle of the elections prepared by selecting from the vast amounts of Twitter updates using one of the following hash tags: #EleccionesGT and #eVoto. Enjoy!
The Plaza del Apóstol Santiago is located a few hundred meters from the Cerro de la Cruz mirador (look out point). It is easy to miss it if you don’t know it is there. In the middle of the plaza you’ll find the monument to Saint James Apostle.
On July 25 La Antigua Guatemala celebrates the Saint James Apostle Day with all kinds of festivities.
![Miércoles de ceniza by Leonel [nelo] Mijangos](https://i0.wp.com/antiguadailyphoto.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/120222_v_jes_mil-62_ver.jpeg?fit=640%2C427&ssl=1)
