mountains

Inside Finca Filadelfia Coffee Plantation

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I have said it before and I am repeating again here, both Panchoy and Almolonga valleys are surrounded by three volcanoes and mountain ranges which served as funnels during the rainy season collecting tremendous amounts of water; much more than can be consumed by all the trees and plants on the hills around La Antigua … Read more

Antigua Guatemala Rainy Season What, When?

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Vista panorámica de los volcanes Agua, Fuego y Acatenango by Rudy Giron

This year the rainy season has been fabulous so far. Crystal clear skies and sunny mornings to mid-afternoons with some light rains in the late afternoon or evening. The average temperature is about 20C/68F. The picture above was taken this morning when some rebel clouds were caressing the volcanoes Agua, Fuego and Acatenango. It was … Read more

Garden Art: Owl Sculpture

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Garden Decoration: Ceramic Owl Sculpture

I know that to keep abundant richly verdant mountains in Guatemala we have to have a 6-month rainy season. But, enough is enough, ya basta; we don’t need to have a full week of constant rains. Too much rain is not good for Guatemala either since too much rain breaks the country’s infrastructure, people’s lives are at risk with so many landslides, overflowing rivers and the collapsing of some bridges.

Just take a look at the report about the state of roads in Guatemala by PROVIAL at 6am. PROVIAL, short for Protección y Seguridad Vial (Road Protection and Safety), is part of the Ministerio de Comunicaciones, Infraestructura y Vivienda (CIV) or Ministry of Communications, Infrastructure and Housing. You can request information about the state of any given road in Guatemala or follow the punctual updates by @Provial in Twitter or by dialing 1520.

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Man-made Tree-looking Structure

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Today’s entry is a follow up to Camouflaging Cellular Towers where I mentioned how fortunate we are in La Antigua Guatemala where efforts are being made to reduce the visual pollution found elsewhere in Guatemala. Here’s what posted before: Sometimes we don’t realized how lucky we are for living La Antigua Guatemala until we take … Read more

Stone Wall at El Hato

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This kind of stoned wall is found through out Guatemala, especially, in the highlands. The purpose of this kind walls is to prevent landslides, deslaves in Spanish, or rather to prevent the landslides from damaging the roads and ridges. Of course, trees are the best defense agains landslides and campaigns against deforestation are the best … Read more

Theme Day: Postcard-worthy Panoramic Vista

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Just yesterday, Zach was asking what is your favorite viewing spot of the Antigua Guatemala area? Well, I don’t have just one. Obviously I like the views from Cerro de la Cruz, Finca Filadelfia and Santo Domingo del Cerro. Nevertheless, I finding the views from the road that takes you to El Hato village quite … Read more

Panoramic View of Residential Areas

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Before you leave Santo Domingo del Cerro, make sure you make a couple strategic stops, especially around the heliport to take some panoramic pictures from La Antigua Guatemala. In the picture above, we get an bird’s eye view of the Santo Domingo residential neighborhoods, which are located to right, on Calle de los Duelos, of … Read more

Panoramic View from El Tenedor del Cerro

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The restaurant located on the best spot of Santo Domingo del Cerro goes by the name of Tenedor del Cerro. The views from this restaurant are simply breath-taking, especially during the dry season when you can see all three volcanoes hugging the Panchoy valley. Next to the restaurant there are a couple of terraces with … Read more

Santo Hermano Pedro Sculpture

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Perhaps sculpture is not the right word, but I can’t think of a better word right now to describe this giant metal image of Santo Hermano Pedro de Betancourt. So who was this character who has inspired so many people and that eventually became a Saint? First, here are the archived articles in Antigua Daily … Read more

Coffee Tours in Antigua Guatemala

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Coffee spawns a new industry around Antigua Guatemala: Coffee tours. It was only a matter of time before the coffee plantations open their doors to tourists interested in learning about the worlds favorite drink. Off course, coffee tours was only the beginning and soon enough the coffee plantations started offering horse and mule rides, bike … Read more

Green, Green, Green Quetzalumán

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A simple image with lots of green and a touch of red, similar to our beautiful Quetzal; Guatemala’s ultimate symbol for freedom. A simple image inspired on Miguel Ángel Asturias‘ poem Tecún Úman. Below, the first five paragraphs of the exquisite poem. Tecún-Umán, el de las torres verdes, el de las altas torres verdes, verdes, … Read more

A brief sunrise amongst volcanoes

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After having lived for more than three months now in La Antigua Guatemala, I’ve only been a little around its surroundings. So at some point I was in San Juan del Obispo, San Pedro Las Huertas, and so on, but this past weekend I had the opportunity to go to the Earth Lodge, located in … Read more