Here’s your illustrated Guatemalan Spanish word of the day: Algodones for cotton candy or candy floss or tooth floss or fairy floss. To sweeten this post, here’s some English-language trivia about algodones. Cotton candy (U.S., India, Canada), candy floss (UK, Pakistan, Ireland, New Zealand, India, South Africa, Canada), or tooth floss (South Africa), and Fairy … Read more
Believe it or not, La Antigua Guatemala is NOT the REAL Guatemala. Well, let me rephrase that, downtown Antigua Guatemala is not the real Guatemala because the minute you step in any of the villages around our beloved colonial town, you are in the REAL Guatemala. Today we continue our series of street portraits with … Read more
Th Guatemalan Spanish word of the day: caña or vara are the words used in Guatemala for reeds. Often one gets to read only the negative news from Guatemala as the mass media is mostly interested in broadcasting the sensationalistic stuff. Not here, not today. Just as often, I try to bring to your the … Read more
Last week we did a mini series on campesinos and the milpa fields located on the skirt of Volcán de Agua. Today we show the most obvious and popular food, tortillas, that is made from maize harvested from the milpa fields. Other Guatemalan food based on corn are: Tamales, tostadas, chuchitos, pupusas, atoles, dobladas, enchiladas, … Read more
Blame NYChapin for today’s photo of a forest area among the milpa fields. This is about 2 miles up the hills of Volcán de Agua as climbed from the village of San Pedro Las Huertas. Boy oh boy, the things I do for you guys. 😉 The picture below, on the other hand, was taken … Read more
So far in these milpa fields I have found beans, squash, red onions, fruit trees, and flowers. However, as explained before, in a milpa field there a dozen crops at once: maize, avocados, multiple kinds of squash, chiles (hot pepper chilli), beans, tomatoes, tomatillos, camotes (sweet potatoes), jicama (a tuber also known as sengkwang, yam … Read more
According to Don Alejandro, campesinos walk about a mile or two each day around 6am to 7am to work on their milpas. They do this from April through December. If you have a mule or donkey, the loads are a little easier, but if you are not, you have to carry heave loads up and … Read more
Don Alejandro, 78, has four cuerdas [1/6 of block equals 1 cuerda] on communal or municipal land where he grows maize and beans. He works on his milpa or maizal field from April through October. Harvest time is November for the maize and December for the beans. This photo was taken on the outskirts of … Read more
It was Manolo who introduced to the term colono (a salaried worker) in comparison to a campesino (a self-employed farmer). Manolo also made this statement: Real Guatemala -> Royal Guatemala -> Feudal Guatemala, which I think is true quite often. As I have mentioned before, the campesino, the fieldworker, is an ever-present stamp in the … Read more
Slowly, many ambulant vendors are upgrading to delivering their wares on vehicles, from motor bicycle trucks to small pick up trucks as the one shown here. As we can see in the picture, right now is watermelon season in Guatemala, although I am sure you can get them year round as well as with bananas. … Read more
Almost eight years ago I set out to bring you images of the daily life in and around Antigua Guatemala and for the most part I have stayed true and honest to the goal. Today’s photograph adds to the #RealGuatemala series I started a few months back and it is an excellent image of daily … Read more
Another common sight of the #RealGuatemala around Antigua Guatemala is the peasants on their way to work their land. This is especially so in the south part of town and villages because many per use the skirt of Volcán de Agua to grow maize, avocados, tomatoes, chiles, squash, et cetera, in short the crops of … Read more
¡No pongas todos los huevos en una canasta! Don’t put all your eggs in one basket! Oh the wisdom of idioms do not escape the Guatemalan typical small business owner, as I explained before. That’s why it’s commonplace to find a zaguán shop selling disparate items such fruits, vegetables and freshly made tortillas. Here’s one … Read more
Here’s another photograph of the harvesting of coffee berries in Antigua Guatemala for the #RealGuatemala series. The freshly cut coffee berries being pulled by the tractor to the beneficio so they can undergo the next step in the process of producing one of the best coffees in the world. I have a few questions for … Read more
A walk through many of the villages around Antigua Guatemala reveals so much about how Guatemalans live. For instance, there are many free range chickens, turkeys and ducks, along mules, donkeys and horses in the houses of peasants living in the aldeas. I was surprised to learn that these ducks walk all the way to … Read more