Antorchas de Independencia
As every year, on September 14, people from all over the Guatemala begin marathons to go to another part of the country …
As every year, on September 14, people from all over the Guatemala begin marathons to go to another part of the country …
Don’t you wish you can have one these adorable Guatemalan nacimientos (nativity scenes) in your own home for the next Christmas? In …
Watching the world-famous mime Tamagochy yanking smiles and laughs from the audience formed around his “maleta de la alegría” (happiness suitcase) I …
Every Saturday and Sunday the city closes 5a avenida norte, better known as Calle del Arco, to all traffic. Only allowing people …
As I said last year, in Guatemala we could and should write the Manifesto against Convenience. Why you ask? Well, can you …
The other day while I waited for the fresh and hot tortillas to come out of the comal I noticed an orange …
In my humble opinion, I believe that La Antigua Guatemala is among the best places in the world to live, don’t you …
Okay, enough I say; it’s been way too long since I gave away free wallpapers; since December 23, 2010 to be exact, …
The Municipal Band Friday recitals is another reason why Parque Central is my favorite part of town. What can I say, I …
Without a doubt Ermita de La Santa Cruz is one of the more dramatic and enchanting venues in La Antigua Guatemala. Especially …
XI Festival Internacional De Cultura Paiz opened with a energy-charged reunion concert by the two most representative bands from Central America: the …
Coffee spawns a new industry around Antigua Guatemala: Coffee tours. It was only a matter of time before the coffee plantations open …
Guatemala’s a pyromaniac hell or paradise, what is it? I remember reading earlier this year a tweet from Xeni Jardin, one of …
Merry Christmas Eve! In Guatemala, Christmas Eve is as important as Christmas. People stay up all night waiting for midnight to have …
Just yesterday I was mentioning how La Antigua Guatemala is often used as a backdrop for films, concerts, paintings, photos, festivals, religious …
I like the ceramic “doble vía” signs and metal frames in La Antigua Guatemala. To be honest, I like all the ceramic …
It’s been a while since I shared a wallpaper with you, so I thought why not make one of Antigua’s handmade stone …
Since the rainy season abruptly ended at the end of September, the cold winds from the north moved in within the first …
It’s incredible how easily I fall for hand-made rustic signs in La Antigua Guatemala. A tour through the Sign category with over …
Okay, today I only have dessert for you. I am sharing two videos I found on how to prepare rellenitos de platano …
Llanto sobre la ciudad colonial. About four weeks ago I declared that this is The Rainiest Year Ever out of frustration with …
While some people prefer to make an extra buck, or a lot more extra bucks, here in La Antigua Guatemala some of …
The Antigua Guatemala’s Half Marathon Las Rosas consists of a route of 21 kilometers through La Antigua Guatemala, Jocotenango, Ciudad Vieja and …
I am a lucky guy! I am so lucky to have among my friends and acquaintances movers and shakers of the Guatemalan …
A few months ago, I posted as part of the Theme Day some Maximón effigies made from wood, now holly wood really …
A few weeks ago I introduced you to the recycling truck of La Antigua Guatemala and hi-lighted the fact that it runs …
Today, for instance, in Guatemala we celebrate Día del padre, Father’s Day. So I decided to share with you three photos of a series of a father and her daughter having a tender lunch. The little girl refused to take the byte unless her dad gave it to her on the mouth. These three photos are in reverse order, so the first frame is the thumbnail on the right, next the thumbnail of the left and finally the photograph above as they break into smiles and happy moments. There other photos with both of them smiling, but I love the mirada juguetona, playful look of the lit
I like to photograph old people. I like to photograph young people. I like to photograph people, regardless of their age, really. …
At 3:30 in the morning and by the light of the full moon as the rooster crowed a couple times, my husband …
This Sunday afternoon at Calle del Arco was just as guest contributor Arturo Godoy said in The mime just wants to get …
Anyway, in my never ending quest of bringing you the contrast of the ‘Old’ Guatemala versus the ‘New’ Guatemala, I share with you two new versions of Luna de Xelajú. The first rendition of Luna de Xelajú is by Malacates Trebol Shop. The second version of Luna de Xelajú is performed by the group Abracadabra. Next, you will find the lyrics for Luna de Xelajú in Spanish and English right below. Last but not least, you can watch and hear the Marimba of Bellas Artes performed Luna de Xelajú. Enjoy!
As almost every first of the month, AntiguaDailyPhoto is joining the City Daily Photo community in the orchestrated global effort to show …
Have I told you how much I love the dry season in Guatemala (November through April)? Well, I do for so many …
There are two ‘official’ snack times in Guatemala known as refacción; one in the morning and one in the afternoon. I have …
What characteristics or traits can be extrapolated from a culture by looking at a simple kiosk? I’ll start and then you share …
Last month I shared with you La Antigua Guatemala Sign Ordinances. I will again post the information below to keep fresh. One …
It was only last week that I told you that often during December or the Christmas season, there are several free concerts …
I will let you guys do the caption for this photo by digging through the archives of AntiguaDailyPhoto. Here are the hints: …
The last meeting of the Club Fotográfico de Antigua was quite a blast with some very interesting guests like Iván Castro, James …
The two most important towns that have giant kite flying on Todos los santos, All Saints’ Day and Día de los difuntos, …
Mimes and clowns were the main attraction for the boys and girls alike during the Día del niño, Children’s Day, celebrations. To …
Better late than never, the saying goes. In Guatemala, every October 1st, the Día del niño, Children’s Day, is observed. There were …
School bands and parades were the norm to celebrate Independence Day before the December 29 signing of The Guatemalan Peace Accords of …
So who’s fit to go on such a daredevil adventure of soaring like a bird? Antigua Canopy Tours assures that anyone from …
Antigua Canopy Tours isn’t just about the unique experience of gliding… it’s about gliding through a tropical rainforest or cloud forest canopy. …
What a beast. The journey of “flying through the forest” with Antigua Canopy Tours begins with a ride in the unique UNIMOG, …
Dangling like a spider on a web, he slightly rocks back and forth in his harness as he awaits the “okay” to go. At the cue, he lifts his legs, bends his knees… and takes off, plunging into a tunnel of thick, forest foliage. A whirring sound follows in close pursuit as he soars above the sloping forest floor, suspended meters – at times more than 100 meters – above the ground. To onlookers below, he looks like nothing more than a fragile doll that is somehow managing to cling to a nearly invisible cable as he races across the treetops.
It doesn’t matter how many times I see Volcán de Fuego erupting, I can never get tired of it or get accustomed. …
When we talk about antique items to be used as decoration for Spanish colonial architecture we don’t necessarily mean mint contidion things. …
Rust is yet another desirable aspect of antique decoration elements for colonial houses. Sometimes the artisans and blacksmith artists speed up the …
In the next three days, I will show you some antique decoration elements that I found at ElCurandero.Com offices. Also, I will …
How can simple instruments and uncomplicated and repetitive sounds create a profound, hauntingly, bewitching and fascinating musical experience? How can Guatemalans explain …
Día de la Santa Cruz (Day of the Holy Cross) is celebrated in Guatemala and other Latin American countries on May 3rd …
The Holy Week in Guatemala is a full five senses overwhelming experience. As you follow the processions all five senses are bombarded …
Boy oh boy, the things I do to bring you first-hand, eye-witness coverage daily from La Antigua Guatemala. I’ve done the unthinkable, …
Those of you, who have followed the daily updates of La Antigua Guatemala Daily Photo for a while, would know already how …
It doesn’t matter what kind of meeting it is, the ice cream men and their carts are always ready to sell you …
Play it and wear it with pride, I am sure, is the advice this father tells his sons. Did I mention resilience …
Regardless of how I may feel about the marimba, this instrument and its waling sound are very important to Guatemalans all over. …
Last week, as we watch the delegations parade at the Beijing 2008 Olympics Inauguration, I was thinking how wonderful it was to …
Before what we know today as Guatemala vanishes into the fragile realm of memory, I am glad I can take some mementos …
Ranchero music is for Latin America what the Blues is for the U.S.: music with just enough texture and color to express …
In Guatemala and many countries in Latin America today, May 3rd, is celebrated the Day of the Holy Cross and also the …
Honest, I don’t mean to brag. But I have to say sometimes life can be pretty good in La Antigua Guatemala. Let …
Every once in a while is good to stop eating Guatemalan food and eat something healthy, like a chef salad from La Fuente restaurant. A salad and the New Yorker Magazine is what I consider a healthy lunch. The article about an unknown photographer by the name of Eugene De Salignac and his photo of painters spreading out like musical notes, on the Brooklyn Bridge, over the sky line of New York, was most definitely the best dessert I have had in a long while.
The weather gods decided long time ago to sent into exile the fascist dictator of Cold to the vast lands of maple leaves and bacon; originally known as Kanata. Thanks to the wise weather gods, in Guatemala any time of the year is good for grilling and barbequing and to meet with friends for what is known locally as El Chuparrasco (chupa for drinking and rrasco, short for churrasco or barbequing). Nevertheless, I have said several times that the dried season, or rainless, that goes from the end of October to end of April is the best weather in Guatemala (which covers part of the Fall, full Winter and part of the Spring seasons). Well, if I had to pick one month as the best to visit La Antigua Guatemala, I would pick February. See, in February we have the Carnival, Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent, San Valentine’s Day (Día del cariño), the best temperate weather, Silvio Rodríguez in Concert (at least this year for the first time ever), just to mention a few highlights for the month of love.
As the new mayor took office on January 15th, he launched a new campaign to rescue the streets for the lent celebrations begin in February. Right now there are crews of cobblestone street workers almost everywhere and many streets are closed for repairs. Let’s hope they can meet their goal since Lent or Cuaresma in Spanish is approaching soon.
I find the singing of the indigenous people extremely haunting and touching, even though, they are singing evangelical hymns. To me this singing has another layer of pain and denouncing which is above the meaning of the words they sing; something much older and more mystical than the religious hymn brought by the European Christianity.
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.
Ferris wheels are another element of the Guatemalan fair. There is at least one Ferris wheel, but more often two or three of different sizes. The Ferris wheel is known here by these names rueda de Chicago(Chicago Wheel), rueda de la fortuna (wheel of fortune) and vuelta al mundo (around the world). Fairs are made up by all kinds of ambulant stands. Fairs are like accordions, they grow or shrink depending of the size of the community or town. All these photos belong to the San Pedro Las Huertas, a small village just outside and belonging to La Antigua Guatemala. At the end of July, La Antigua Guatemala will have its massive fair in honor of Saint James or Santiago.
In 1492 the Spaniards came to the Americas and traded their tiny mirrors and beads for all the wealth available in gold, …
Yesterday I told you I was going to have a sample of the sorrowful tunes play by the processional musicians that are …
Back on Ash Wednesday, February 21st, 2007, I said that in the Catholic Realm the Holy Week celebration had begun with Ash …
We continue the music journey at Jamtigua International Music Festival with Ranferí Aguilar and his Rain Maker show. Hacedor de Lluvia or …