I pass by Tanque de la Unión at least twice a day. Lucky me. So it shouldn’t come as a surprise that I’ve fallen in love with this utilitarian water tank and public washbasins. If you don’t believe me, follow the links to see some of the previous pictures of Tanque de la Unión. Anyhow, … Read more
The venerable colonial pila from La Antigua Guatemala finds a new use as decoration in a fast food restaurant. What’s a pila (pee-lah), I hear you ask? simple, the omnipresent pila guatemalteca is basically a water tank and one or two sinks or washbasins for doing dishes and washing the clothes. You have seen a … Read more
Today, as in colonial times, these public water tanks and washbasins serve as the places for doing the laundry and for water distribution. Furthermore, public laundry washbasins (sometimes river or lake shores) serve as the gathering place for news, gossip and community building through the interactions that take place. Public washbasins could be considered the … Read more
The pila is basically a Guatemalan home staple. Normally the pila design has a water tank in the center and two sinks, one on each side of the water tank. One sink is for hand-washing your laundry and thus its surface is ribbed. The other sink is for doing dishes and the surface is smooth. … Read more
It was almost a year ago when I published a photo of the public laundry washbasins in Ciudad Vieja and Heidi asked how do they wash their clothes? As an answer I did a follow up photo of public laundry washbasins at work (about two months later, heck this was fast), but this lavaderos, the … Read more
Yesterday I showed you a public laundry washbasin in Ciudad Vieja. Today I bring to you the Tanque de la Unión public laundry washbasin (->more info in Spanish). In colonial times these public water tanks and washbasins served as the places for doing your laundry and for water distribution. In many places in Guatemala this … Read more
On May 13th I posted a photo a public laundry washbasin in Ciudad Vieja and Heidi asked how do people wash their clothes in such facilities. Here I have a follow-up photo taken at the same time and day. People, usually from low income areas, take their dirty clothes to the public laundry washbasin which … Read more
In Antigua and the surrounded communities there are still exist public laundry washbasins. The one pictured here is in Ciudad Vieja (aerial shots), about 1 mile from Antigua. Ciudad Vieja (history+map) was the Capital of Guatemala and Central America before it moved to Antigua in the 16th century. Tags: AntiguaDailyPhoto / Antigua / Guatemala / … Read more