Running Errands With The Family
Here’s your Spanish word of the day: Mandados or errands. On the other hand, Guatemalans don’t seem to be able to do …
School Parades on Día de Santiago
Once again we are celebrating Saint James Day in La Antigua Guatemala, or Día de Santiago, as we call it in Spanish. …
Guatemalan Food: Patín
Patín is quite possibly the most popular food found around the villages in Lake Atitlán. Hardly ever we can find patín in …
Guatemalan Spices and Chiles at Mercado Central
To be honest, many times I can not tell what all the ingredients, spices, or fruits are that I encounter when I …
-9 Days to 9th Anniversary: The Hat Vendor
Here’s your Spanish word of the day: sombrero or hat. I’ve reflecting upon the most recent scandals in Guatemala [do a quick …
Meet the Guatemalan Mango de Leche
While some people in the northern hemisphere are still suffering the struggles of a harsh winter, here in Antigua Guatemala we are …
Meet the Guatemalan cashew plum and cashew nuts
Here’s your Guatemalan Spanish word of the day: Marañón or cashew. If it is the cashew plum, we call it jocote de …
Christmas Decorations Booth at El Mercado
This is what a typical Christmas decoration stand looks like in the market of Antigua Guatemala. Everything decoration you see here is …
Guatemalan food: Moronga, Morcilla, Rellena, or Blood Sausage
Here are your Spanish words of the day: Moronga, Morcilla, Rellena, or Blood Sausage Although blood sausages have their origin in Europe, …
Guatemalan Food: Caldo de Pata
The caldo de patas stew or stock is made with muscles and bones from the lower legs of either pork or cow, …
Black Tortillas Tuesdays and Saturdays
I have found a tortillería that offers black tortillas twice a week, on Tuesdays and Saturdays. Of course, you can find black …
Fiambre Cold Cut Ingredients
This is what supermarkets look like around fiambre time. Some of these cold cuts are only available during fiambre season, which is …
Day of the Dead: Crown of Flowers
If you visit the mercados, markets, in Guatemala you will the the busy flower shops creating these flower crowns for Día de …
Pandemic of Happy People in Guatemala
Honest, I didn’t believe it when I read the articles in the USA Today and The Daily Mail which declared that Latin …
Inchintal, the Güisquil or Chayote root
I present to you the the güisquil root, a Guatemalan seasonal delicacy. The güisquil, Sechium educe, is usually the dark green pear …
The Rose Seller
Did you guys know that the slogan for La Antigua Guatemala is “La ciudad de las perpetuas rosas”? That’s “The city of …
Guatemala’s colors are on display every year on September 15 to mark Independence Day
Honestly, I don’t know why we still celebrate Independence Day in Guatemala. What we should be doing is putting a classified in …
Things Not to Eat in Guatemala, A Warning For The Foodies
Some of the things you should avoid when you come to Guatemala are ice cream and small tropical fruits, especially so if …
Cacao Pods from Guatemala
Chocolate is created from the cocoa bean that come from cacao pods as seen here. Chocolate is quite possibly the most popular …
Beautiful Maya Kaqchikel Smiles from Guatemala
A quick visit this Sunday to Santa María de Jesús, the municipality south of Antigua Guatemala and the highest community on the …
Testing the Roller Coaster for the Santiago de Guatemala Fair
Here’s your Guatemalan Spanish word of the day: “Montaña rusa” or roller coaster, although it literally means Russian Mountain. Even though the …
Take my picture, take my picture!
Smiles, big smiles, that’s something that I really enjoy about roaming the streets with a camera in hand. Sometimes I look for …
Live music at Panadería Santa Clara
A bakery is not the place where you would expect to listen to live music, right? But, then again, you probably haven’t …
Guatemalan Sausages for Fiambre
The especially made sausages for fiambre can now be found in the supermarket, mercados and tiendas through October. If you don’t know …
The Time for Barriletes Is Around The Corner
At the end of the rainy season one begins to see this tissue paper kites being sold in tienditas, small town convenience …
Huevo Perdido Breakfast from Santa Clara Café
This quick snapshot of the huevo perdido, lost egg, breakfast from Cafetería Santa Clara, which is part of the new Panadería, Mercado …
Leather Handicrafts from San Pedro Las Huertas
This past weekend we had the opportunity to visit the artisan handicraft market that setup shop at Antigua Guatemala’s parque central, main …
Too Much Gallo Beer Propaganda
This is the typical stamp of a convenience store in rural Guatemala. By the way, this photo was taken in San Miguel …
Bird’s Eye View of Nim Pot
Nim Pot is another business that has turned into a landmark of Antigua Guatemala. I believe I have shown some handicrafts from …
Colourful Guatemalan Painted Boxes
Here’s your Guatemalan Spanish word for today: Cofre, that’s what we call this type of box, chest or trunk. We continue our …
Colorful Guatemalan Town Fair Booth
This image of a stand of the typical Guatemalan sweets was captured in the little market on the main square of San …
Guatemalan Fruit Punch Recipe
Even though you can find ponche, fruit punch, year round in Guatemala and no town fair is missing the stands selling ponche …
The colours of the Guatemalan Gastronomy
These are some of the most often used ingredients in the Guatemalan kitchen. This photo was taken at La Fonda de la …
In Style for the Rainy Season
Colorful rubber boots are in style in Antigua Guatemala. These stylish and fashionable boots can be found inside the mercado, market. Of …
Guatemalan Ceramic Owls
The traditional ceramic owls in La Antigua Guatemala are yellow, orange and brown as I have show you before, but more recently …
Guatemalan Sausages for Fiambre
The especially made sausages for fiambre can now be found in the supermarket and mercados. Do you know what is fiambre? If …
No Alcoholic Drinks Around Election Time
The Political Parties Electoral law in Guatemala forbids the sale of alcoholic drinks the day before and the day after of the …
Nylon Country
Nylon becomes ubiquituos in Guatemala during the rainy season. Nylon is quite possibly the cheapest protection one can buy against the rain. …
Guatemalan Fruit: Pitayas
Pitahaya season is here! A Pitaya (pronounced /pɨˈtaɪ.ə/) or pitahaya (English pronunciation: /ˌpɪtəˈhaɪ.ə/) is the fruit of several cactus species, most importantly …
Flowers for Día del Cariño
The price of flowers goes up exponentially around certain dates like Valentine’s Day or Mother’s Day, just to name a few. A …
Guatemalan Christmas Kitsch
The market in Antigua was a bit mad last night. There’s a whole little enclave of Xmas kitsch at the rear that …
Restaurant & Food Overview
RWOrange put together a very comprehensive list of the restaurants and food I have covered in AntiguaDailyPhoto in Chowhound. Here’s the list …
Guatemalan Sweets Stand
I posted a photo showing some of the Guatemalan sweets on November 1. Today, I am showing you the booth of the …
New Gardens in San Pedro Las Huertas
In the nine years that I have been living around La Antigua Guatemala I had never seen so much work being done …
New Closing Time City Ordinances
There is new seismic activity in La Antigua Guatemala’s grapevine. For a while now, I’ve been hearing rumors about new closing times …
Guatemalan Town Fair Pizza
We get a lot of things from our neighbors from the big white north like remittances, retired chicken buses, junk cars, and …
Guatemalan Cuisine: Tortillas con Carne
Tortillas con carne could be the Guatemalan equivalent of the Mexican taco. Tortilla con carne is basically a piece of charbroiled steak …
Visiting San Felipe de Jesús on the Weekends
San Felipe de Jesús is just a small town next to La Antigua Guatemala, which has its own particularities. San Felipe’s church …
Produce Delivery
I know that one can go every day to the mercado, market, in La Antigua Guatemala for fresh produce and that if …
Licuado Culture
Sweet. Refreshing. Natural. Licuados are one of those treats that truly define a Guatemalan experience. The blended fruit drinks can be found …
Guatemalan Aprons for Sale
The world-famous Guatemalan apron is going places, you know. Just like you can find mothers and daughters selling gabachas, aprons, on any …
Day Care
Market day in La Antigua Guatemala is much more than just getting your weekly produce or enjoying a photo moment of local …
Making Guatemalan Tortillas
Blame this photo on Eric, who just yesterday invoked the tortilla-making ladies. It is interesting how the aroma of freshly-made tortillas can …
Colorful Guatemala
Colorful Guatemala, I tell you, colorful Guatemala! Si ni los mismos guatemaltecos logramos entender la complejidad cultural en la que vivimos… —Ale …
Open Schools: Computer Workshops
Oh there is a revolution brewing down South in Meso-America. This revolution will not be televised. This revolution will be streamed! Let …
Guatemalan Flavors in a Jar: Jocón
The problem with many authentic Guatemalan dishes is that they are not very portable or sometimes the recipes are so complex and …
Guatemalan Cuisine: Pacayas
Today’s entry marks the 1000 consecutive daily pages of La Antigua Guatemala Daily Photo. And I thought I wasn’t going to last …
Colorful Chicken Bus Terminal
A quick trip to the handicrafts market provides a handful of colorful images like the one above. Stay tune for upcoming photos …
Guatemalan Cuisine: Pepián
The easiest way to get authentic traditional Guatemalan cuisine is to get a daily menu special at your local diner. For instance, …
Guatemalan Fruits: Nisperos or Misperos, that’s the question
After MO confirmed the spelling for Misperos which Nadia had used in reference to this yellow fruit known in the English language …
Chicken Bus Chronicles: The Groceries
Sometimes things are so obvious that one doesn’t mull over them; that’s the way things are and you accept it. While taking …
Nispero Tree in the Garden
I’m amazed by the abundance and variety of fruit in Guatemala. My chapín friends lament the relatively poor selection here, and miss …
Reuniting the Living with the Dead
Ignacio Ochoa has published a recent article about the history of kite making in Santiago Sacatepéquez under the name of Messenges in …
Getting Ready for Day of Dead
As you can see in the picture above, most flower shops are working really hard to have a large inventory of flower …
Wear It With Pride (Part 1)
Last week, as we watch the delegations parade at the Beijing 2008 Olympics Inauguration, I was thinking how wonderful it was to …
What Makes Guatemalans Hot?
There you go again thinking I am going to give you the recipe for Guatemalanness… wrong. But, I can do share what …
Who should I call?
Cellular telephones are so inexpensive in Guatemala that I used to joke with a friend who did have a mobile phone that …
Updates by Email and RSS
» My 100% “NO-SPAM” Guarantee Get daily content updates of La Antigua Guatemala Daily Photo (LAGDP) sent straight to your email inbox, …
Fresh Produce at the Farmers’ Fair
The fresh produce available at the Farmers’ Fair and at the market are so irresistible. As you can see in the picture …
Private Property Not For Sale
As the U.S. real estate market plummets, especially the sub-prime real estate, the Guatemalan real estate market grows even healthier, especially in …
Making Palm Sunday Arrangements
Today’s Palm Sunday or Domingo de Ramos as today’s known in the Catholic Realm. Last year, Domingo de Ramos fell on April …
Cell Phone Pics: The couple
The cellular telephone industry is one of the fastest growing industries and they just broke a new record for Latin America: 10 million 150 thousand users or the equivalent of 75% of the population has now an “active cellphone”. The key word here is: Active. This makes Guatemala one of the most connected countries in Latin America. (Source: Guatemala bate récord de usuarios de telefonía móvil at elPeriódico {ES}).
Guatemalan Kitchen Colors
These are some of the most often used ingredients in the Guatemalan kitchen. This photo was taken on Calle del Arco in front of La Fonda de la Calle Real at a booth that the restaurant put out to showcase their flavors and the ingredients they use in their kitchen. You can take this photo to your local Latin market and start cooking some of the recipes found in this site under the Food and Drinks category. Bon Appetite!
Saint in Niche with Yellow Walls
This niche and the surrounding walls was basically the only color I found at the San Lázaro Cemetery. This piece was between two sets of above-ground crypts; the set on the right was empty and the set on the left was not vacant.
Perhaps it is not too late to introduce some of the wonderful Antigüeño color palette into the La Antigua Guatemala’s main public cemetery.
You’re Not Dead Until You’re Forgotten
Guatemala’s real culture is syncretism and thus death plays an important role in traditions and culture. Guatemala is the real ‘melting pot’ and the final product is called mestizo. A mestizo is an individual that comes in many shades of brown and she is made up from a combination of AmerIndian, European, African, Asian and Arab. Syncretism and mestizism go together well and that is why there is no conflict with including some or many Mayan rituals, including death rituals, in a everyday Catholic or Christian service. Obviously, a single entry is not enough to describe such a complex human being, but we have to start somewhere and since Patsy Poor mentioned that recent studies showed that the U.S. will be brown (mestizo) in 50 years. 😉
Guatemalan Fair: The Pine-needle Processional Carpets
The making of these processional carpets is such a community-forming and bonding activity since in the process participate many, if not all, of the neighbors and family members. These traditions, festive calendar dates and special celebrations mark very strongly what makes a normal human being into a hard-core Guatemalan. You break the link or access to these experiences and you only have a person that was born in Guatemala; a fact as worthless as the fact of having had a pair of boots once.
Guatemalan Fair: The Charcoal-broiled Meat Booth
The charcoal-grilled meat stall has gotten so hip that you now find it not only in fairs, but around La Antigua Guatemala in parks, markets and sidewalks. Back in February 20th, 2007, I showed you an extremely popular stall of grilled meats in Tanque de la Unión park from a bird’s eye point of view. In the picture above, chicken and beef steak were being offered along broiled potatoes. Q10 ($1.25) for a portion of the meat of your choice, chirmol (read the side note), guacamol and potatoes; definitely, not too bad of a deal.
Palm Flower Arrangements for Palm Sunday
Here’s the snapshot of a palm flower arrangements stand taken in the La Antigua Guatemala’s market on Saturday prior to Palm Sunday …
Selling Tortillas on the Streets
The informal economy is the basis for making a living for most Guatemalans. That is why you have shoe-shining boys, orchids sellers, …
Ice Cream Graphic Menu
One of the things that I like most about publishing the Antigua Guatemala Daily Photo and visiting the other Daily Photos Cities …
Earrings sampler
This is a sampler of some of the earrings that can be found at in the handicraft markets around Antigua. Click in …
Baroque Columns at El Carmen Ruins
The El Carmen Ruins show cases some of the most baroque-style architecture. Here you can see the details of the columns. Outside …
Buying Folk-art on the Streets
Guatemalan textiles are among the most look-after items in the folk-art markets. You have to be careful though, they come in two …
Selling Folk-art on the Street
This outdoor folk-art market sets on the street outside the El Carmen Ruins on the weekends only, located about two blocks from …
Transnational: 30 minutes or less
With this photo I will begin a series on transnational companies in La Antigua Guatemala. Domino’s Pizza is very popular here, as …
Fruits and jelly stand
Here is another fruit stand in Antigua’s market. Most vegetable and fruits stands are owned by Guatemala’s indigenous people. The mayority of …