Guatemalan Circulation Tax Sticker Sampler
In Guatemala when you pay your yearly circulation tax for vehicles, you get a sticker to put on the top right corner …
In Guatemala when you pay your yearly circulation tax for vehicles, you get a sticker to put on the top right corner …
This quick snapshot of the huevo perdido, lost egg, breakfast from Cafetería Santa Clara, which is part of the new Panadería, Mercado …
This man and his chucho assistant sell fresh coconut water and cocos on the corner of 5a avenida sur and 9a calle …
Here’s your Guatemalan Spanish word for the day: Tinaja or water jar. They don’t make things like they used. Take this over …
I met Melody at terrace of La Casaca café while I was enjoying the wonderful weather of the last days of the …
So, here’s a typical Guatemalan kite shop found in most villages. The kites are sold for Q1, Q2, Q5 and Q10 for …
My commitment has always been to bring you typical quotidian stamps from Antigua Guatemala. Unfortunately our beautiful enchanting little town also happens …
Wokco is the new fast-food Chinese or Asian concept restaurant that opened recently in Antigua Guatemala. According to Daniela, one of the …
We continue the series Antigua Guatemala Holy Week Photographers with portraits of three photographers, two of them friends and partners in Antigua …
Interesting enough I had visited Hector’s and Tretto Caffé within the last week and I had uploaded yesterday’s and today’s photos to …
Since several people were interested to know more about La Casaca shown yesterday in the entry entitled Having Breakfast in Antigua Guatemala I decided …
A búcaro fountain is half fountain normally embedded in a wall, normally near an inside patio, but it can be anywhere. I’ve …
Yes, perspective is everything! If you don’t believe me compare the Tea Partiers and the Occupy Wall Street movement, since both share …
I am sure most people in La Antigua Guatemala don’t know about this monument or its location. In fact, this monument gives …
Call it synchronicity or better yet, serendipity because that’s the story behind this simple rainy season vista. For a while now I …
I can almost think of the image above as window conceptual art. The combination of the pearls, the manikins, and the pan …
Arturo and I found a great place to have some of the best hamburgers in La Antigua Guatemala at La Esquina (The …
Okay, the 365-day wait is over. The world-famous Holy Week in La Antigua Guatemala is here. Get your cameras ready and join …
Guatemala is a country of Desaparecidos (disappeared) and La Antigua Guatemala is not an exception. These colorful and friendly street vendors and …
Just yesterday I was mentioning how La Antigua Guatemala is often used as a backdrop for films, concerts, paintings, photos, festivals, religious …
La quema del diablo (Burning of the Devil) used to be this tradition, little known outside of Guatemala. I say “used to …
In February of 2009 I declared that soon enough there was going to Internet Access in Every Corner of Guatemala. Back then …
What is the most resilient parasite? Bacteria? A virus? An intestinal worm? An idea. Resilient… highly contagious. Once an idea has taken …
One important goal for me is to show you what’s possible and what’s available in La Antigua Guatemala. Believe it or not, …
The Bagel Barn is a popular venue in La Antigua Guatemala for getting a bagel sandwich, great coffee and checking your email. …
We street photographers are like hunters; often we roam the streets, stalking the city for candid, naturally looking, images. Other times, we …
This is how street corners look like now that the strips near the corners have been marked as motorcycle parking only areas. …
La esquina means the corner so what a fitting name for this restaurant and shop located on a corner house one block …
I found the juxtaposition of cutting edge telecommunication technology and colonial lifestyle and architecture so fascinating and that’s why I have covered …
On January 4, 2010, in the comments posted under Digital life in Antigua Guatemala, Braaad wondered aloud: “I can’t wait till smartphones …
Tortillas con carne could be the Guatemalan equivalent of the Mexican taco. Tortilla con carne is basically a piece of charbroiled steak …
Often during December or the Christmas season, there are several free concerts around La Antigua Guatemala. For instance, the photo above was …
All year long he hides under the bed or in the junk piled up in the corner, casting misfortune or worse on …
What are the aspects that make up identity and idiosyncrasy? What makes Guatemalans almost anywhere in the planet salivate at the sight …
Getting everything ready for Independence Day Celebrations. This torch will light the Independence fire torches from all over Guatemala. These Independence torches …
It seems like this corner is good for the sale of exotic flowers, such as heliconias. Last time I reported on the sale …
The world-famous Guatemalan apron is going places, you know. Just like you can find mothers and daughters selling gabachas, aprons, on any …
In Guatemala exists a near monopoly of bottled water called Salvavidas; surely you remember the photo of the pile 5-gallon jugs known …
If you are a fan of people watching you are hard-pressed to find a lovelier place than La Antigua Guatemala to enjoy …
Okay, here is my contribution to the Costumbrism Photographs From La Antigua Guatemala. What better specimen for the costumbrism photography of Antigua …
Some people like photos without people; aseptic and sterile images pues. I am the opposite. To me what makes the image interesting …
Oh there is a revolution brewing down South in Meso-America. This revolution will not be televised. This revolution will be streamed! Let …
Café Barista is the newest hipster kid on the block in La Antigua Guatemala. Café Barista opened its doors the week before …
Since I showed you, just the other day, how the façade of house from La Antigua Guatemala was being repaired and painted …
Every afternoon, the homeless man above walks slowly towards this corner house in Antigua Guatemala, one block away from the Parque Central, …
The cúpulas (cupolas) has to be among the most distinctive architectonic elements of the Casa Antigüeña. Originally design as chimney for the …
The above sign about ZONA WIFI (wifi zone) now on display on the four corners of the Plaza Mayor (Main Plaza) of …
You can tell Ceviche is my favorite Guatemalan Cuisine dish if you search for the word ceviche or just browse the five …
Back in December 26, 2006 I wrote about the banking war in Central America between Citibank and HSBC Bank over the access …
I really like the naí¯f aspects of this sign. I like how the composition is trying very hard to include all the …
We know it’s in your hand. 😉
Very little remains from the Hospital Real de Santiago, also known as Hospital San Juan de Dios because it was under the …
Yesterday’s photo was a close-up of the coffee bush in the lower left corner of today’s photo. If you click on the image above you can the coffee bushes (the small trees) being harvested under the shadows of the Gravilea trees in San Pedro Las Huertas, La Antigua Guatemala. Around La Antigua Guatemala you can find coffee bushes everywhere, including as part of the hedges of La Compañía de Jesús ruins.
The two blocks from the 5a avenida norte (5th North Avenue) that separate El Parque Central (Main Plaza) and the La Iglesia de La Merced (church) are known as the Calle del Arco (the Arch Street) and the weekends this strip becomes a pedestrian’s throughway. In my humble opinion, the whole city should turn the streets in pedestrian only walkways before it’s too late.
For those who would rather break a piñata than playing around with fire, I present to you the Lucky 7 Burning of the Devil Piñata for you to fill it with all your frustration and negative vibes and virtually burn it or break it with your mouse, trackball or tablet until your let it all out. Happy Burning of the Devil everyone!
We will begin a mini tour of the library at the Compañía de Jesús building under the care of Cooperación Española NGO or Agencia Española de Cooperación Internacional as it is called in Spanish.
But first the disclosure: I love libraries; even chicken bus libraries! 😉
The above yellow corner is located on 1a calle poniente in La Antigua Guatemala. The Astoria delicatessen is just one of many delicatessen in La Antigua Guatemala. We are privileged in this aspect with access to some fine and exclusive ingredients. La Antigua Guatemala is a tiny town that wants to be a huge cosmopolitan metropolis, but without the traffic, rush hours, or smog. Let it dream!
I have said that I really enjoy being in this building so many times that you might actually believe that I work …
The photo above was taken on August 31st, which was a payday and that is why you see all those people were queuing to get their salary from the banks. Tomorrow, Guatemalans will be queuing again to cast their vote. Also, this was the first time (this year) I noticed the Guatemalan flags that will adorn the buildings through September, which is the independence month. Guatemala’s so called independence from Spain is celebrated on September 15th. Check out the Independence Day Slideshow from last year.
I read recently (I don’t recall where at the moment) that to be truly independent a country must have sufficient wealth as to not have to depend on an outsider (duh!); well, let me break it to you guys, Guatemala has not been an independent country for the last 500 years or so. When I was teenager, I remember reading a Mafalda anthology where Mafalda was reading a history book and all of sudden she screams: You mean we were part of Spain, who the hell had the bright idea of independizarnos (freed us from Spain)! Back then, I laughed so hard at the comic strip, but just now I get the joke. Thanks Quino. 🙁
We continue with “the sign fetish” and today’s turn is for La Tienda de Doña Gavi sign. Believe it or not, this tiny store is one of La Antigua Guatemala landmarks and it’s located on the street behind the Cathedral. Doña Gavi sells all kinds of organic stuff in this cozy shop including avocado ice cream. If you come to Antigua, you must visit this shop. If you don’t trust my recommendation, read the On the Road Travel recommendation below:
As I negotiated my acrobatic skills over the stone, looked back so I don’t get ran over or splashed by one of the uncivilized drivers, looked at the camera so I don’t ruin it with the running dirty water, composed the shot to include both elements, I took a couple of shots to get the best composition. As I was ready to put away the camera and moved away from the center of the street because two vehicles were using their horns to alert me that they were close and they had no mercy; this lady entered the frame; I did see her with my own eyes as I was looking down to the twist-out viewfinder paralleled to the floor; I had but fleeing second to take the shot and this fraction of a second my mind went through all countless photographs warehoused in my memory so fast that I must remember over thousand images until my brain did a full stop at one my favorite images ever: The Decisive Moment by Henri Cartier-Bresson. With that image in my head, I pressed the shutter release. Next, I pulled away from the centre of the street just in time as the vehicle behind me went by making a big splash (I did not get wet), pulled my eye sight to see that the lady did not fall and was already walking away in the opposite direction.
Not everything is rotten in the paradisiac lands of Guatemala. Sometimes you can take a pause from your hectic life or trip to enjoy the afternoon sunshine while having some of the best “home-made” cookies and coffee in Guatemala as you read a book or the Revue Magazine in our little green corner; our tiny and cozy corner of the world.
Believe it or not, in over 451 entries or 442 days, which ever way you prefer, not once I have mentioned that there are some public webcams in La Antigua Guatemala that you can use. I found the webcams around La Antigua and Guatemala City over three years ago, but the web site that publish their output was awkward and difficult to use, to say the least. So I pick the output of four webcams that I liked, two for La Antigua Guatemala and two for Guatemala City and put them in a webpage in the Revue Magazine website. There is still the problem that the cameras go offline often, but I have no control over that. Here is the link to the web page that collects the output of the four webcams.
Even though I said before that people enjoy walking and strolling La Antigua Guatemala. I sort of lied. See walking is still …
Boy oh boy, bagels, English muffins, exotic pastries, all the cookies in the rainbow, the best coffee and Wi-Fi internet access can almost make you forget you are in a Spanish colonial town embedded between coffee plantations, flower farms and volcanoes in the central mountain range of this tiny banana baby-exporting republic known as Guatemala.
Okay, I am overwhelmed by such positive feedback regarding the one-year anniversary and the work done thus far. I don’t have the …
Cobblestone streets are yet another characteristic of La Antigua Guatemala’s life-style (see photos 1, 2, 3). They are hard on the automobiles, …
No, I am not talking about the infamous and long overdue operating system from Redmond, Washington; I am simply showing a vista …
All year long he hides under the bed or in the junk piled up in the corner, casting misfortune or worse on …
One of the benefits of living in or around La Antigua Guatemala is the lack of billboards. Isn’t weird that I start …
Antigua’s green corner, originally uploaded by rudygiron. This corner has appeared in two previous photos: the street lamp on Antigua’s rush hour …
Once the Antigua became a popular tourist destination, many old houses were converted into hotels. Hotel Aurora is the opposite corner to …