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Guatemalan Coffee FTW!

Another crop that I have found on my walks through the hills on the skirt of Volcán de Agua is coffee. These …

The Old Man and The Saint

I was able to capture a portrait of this old man taking the sun next to the San Pedro monument in San …

Guatemalan Nacimiento Enactment

With the Feast for the Virgin of the Immaculate Conception on December 8, antigüeños begin putting up their Nacimientos (Nativity Scenes); a …

Guatemalan Maya Nacimientos

As I have shared with you before, during early December, in Guatemala people begin putting up their Nacimientos (Nativity Scenes); a tradition …

Yo no olvido al año viejo

We’re at the end of the December, so we’ll be saying our goodbyes to 2012. I would like to take this opportunity …

Antigua Guatemala Back Roads by Rudy Giron

Antigua Guatemala Back Roads

Antigua Guatemala is full of back roads and shortcuts that can take you to new scenery such as a bougainvillea-lined roadway, paths …

San Gaspar Vivar Church by Rudy Girón

San Gaspar Vivar Church

One thing I have noticed reviewing the archives of AntiguaDailyPhoto is that I have yet to visit all the villages of Antigua …

Colorful Doors: Red

The category of Doors and Windows has always been among the most popular. It seems that people find fascinating many of doorways …

Catholic Churches

Catholic churches were usually built around the main plaza of each town, normally taken the east quadrant of the plazas. There are …

San Francisco El Grande Niche

This niche and statue of San Francisco (Saint Francis) can be found at the entrance of the façade looking north of Iglesia …

Callejón Los Garcías

The callejones (alleys) found in many of the villages of La Antigua Guatemala are really narrow, passageways really created, I imagine, as …

Gifts for the Poor

Honestly, I don’t think anybody does more for the poor (yes, the poor and not the underprivileged, less fortunate nor any other …

Garden Art: Owl Sculpture

I know that to keep abundant richly verdant mountains in Guatemala we have to have a 6-month rainy season. But, enough is …

Panorama Commercial Center

Real estate development is moving so fast that it seems that every time I blink there’s a new colonia (neighborhood), house, building …

Sunday Football Matches

In the Guatemala one can find football matches on the weekends at almost every field in the country. La Antigua Guatemala is …

Pope John Paul II Sculpture

What’s the relationship between Santo Hermano Pedro de Betancourt and Pope John Paul II you might be asking? Simple. Santo Hermano Pedro …

Merry Christmas Decorations

Even though you may seem Christmas decorations as early as September in Guatemala, the official Christmas season celebrations begins with the Burning …

Take Me To Central Park

Everybody loves the dry season in Guatemala. Even the patients of Obras Sociales del Hermano Pedro Hospital can spend more time at …

Agatha’s Aftermath

As the new figures and images keep pouring in it becomes obvious that the tropical storm Agatha has caused more damages in …

Contrast: Orange and Blue

Okay guys, today’s game is very simple: find as many kinds of contrasts as you can in this image of the San …

Can you spot the Chevere Guy?

The two most famous Guatemalan hot dogs are shucos and cheveres. I have covered Guatemalan shucos hotdogs often enough that I believe …

Recycling Sewing Machines

I have talked about the recycling done in La Antigua Guatemala before with Haves and Have-Nots, Public Enemy Number 1, Guatemalan-style Salt …

Men at Work

The vista cotidiana (quotidian vista) of men working throughout La Antigua Guatemala is more and more refreshing and assuring each day. We …

Who owns the water in Guatemala?

All Guatemalans, of course, just like the air. Water belongs to the Guatemalan people and it’s managed by the government; national and …

Holy Week Precessional Music

The Holy Week in Guatemala is a full five senses overwhelming experience. As you follow the processions all five senses are bombarded …

Antigua’s Biodiesel Project

Antigua Guatemala is full of Quixotes who do not know about impossibles. Alejandro del Valle is such a Quixote who after careful …

Casa Antigüeña: The Niches

Of course, big part of the beauty of the Casa Antigüeña is found in its details, like the niches that can host …

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Support My Efforts, Use Art Photos For Your Wall Decor! You can now purchase high-quality prints (digitally signed) of any photo available …

Guatemalan Police Anecdotes

One of the benefits of living in a third world country is that you don’t need to read Cien años de soledad …

Coffee Harvest Time in Guatemala

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.

Ice-capped Volcanoes in La Antigua Guatemala

Sometimes you just have to ask yourself what kind of strange brew are the Canadians brewing way up north, heh. See, first they steal our bright minds; then they take our gold and buy out our postal service; they insert strange things into our antigüeño breakfast (bacon they call it); even our money is now Canadian (it reads Canadian Bank Note on the brand-new Quetzal bills); just to name a few things. In return they send salsa-dancing-craze Spanish students and the horrible and hostile weather. Come on, this is Guatemala, a tropical country in Central America, you know, the tiny land that impedes the Caribbean Island from moving over the Pacific Ocean. So what business does it have freezing-cold-ice-capping winds in La Antigua Guatemala. See, we don’t need no sticking ice-capped mountains and volcanoes in our gorgeous temperate-always-sun-shining-eternal-spring weather. Those volcanoes you see in the background are ice-capped (see larger image).

Nacimiento Shrine Niche at Capilla de Belén

One important aspect of this particular Nacimiento is the fact that Santo Hermano Pedro de Betancourt managed to get himself in the picture of the Nativity shrine. For those who are not well verse in Catholic imagery, myself included, normally the Nativity scene shows Mary, Joseph, and Baby Jesus along with a few animals. No, Santo Hermano Pedro could not be present there since he was born about 1600 years later, give or take a few moons. Rather, the inclusion of his image, on the right, is to celebrate and to remember that is was Santo Hermano Pedro de Betancourt who introduced the Nacimiento and Posadas to the American Continent, to La Antigua Guatemala if you want to be precise, and from this old town, this celebration was taken to the rest of the continent.

Poinsettias and Pine Needle are Christmas Decorations in Guatemala

Manolo and Carmen were reminiscing just the other day about the smells associated with the Christmas season in Guatemala. Pine needles have a very peculiar smell and indeed its smell its burnt in the Guatemalan collective memory of Christmas and birthdays parties. Flor de Pascua or poinsettias are a visual cue of the upcoming Christmas as well. Shops know this and they use pine needle and poinsettias among other Christmas decorations to reel in the customers; it seems to be working just fine in this shop.

Marimba Orquesta Chicken Bus Ave Lira

Like Manolo said, with Marimba music as the background for many parties and celebrations around La Antigua Guatemala and the rest of the country, I can almost smell the pine needles under my feet and the tamales and ponche (fruit punch) in the air. Oh what memories… sometimes I even wish I could like this type of music. 🙁

Public Water Distribution System

Central America and Guatemala especially have an abundance of water resources, many are groundwater. La Antigua Guatemala is located in a valley irrigated with over six months of a rainy season per year. La Antigua Guatemala is surrounded by mountains and volcanoes that collect even more water. Much of this collected rain ends up as groundwater.

Framed Head in Compañí­a de Jesús

Back to the Compañí­a de Jesús building to see the photo exhibit Punto de fuga by some of my favorite photo journalists: Sandra Sebastián, Moisés Castillo and Andrea Aragón. Since I had promised to come back to this magnificent example of antigüeño architecture and show it to you, I took a few more shots. This window frame is the first of this mini-series or the continuation of the Compañí­a de Jesús building series. Either way, let me know what you think of it. Boy, La Antigua Guatemala is so full of these wonderful vistas.

Chicalote (Prickly Poppy) Cocoon in La Antigua Guatemala

Last year, on the entry The Land of the Eternal Spring, I talked about the “undocumented alien” in our garden, the Flor de Pascua (poinsettias) which were not planted or maintained, yet it gave us those wonderful red flowers from October through March. Since then, we moved to another house in San Pedro Las Huertas, one of the neighborhoods of La Antigua Guatemala, which is next to a coffee plantation with lots of trees and birds (partners in crime). Well, I am happy to report yet another “undocumented alien” in our new garden by the name of Chicalote (Prickly Poppy or Argemone Mexicana), a sort desert weed (that’s right I said desert, remember La Antigua is located in a tropical country). Two days ago I presented you the chicalote’s flower in the entry Flora and Fauna working together. One thing many visitors to La Antigua Guatemala notice right away is the incredible number of exotic flowers and plants, many of which grow in the wild.

San Lázaro General Cemetery

This photograph marks the beginning of the San Lázaro Cemetery series. I know Friday is a weird day to start a series, but since most people visit the cemetery on the weekends, I guess it’s okay. I have to warn you about the series though. This cemetery is not exceptional and quite frankly a little boring since it is mostly white. So, don’t expect any extraordinary or exotic shots.

Saint James Day in La Antigua Guatemala

Santiago was a very popular name for the conquistadors to use as they rechristen the new lands of the American continent. If you check the entry for Santiago in Wikipedia, you will there are over 60 cities and towns throught the world that carry that name and that is a very short list since you could probably find about 60 towns with the Santiago name, just in Guatemala. But why was Santiago such a popular name for the Spanish and Portuguese conquistadors?

Guatemalan Fair: Fresh Fruit Stall

After all the pounds we have gained this week at the San Pedro Las Huertas Fair, it is nice to come across some healthy food. For Q5 ($0.65) we can take any fresh fruit bags and we will need the savings since we already lost quite a few Quetzales at the others fair stands. Now, even though I have shown all these Guatemalan fair food and even describe it as tasteful and delicious, I don’t want to pass it as healthy. Fair food is junk food. I am so glad these fair food vendors have not come across the Super Size Me concept!

Guatemalan Fair: The French Fries Stall

Papas fritas is the Guatemalan Spanish name for French fries. Here is the abbreviated history that gave us the Guatemalan french fries stall: first the Quechuas or Incas domesticated the potato (Solanum tuberosum) into a crop in southern Peru and northern Bolivia; the Spanish conquistadors took it to Europe where it was an instant hit and along with maize turned a famine-prone population into a healthy society; somewhere in one of the northern European states, quite possibly Germany, the potato lost its skin and got deep-fried; This Eurpean recipe crossed the Atlantic with the new immigrants that came to U.S. and since it was a foreign-looking recipe, they called it French fries (remember Coneheads); so the French fries came to Guatemala along one of the many incursions from the United Stateians (Americans they seem to call themselves 😉 ) as a side dish for the hamburger or the hot dog. Guatemalans thought that French fries were too good to be side dish and turned it into a meal by itself. That is how the papas fritas cart came to be.