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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 …

A Motorized Boost for Bicyclists

Reading the New York Times Sunday supplement that comes with Prensa Libre, I learnt about a revolution is taken place without making …

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 …

Noche Buena in La Antigua Guatemala

Christmas Eve or Noche Buena in La Antigua Guatemala is celebrated by staying up all night burning firecrackers and fireworks, eating tamales, …

Sign Crazy

Last month I shared with you La Antigua Guatemala Sign Ordinances. I will again post the information below to keep fresh. One …

Lichas Are Rambutan

A few days ago Susanita was asking herself about rambutan and loquats tropical fruits. Rambutan, or licha as it is known in …

Craving Corn: Elote

One of the things I look forward to most when venturing out on a little jaunt outside of La Antigua is elote. …

El Grito

If there were an unofficial anthem for Guatemala, that would be El Grito. Most Guatemalan grow hearing El Grito and even dancing …

The War of the Worlds

Play this song before continuing: We know now that in the early years of the twentieth century this world was being watched …

The UNIMOG Hog

What a beast. The journey of “flying through the forest” with Antigua Canopy Tours begins with a ride in the unique UNIMOG, …

Antigua Oasis

I can remember everything about this Antigua moment except exactly where it is. All the recent discussion about water reminded me of …

Cuddling Couple at the Cross

I wonder if the lookout point has been dubbed “make-out point.” This couple is certainly enjoying the ambience of the hilltop vista. Can’t say I blame them…

Colorful Guatemala

Colorful Guatemala, I tell you, colorful Guatemala! Si ni los mismos guatemaltecos logramos entender la complejidad cultural en la que vivimos… —Ale …

#1,111: Alameda Santa Rosa

According to my dashboard, today’s entry is number 1111. Go figure! Alameda is the Spanish word for tree-line road or pathway. La …

Guatemalan Fruit: Chico Zapote

Okay, we will finish the Zapote and other exotic tropical fruits from Guatemala week with the Chico Zapote or simply chico which …

Guatemalan Fruit: Mango de pashte

Guatemalan produces several kinds of mangoes (dozens really), but by far mango de pashte (loofah mango) or mango de leche (milk mango) …

Guatemalan Cuisine: Jocón

A while back I tease those crazy Guatemalan who have decided to live abroad (you know who you are) with a photo …

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 …

The Kite Runner

Those of you, who have followed the daily updates of La Antigua Guatemala Daily Photo for a while, would know already how …

The Jocotes de Corona Wallpaper

Here’s yet another gift for those Guatemalans living abroad, the jocotes de corona wallpaper that you can download from here at 1200×900 …

Obama in Antigua Guatemala

Maybe we will get it right this election. —The Brunscheon, Oregon We hope so. —The rest of the world Well, as some …

Advertise Here

Thank you for your interest in promoting your business on AntiguaDailyPhoto.com, the largest and number 1 online resource in English for travelers, visitors …

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 …

Surf’s Up Dudes!

Last year I showed you one of the Surf Shops in La Antigua Guatemala and talked about surfing in Guatemala in general. …

The Rellenito Transaction

Last time I showed rellenitos here, was a photograph taken at home with control conditions of light and presentation. The photo was …

Little gray boxes on the hillside, Little gray boxes made of ticky-tacky

Anyhow, what’s got Little boxes to do with today’s entry. Well, once you listen to Little boxes or Las Casitas del Barrio Alto, you’d know it is impossible to get them out of your head. In a recent trip to México over the weekend we took the new road Carretera 14 to reach the highway that takes us to Southeast México. Carretera 14 is part of the road which will circumvent La Antigua Guatemala and some of the villages. In other words, Carretera 14 is the backbone for what will be the periférico around La Antigua Guatemala. Carretera 14 is also one the most beautiful stretches of road in Guatemala.

SAT Office in La Antigua Guatemala

Well, you may be wondering what SAT office means. Behind this placid view of this government building hides one of the reason why Guatemala is so poor; a beggar really if we consider that Guatemala begs money for road repairing, road building, new modern national identification card, fertilizers, schools, libraries and the list goes on and on. The picture above is the local office of the Superintendencia de Administración Tributaria, SAT for short and the equivalent of the IRS.

Which Way to Turn?

Here’s a hypothetical question for you. In Guatemala, who has the right of way among these options: pedestrian, bicycle, motorcycle, car, bus, truck, eighteen-wheeler truck? If you plan to visit Guatemala, you must know the answer before you arrive.

Celebrations for the New President Álvaro Colom in La Antigua Guatemala

Even though the new Guatemalan President Álvaro Colom Caballeros, a 57-year-old industrial engineer and textile businessman, was sworn in for a 4-year term in Guatemala City in a ceremony at the Miguel Ángel Asturias National Theater, ceremonies and celebrations were held in the rest of the country too.

Christmas’ Eve or Noche Buena in La Antigua Guatemala

Christmas’ Eve or Noche Buena in La Antigua Guatemala is celebrated by staying up all night burning firecracker, eating tamales or turkey and drinking real fruit punch or hot real chocolate, visiting family, friend and neighbors for the respective abrazo de Noche Buena and buenos deseos (Christmas hug and wishes); many even go to midnight mass. At midnight the presents under the Christmas tree, around the nacimiento (nativity scene), are opened and everyone laughs and hugs indiscriminately everyone around. These celebrations rate the highest on nostalgic memory scale; everyone living abroad wishes to be in Guatemala for this season and for this night in particular.

The Best Fiambre in the World

I don’t know why the word salad brings all kinds of vegetables to mind. Fiambre is a salad, but it mostly has meats, all kinds: sausages, hams, chicken, sea food, meats pork and beef. It is Domino’s or Pizza Hut that has a meat lover’s pizza with a mere 5 meat. Move over meat lover’s pizza; fiambre has over 25 meats.

Window view of Mountains around La Antigua Guatemala

As beautiful, cosmopolitan, antique and modern as it is La Antigua Guatemala, many people choose to live in one of the surrounding villages that belong to the municipio (county) of La Antigua Guatemala. There are many reasons for this decision which range from the economics, ‘real guatemalan experience’, or simply to live in a more natural and greener environment.

Postscript

Sometimes bad things turn good. Guatemala’s postal service is so slow, expensive and unreliable that in Guatemala the concept of junk mail …

Guatemalan Independence Day 2007 Slideshow and Video

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.

La Tienda de Doña Gavi Sign

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:

Chicalote’s Flower and Seed Cocoon

Further in the background, you see the leaves of one of Guatemala’s most edible weeds: Quilete (also known as yerba mora and macuy). Yerba Mora is the weed in the background with the tiny yellow flowers. Guatemalans’ diet include many weeds and herbs. I will list them here as a sort of to do list and to see if other Guatemalans can help with translating some of the names. Guatemala’s most edible weed goes by the name of Chipilí­n and it used in so many dishes like chuchitos, mixed with rice, with chicken in a creamy white sauce. Other weeds, that I remember right now, are Bledo (young green amaranth), Berro, Acelgas (chard), Espinacas (spinach), Loroco, Flor de Izote, Flor de ayote. I am sure this is only a fraction of the list… can you point out other weeds and herbs a I left out.

Chicken Buses are The Second Life of School Buses

Unless you have taken the path of La Marche de l’empereur, you haven’t heard about how everyone is living a virtual second life through a community web site. Well, old and retired school buses from the U.S. get to live a real second life as camionetas (the street name for public transit buses in Guatemala). Revue Magazine had an in-depth article about The Birth of a Camioneta (available as a PDF download) which detailed step-by-step how an old retired school bus became a powerful camioneta ready for the curvy roads of the mountain ranges of Guatemala.

Surf Shop in La Antigua Guatemala

The waves are getting closer to La Antigua Guatemala. So it is no surprise to find a “surf shop” in a Spanish colonial town embedded between coffee plantations, flower farms and volcanoes.

Actually, you can get straight down to the Pacific Ocean in about 45 to 60 minutes (depends on your safety level while driving) through one of the most beautiful stretches of road in Guatemala, known simply as Carretera 14 (road #14) and then the highway in Escuintla. Two prime beaches for surfing are Monterrico and Sipacate, both of them about two hours from La Antigua Guatemala.

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 Seeds Stall

I don’t know if you have noticed this, but seeds are very popular in Guatemala. If you recall the entries Name the seeds! or Guatemalan sweets; so it is obvious that seeds had to present in a fair booth. Okay, what do we have here? Peanuts in their shell, Guatemalan pumpkin in melcocha syrup, sesame seeds with melcocha, salty fried or roasted habas (broad beans); that’s as far as I can distinguish. Read the entry on Guatemalan sweets if you want to know what is melcocha.

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.

What’s in a name? That which we call La Antigua Guatemala

The English-language speaking community refuses to recognize the official name of La Antigua Guatemala because it is too long or lack of knowledge or poor Spanish-language skills; who knows really?. They just want to call it Antigua. But Antigua is a Caribbean Island. Yet, they refuse to call it La Antigua Guatemala, which, by the way, simply means the former Guatemala City.

To add to this confusion, many Guatemalans just call it Antigua too, although more often they say La Antigua. This error is even published by newspapers and magazine. Worst yet, the road signs just say Antigua Guatemala. Even Wikipedia just have it listed as Antigua Guatemala, which by the way means Old Guatemala.

The Guatemalan Chevere Hot Dog Cart

“Chevere” is a Venezuelan Spanish word which means cool, fine, excelent, okay, just to mention a few of its meaning. Well, about the origin of the chevere word, I don’t know; perhaps it is not even Venezuelan. Nonetheless, the word is understood and used in Central America.

In Guatemala, a company of hot dogs decided to use as its name in the late seventies or early eighties. The company did things right and it was a total hit and the Chevere brand became almost as omnipresent as Coca Cola, Pepsi and the Gallo Beer. It was everywhere.

VII Summit of First Ladies of Central America, Panama and Dominican Republic

Basically, the first ladies want to promote strategies in favor of the women of the region. If you ask me, this sounds to generic and broad to be taken seriously as a plan to better the situation of women in Central America. They could’ve taken a look at my entry of Guatemalan Women & Killer’s Paradise for two concrete campaigns for their agenda: The elimination of violence against women and solid plans to end the femicides and to bring the killers to justice. But then again, this would not be a suitable agenda to discuss for some fine first ladies while drinking the best coffee of world while staying at the only five stars hotel in La Antigua Guatemala, right?

Guatemalan Sweet Bread Sampler – One Year Anniversary

What about the Guatemalan Sweet Bread?
Oh yeah, I am rambling again. In the photo above you see one of things Guatemalans abroad miss the most: Sweet Guatemalan Bread. I have talked about cutting a cake for this anniversary, but then I decided to shared the poor Guatemalans alternative: La Torta, this huge sweet bread, takes the place of the cake for many Guatemalan families. Also, as suggested by some friends, I decided to include other pieces of the Guatemalan sweet bread repertoire for all those chapines abroad. In Guatemala, we dip the bread in the coffee, as described by Manolo in LD’s entry about Miss Manners International. Since Manolo can not find champurradas (the flat tortilla-like bread in the picture) in Toronto, he dips his cookies in the coffee. I hope you don’t get grossed out by my dipping the bread in the coffee; I am doing it for the full impact on those Guatemalans who live abroad and visit this site infrequently.

The sweet Guatemalan bread in this picture comes from a very popular bakery in La Antigua Guatemala by the name of San Antonio, which stills uses brick ovens and wooden logs. The bread is baked freshly twice a day and with the best recipes from La Antigua Guatemala, the culinary capital of Guatemala. Sweet bread dipped in a cup of the best coffee in the world (from Antigua, of course), what else can you ask from life?

Opposite ends of life #2

The original post Opposite Ends of Life, in La Antigua Guatemala DP, was published on May 23rd, 2006 and it was about a little girl and an old lady helping each other cross the street. It is an interesting shot, if I may say so, you should see if you haven’t done so already.

Today’s entry is about different women and their opposite position in the spectrum of life.

Name All the Tropical Fruits

One of the things I like best about La Antigua Guatemala is its location. One hour or less from Guatemala City and …

Theme Day: Men at Work

Architecture arose from man’s necessity to shelter from the environment. First, he used the caves where he left registered scenes from his daily life, to then build, with the materials found in nature, his home. As humankind organized socially and the jobs became specialties, the first masons appeared and transformed the natural materials such stone and wood, and invented others like adobes and bricks from clay. (fragment from La mano de obra en la arquitectura from JM Magaña in Recrearte Magazine, page 8, available in Spanish as a PDF download)

Guatemalan Adoptions

I was lucky to capture this couple and their new baby just taking a rest and enjoying the beautiful light and atmosphere …

Men with Guns

It was in 1998 that I got to see Men with Guns, thanks to a pair of tickets I received from KPFK, …

By bike

Many of the deliveries are still done by bike. If you recall my post about daily bread delivery service on September 24th, …

Illegal billboard

One of the benefits of living in or around La Antigua Guatemala is the lack of billboards. Isn’t weird that I start …

Live green fences

Twice before I have mentioned that fences are alive around Antigua. Here you can see two coffee plantation, one each side of …

Live flowers for the innocent

Live flowers for the innocent, originally uploaded by rudygiron. Today’s photo is dedicated to the dead and the innocent victims of the …

Wireless knife sharpener

Unplugged knife sharpening, originally uploaded by rudygiron. Antigua is a modern city with cutting-edge technologies like wireless internet, satellite television, direct tv, …

School beauty contest parade

In the background you can see Water Volcano (Volcán de Agua) which is to the south of the city. In the foreground …