Gerberas (gerbera jamesonii) are a very popular flowers in the gardens of La Antigua Guatemala. Gerberas are found in yellow, white, red (like the picture above), orange, purple and pink. Gerberas grow in temperate-cold climate and give their beautiful flowers throughout the year. This particular shot was taken at Vivero La Escalonia in the south part of La Antigua. (source for technical information: Guate Flora)
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.
We are back to coffee beans, again, in the form of table available in the patio area of Fernando’s Kaffee. I believe La Antigua Guatemala is blessed because most days you can have your breakfast in the patio and most patios are so full of gorgeous and exotic (for the rest of the world) plants and flowers. I recommend that you have breakfast and a good cup of coffee at Fernando’s Kaffee if you come to La Antigua Guatemala. For those who only want to have access to this fabulous coffee, Fernando confided in me that very soon, in the next couple of weeks, he will begin exporting his in situs roasted selection of Guatemalan coffee beans. You will be able to order any amount of coffee (starting at 3 pounds, I believe); so keep an eye at coming-soon Fernando’s Kaffee web site.
It is official: The California avocado if from La Antigua Guatemala. I had mentioned a couple of times the antigüeños are known as Panzas Verdes (green bellies) because of all the avocados they eat (see trivia 2) and that one Wilson Popenoe took the antigüeño avocado to California (see trivia 3).
Many of the ingredients present in the Guatemalan Kitchen Colors are necessary for the red and green sauces you see here. In the picture above, we can see another version of the typical Guatemalan breakfast, this one from Fernando’s Kaffee.
The only underground crypts that I saw in the San Lázaro Cemetery in La Antigua Guatemala are in this green lot, located all the way in the rear of the cemetery. These crypts are in the west end of the cemetery and thus protected, somehow, from floods by the many mausoleums in the front of the cemetery. Wealth could also be factor. This lot represents a very small percentage of the size of the cemetery, so I believe, this section is allocated for the very poor. Once again, the white color is present in las tumbas (tombs) and it is very rare for a Latin American cemetery to only be painted in white. The mystery continues…
Basically, the Guatemalan breakfast includes black beans, eggs, coffee and maize tortillas or bread; it may also include fried plantain, cream, creese and chirmol sauce. The black beans can be served parados or whole, revueltos or refried and licuados or liquified. The eggs can be served sunny side up like the picture above, boiled or scrambled.
A quick search for the name Posada del Ángel in this site can reveal how much I enjoy photographing the gorgeous bed and breakfast inn. Every time I go there I found a new photo op. Today’s entry shows the living room, right next to the lap pool. My two other favorite shots of Posada del Ángel are Really green garden and Guatemala sells light and color. You can browse all the other photos taken at Posada del Ángel by following this link.
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.
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.
Once again, La Antigua Guatemala Daily Photo is participating in the theme day of the Daily Photo community. This time the theme is about the color red. Here you can see the Compañía de Jusús building under care of the Cooperación Española which is huge red building; one full block to be specific. This building has had many uses through history, like the home of Bernal Díaz del Castillo, home to the Jesuits of Central America in colonial times, thus its name, and more recently it houses a public library, culture center under the administration of Agencia Española de Cooperación Internacional. You can see the big entrance of the building, the interior gardens and arches and one the side wall of the ruins. I decided to photograph this building because it’s the biggest red thing in La Antigua Guatemala, but I was lucky to have a red motorcycle and a red jeep enter the viewfinder at the moment I snapped the shot; how lucky, indeed.
“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.
Okay, not much time today and you need something light every once in a while. Here is a little niche, nicho in Spanish, found at Posada del Ángel, which is small luxury hotel in La Antigua Guatemala. I have shown other photos of this gorgeous bed and breakfast.
The house where my girlfriend (Esperanza), our three cats (Lolita, Camilo and Tito) and I live has windows facing south and west. …
One of my favorites small luxury hotels in Antigua Guatemala has to be Posada del Ángel. The good taste around this bed-and-breakfast …
Believe it or not, the McDonald’s restaurant in La Antigua Guatemala is very nice place to meet for coffee with friends and …
Believe it or not, the dry green river bed is El Pensativo River. The other day while driving on Calle Chipilapa, which takes you to La Ermita de la Santa Cruz Ruins, I saw this huge bougainvillea tree on the other side of El Pensativo River, dry now but soon it will have running water. I never seen a bougainvillea tree so big; my girlfriend and I saw a midget bougainvillea tree—about 1 meter in height— in Tapachula, Mexico.
La Antigua Guatemala is based on the time-tested Spanish grid of Streets and Avenues (see this map to get an idea). Streets …
Not all the walls in La Antigua Guatemala are made from stones, bricks or pumice blocks, some are actually made from organic …
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)
According to Wikipedia, translucent emerald-green jadeitite is the most prized variety of jade both now and historically. Quetzal jade, or translucent emerald-green …
Many of the streets of La Antigua Guatemala are owned now by people who ask and demand to take care of your …
I don’t know what exactly haunts me about this image. Maybe the moon in the background, the green branches barely lit or …
If I walk around Antigua Guatemala and photograph all the street corners, I could do a series for a long while just …
New Year’s Celebration in Guatemala is very similar to Christmas Eve. People stay up all night to receive the new year, but …
Continuing with our milpa crops, here we have the most widely eaten Guatemalan tamal(e), which goes by the name of chuchito (puppy …
First of all, my apologies to all those masochist Guatemalans who are abroad and visit this humble blog to get their daily …
Coffee trees do not grow very tall and that is why they are easy to harvest. Here you see coffee trees which …
The slogan for Esso is Put a tiger in your tank; here with a twist. Esso is one of the brands of …
The taxi service in La Antigua Guatemala is anything but reliable. Taxi vehicles come in all colors and makes, mostly Toyota and …
Eric, from Paris Daily Photo, has been publishing a series of photos linked by a ‘walking’ theme. We do not have traffic …
When Nuno declared on August 1st that the theme for September 1st was going to be doorways I was determined to win, …
One thing is very obvious in the photos of Guatemala: Green is everywhere (Lisi would be happy here since she loves green). …
Selling avocadoes, originally uploaded by rudygiron. Ever since I came to Antigua about four years ago, I often come across this lady …
In Mesoamerica, many dishes have the same name but are not the same dishes. Chiles rellenos from Guatemala are different than the …
This is the view from the dining room. Guatemala sells itself as tourist destination and they focus mainly on the colonial towns, …
Antigua’s market vendor, originally uploaded by rudygiron. Supermarket is the theme for today in 25 daily city blogs. Antigua does not have …
The Antigua’s color palette only accepts about 12 colors. Here you see the antigüeño yellow. This week’s photos will be about the …
Palo de Izote is a relative of the Yucca Tree. It is present in almost all gardens and fences here and everywhere …
Entrance to the Popenoe House, originally uploaded by rudygiron. This is the entrance to the Popenoe House, a colonial mansion restored by …
