GuatemalaDailyPhoto

I’ll be hiking up two volcanoes this weekend, Volcan Santa Maria, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Mar%C3%ADa_(volcano)
Guatemala’s 5th highest volcano and Volcán Cuxliquel, a smaller one.
My goals are to take some great photographs of the sunset from the summit of Santa Maria and some night photographs. Last time I attempted stars photographs from the summit of volcanoes, it was very cloudy. Lets hope there is no cloud cover this weekend.
Stay tuned for photos.

Guatemalans who lived in Urban Centers love to display, show off brand names on their apparel, it seems like a cultural obsession with brand names, and this store I saw yesterday captures it with its name. Brandname Charades.

I just got my lunch delivered! I was doing some photo work, so camera was ready and I decided to show you what’s for lunch today.
These are Fijoles Colorados -Pinto Beans- with big chunks of Pork Loins.
This is a very simple Guatemalan meal and a very delicious one too.

I spent some time in Guatemala City yesterday and while I was looking for something to eat, I noticed this Garifuna name at a restaurant. Of course, I love Garifuna food. I felt in love with it when I visited the town of Livingston, on Guatemala’s Atlantic Coast. I had looked for Garifuna food here in Guatemala for a while and I was unable to find any: Too bad!
This restaurant came to rescue me! They opened for business only eight months ago. The place is very small, only four tables and a couple of bar stools. They have a decent variety of Garifuna food, to my delight, they had Tortillas de Harina -flour torillas- The name does not imply much, but they are ginormous and usually they come with a healthy spread of mayonnaise, the tortilla is usually topped with your choice of meat, lettuce salad, fried black beans, rices, some chirmol, grilled potatoes, and scallions.
This place had it perfect! and you’ll be shocked! One of these monsters costs: Q20, $2.60 U.S. Dollars.
This is the Tortilla de Harina at: La Buga, a gariguna style restaurant, close Plaza Mayor, Downtown Guatemala.
Enjoy!

In 1995, The Marimba was declared Guatemala’s National Instrument and Feb 20th its commemorative day.
Here are some photograph of the outdoor concert at Plaza Mayor, Downtown Guatemala City to commemorate Marimba Day.

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Today is Guatemala’s Day of the Marimba and we are celebrating it with a free Marimba concert at Plaza Mayor.ore pjotos latet today.

Ladies, I think those umbrellas are not going to cover much, in fact, I don’t think anything you are wearing is going to cover much.
Edecánes, or Models, are the most common way of promoting a brand or an event here in Guatemala. The more provocative the better.
I got an interesting story about it. Guatemalan Government has an official State Radio station, supposed to promote Culture.
Last year I went to a bicycle event; Vuelta al Mundo Maya, and of course, the chosen way of the State Radio Station to promote “culture” at this event was a tall, blonde female edecán.
Oh, by the way, the word edecán is being misused here in Guatemala, the Castillian definition of the word is not close to the usage given here.

I love this great idea by the local municipality. I hope they expand the service to other route.

Here is some great meat you can get at La Plazuela, a fine restaurant located on one of the most affluent zones of Guatemala City.
You can get a fantastic meal here for less than $20 per person. There is only a handful of restaurants known for great quality steaks here in Guatemala and this is one of them.
Bon Appétit..

UFOs
By a respected Guatemalan Mountaineer

I friend of mine and I were on a very long hike on the mountain range. This is a beautiful hike, you get to walk on this mountain pass where to your left and right you have an open view of the low lands.
We were walking here when we noticed a strange shape light on the sky on or right side. It was a cylindrical shape, it was static, it did not move, which seemed very strange for us. We were staring at it for a while and all of the sudden it starts moving away very fast and it disappears in the distance.
We were shock by the experience we had to stop walking and just lay on the grass for a little while.
Later we pickup ourselves and keep on walking. Not much later we once again see something in the sky. This time there we two identical lights, cylindrical in shape too, on the sky above us.
We stare at the lights and we witnessed a beam of light emitted by one of the lights towards the other light. And not long after that event, the two lights disappear.

Guardian of the Mountain
By a experienced Guatemalan mountaineer
We were a small group of hikers, on our way down from the summit; I decided to stay behind the group.
There was nobody else at the summit, just us.
I started walking down and all of the sudden I hear steps behind me. I stopped walking and the steps stopped as well. I continue walking and I hear the noise of the road stones being kicked. I tell myself this is very strange but I continue walking and I continue hearing those footsteps behind me.
I got so scared I had to stop and it just occurred to me to talk out loud.
I know you are the guardian of the mountain and look, we did not cause any harm and did not leave any trash behind and now we are leaving in peace.
I continue walking and the noise, the steps behind me were gone.

Campfire Stories
Identities omitted to preserve privacy, all told by the people who lived them

El Señoron
Four Hikers, three males, two of them professionals and a female
We hiked up that volcano and we reached the summit very fast. We had some spare time some we decided to cook and eat lunch on the summit.
We were having fun by the fire and the female drops the pot with boiling water on the foot of one of the two professional mountaineers.
We had to rush down the volcano to get the injury treated. He was in so much pain he could not walk. He had to be carried by two of the male hikers, while I (the remaining experienced mountaineer) and the female walk behind the group.
At some point the female next to me asks me: Hey, who is the woman walking along the other three hikers?
You are the only woman here with us I tell her, while I slowly turned my head towards the leading hikers and see a silhouette of a woman walking next to them. I was shocked without noticing it, the silhouette disappears.
Sometime later we came back to the same volcano and the hike up was perfect, the road was clear and weather was nice. On our way back there were hundreds of branches, recently cut, blocking the same clear road we had just passed, impossible for a human to do so much work in so little time.
Later while talking to some locals we tell them about our strange experiences at that volcano and asked them if they had witnessed such thing here before.
One of the locals tells us: Ese es el señoron! That’s the Big Mister, later explaining that’s how they called the Devil in that town. “In fact, there is a cave with a drawing of El Señoron and people come here to worship him and to talk with him..” the local tells.