Guatemala English language Magazine
text and photo by William Lynch It was the finals for the Mosquito Division championship of the Open Schools Soccer Tournament. A field full of seven-, eight- and nine-year- olds was struggling to take home the City Champs Trophy, a tiny thing perhaps but very important to these kids. The game was chaotic since children at this age can’t kick […]
Read moreLa Antigua Guatemala, founded in 1543, is surrounded by 15 villages or aldeas. In urban terms, an aldea is part of a municipality, La Antigua being the municipality.
Read more
A quiet place to stay for a El Petén adventure Halfway between Flores and Tikal, El Remate is a quaint, centrally located community within easy reach of breathtaking ruins, mysterious caves, birdwatching, swimming and more. Nestled along the eastern shore of Lago Petén Itzá, El Remate provides a variety of lodging and dining choices, plus scenic vistas of the lake […]
Read more
There was a small shrine on the sidewalk a few weeks ago, consisting of a flickering candle in a tin can, a few flowers and a smiling photograph of Marcía with a large black plastic garbage bag made into a wreath and the typed notice of her recent passing.
Read more
The recent Primer Festival Gastronómico in La Antigua Guatemala centered on the uses of chocolate, primarily cooking with cacao. The highlight of the event however was created by Alex Farrar, owner of a local bistro/art gallery and an excellent artist in his own right (he won first prize at the Venetian Masked Ball in February). Farrar appeared with his easel, […]
Read morewritten by Kathy Torpie Moisture gathers on my skin as I trudge through the thick, heavy air to the market where Mayas in brightly woven clothes endure the heat as they brush the flies from their produce. The only movement of air is my breath, taken in shallow sips, and only the cicadas flourish. Their loud, screeching chorus of sexual […]
Read moreMore than beautiful stone mansions, these were homes of real people with real lives, joys, and sorrows. In Michener’s Poland (1983), a professor who clung to life in a concentration camp pleaded, “Rebuild! Rebuild!” as “the most important thing to do when this nightmare ends…an act of faith, an act of commitment to the future…a testimony to the greatness we […]
Read moreThere is beauty and mystery in your garden around the clock written by S.C. Johnson Day Time You have a pretty good idea of what is going on in your daytime garden, since every day you can watch the main attractions. They include hummingbirds and butterflies, lured by the modern trend of planting hummingbird and butterfly “friendly” plants and flowers. […]
Read more
Deeply ingrained in human nature is the intense yearning to be appreciated. As Mother Teresa said, “There is more hunger for love and appreciation in this world than for bread.” To be appreciated feels like our birthright, which is probably why we have high expectations. Feeling unappreciated tops the list of universal human complaints. We’ve all heard others lament, “They […]
Read more
Building new lives in Guatemala written by Brian Kirkup Constru Casa was founded in 2004, and by the end of 2010 we hope to have built our 400th home. The houses are basic but effective, consisting of three rooms, concrete walls, a metal roof, a concrete floor, a shower and a toilet. The cost of the house to the family […]
Read more
The International Dance Festival Antigua Guatemala is a feast of dance works in a performance shining with energy and inspiration. The festival’s program was created to delight, excite, captivate and entertain an international audience. Performances of Danceforms’ The 51st International Choreographers’ Showcase will take place at Body Arts in Guatemala City on June 3 and 4 at 7:30 p.m. and […]
Read more
Threatened by years of abuse and neglect, the Mirador Basin needs help and it needs it now. The 400-year sliver of history between the biblical Old and New Testaments, sometimes erroneously called the ‘silent years’, packed Planet Earth with progress. Alexander the Great studied at the feet of Aristotle and, zealous to unite the world under Greek culture, conquered his […]
Read more
Etched by nature and bathed in mystique, the winding network of caves known as Actún Kan in Petén truly earned its place in Mayan legend as the Cave of the Serpent’s Mouth.
Read more
I certainly didn’t expect to get a free lesson of what I call Chapiñol, it is maybe 50 percent Spanish and 50 percent Chapinismos. His name was Miguel and he started throwing phrases like: tengo un gran clavo or me echan el muerto. I simply replied yes and/or no, but in truth I had no idea what he was talking about, “I have a big nail” What ???
Read moreGoogle’s fast-growing online translation service will now be able to translate text into and out of Maya and Nahuatl, which are Central American languages that pre-date Spanish. According to the Economic Times, “Nahuatl is mostly spoken in southern Mexico and northern Central America, while Maya is spoken across Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula, Guatemala and Belize.” The newspaper also says that the […]
Read more
On the cover this month is Dr. Richard Hansen, director of the Mirador Basin Project, in front of an archeological excavation going on at El Mirador. His interview by Joy Houston includes some historical perspective and some future plans for this critically important region of Guatemala. Matt Bokor takes us on two quick side trips: tranquil El Remate and the […]
Read more