Archive for August, 2010
A Cure for Cobblestones
Transitions creates 10 years of mobility in Antigua Transitions Foundation, an Antigua-based organization dedicated to supporting and empowering Guatemalans with disabilities, is celebrating the 10th anniversary of its wheelchair workshop. The workshop offers employment opportunities, currently to nine people with disabilities, and produces affordable and custom-tailored wheelchairs and mobility devices for those in need. History [...]
Are You Creating a Masterpiece?
Life is a huge canvas onto which we can throw as much paint as we wish. A divine gift is the power to create whatever we want. It’s woven into the fabric of our being. Since we’re hardwired to create, we hold the brush with which to design the life we choose. Are you creating [...]
Sapphire
Sapphires sparkle all around you in Guatemala. Unlike some other gems that must be searched out, sapphires are overhead, underfoot, all around. You can easily bathe in deep, rich pools of sapphire. No, not the imported jewelry gems found in stores, but rather in nature throughout this “land of eternal spring.” The Pacific and Caribbean [...]
Dr. Lee Valenti 1928-2010
Dr. Lee Valenti, who like Huckleberry Finn fled from American consumerism’s attempts to “sivilize” her, has died in Panajachel. She was 82. The former literature professor left her job at New York’s Hoffstra University in 1975, after long involvement in anti-war, civil rights, and environmental movements. With her divorce complete and her children grown, she [...]
Brooks Buderus 1918-2010
A TOAST IN HONOR OF BROOKS Offered by Mark, Matt, David and Paul Thompson, Audrey’s sons (July 8, 2010) Brooks Buderus was a man of many loves, especially his love for his soul mate of over 40 years, his devoted wife—our mother, Audrey. Together they loved and lived life as a big adventure, an approach [...]
Festival de Música Antigua
The Direccción General de las Artes del Ministerio de Cultura y Deportes and Hotel Casa Santo Domingo present the 2nd Festival de Música Antigua starting Saturday August 14 through Sunday 22. The festival features the musical groups Capilla de La Asunción, Coro Nacional, Ensamble Barroco de Guatemala, Dúo Galante from Mexico, Ganassi from Costa Rica [...]
Guatemala Reconquers the Cute Lid
“Cute Lid City” might be what U.S. truckers would name Tapachula if they drove down this far. Why? Well, a tapa is a lid, and chula means cute. Long before truckers existed, the city was called the Pearl of Soconusco. You may or may not agree with this labeling. But if you are reading this, [...]
Why do we have “mermaids” in La Antigua Guatemala?
Mermaids appear in literature much after the fountain in Central Park was built by Diego de Porres in 1738. While today we might think of Hans Christian Andersen’s The Little Mermaid (1836), the fountain clearly pre-dates the fairytale. In using the Spanish word “sirenas,” we find sirens originally in Greek mythology that are often portrayed [...]
Farming Organically
written by Dianne Carofino photos: George Carofino What makes a farm “organic,” one that grows organic produce? We put that question to Alex Kronick as we tour Caoba Farms, his five-acre organic farm on the outskirts of La Antigua Guatemala. Alex began his business six years ago, originally selling organic produce to one restaurant, and [...]
The Legend of Pozo Vivo
Eight Spanish soldiers of fortune commanded by Capt. Pedro de Herrerías arrived in the valley of Tactic. They had been following the Cahabón River to its source, in the hope of finding the Fountain of Youth, which the Indians of Cozumel had told them was located in this area.
In Search of Almolonga
Exactly where was the center of old Santiago? Traditionally the honor has been assumed to belong to the urban center of Ciudad Vieja, the Old City. But was it? Tropical storm Agatha raged throughout Guatemala in May, déjà vu of 9/11/1541 for the hard-hit area east of Ciudad Vieja. Weeks later, the church of San [...]
Oliver Thornwhistle on—Araucaria
I feel fortunate that my vocation offers me low-altitude air travel to the four corners of Guatemala. When I’m in a helicopter or small plane, or even at a window on an upper floor of a Zone 10 high rise in Guatemala City, I invariably carry away two impressions: Quauhtlemallan, from the 16th century Nahualt [...]
The Cuban Connection
There is a small corner of Cuba in La Antigua on 5a avenida, north of Los Arcos. Walk into Tabacos y Vinos, turn left at the entrance and face the glass-fronted case. Open the doors where the scents of the earthy Pinar del Rio, the Vuelta Abajo and other heady aromas of the finest cigars [...]
Antigua Retro with John Heaton
Traveler, collector, Central America correspondent for Travel+Leisure, founder-owner of Quinta Maconda, awarded Nat.Geo.Traveller 50 Tours of a Lifetime 2008, Heaton’s Guatemala projects have been acknowledged by the international press for over two decades. How many years living in Guatemala? Almost a quarter of a century. Why the move to La Antigua? Guatemala was terra incognita: [...]
August 2010 in Revue Magazine
And so August is upon us. As we look for our joy this month, our Joy Houston looks for the center of old Santiago. With new analysis techniques, recent excavations and research, it appears that Ciudad Vieja is probably not the true Old Town as traditionally thought. Full story on page 12. Our cover photo [...]
