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: wild, unfashionable, yet terribly alluring […]

Read more

Whack, Thunk and Oof!

A re-enactment of the ancient Mayan ball game of pok-ta-pok text and photos by Michael Sherer Chocoguatemaya (www.chocoguate-maya.org), in cooperation with the Ministry of Culture and Sports, arranged for a re-enactment of the ancient Maya ball game of pok-ta-pok, in connection with its mission of preserving the Mayan chocolate culture. Corinne Willock, founder, and José Caal, the vice president, were […]

Read more

Kilometer Zero at the National Palace, Guatemala

text and photos by Michael Sherer Set at the northern end of the enormous Plaza Mayor, Guatemala’s National Palace is the origin of all the roads in the Republic with a spot known as Kilómetro Cero. Two and half miles north of the gleaming chrome-and-glass towers that line the Avenida La Reforma, the edifice is flanked by the Biblioteca Nacional […]

Read more

San Cristóbal de las Casas

If Copán is a quarter-sized version of La Antigua Guatemala, San Cristóbal de las Casas, one of the few remaining colonial gems of Mexico (founded in 1528) is Antigua times three. And, whereas the good people of Antigua seem to revere their city’s signs of age, in San Cristóbal, they have painted, patched and applied mascara. The inner center of the city is designed for walking, shopping and eating, with several streets closed to cars.

Read more

You say Granada, I say Enchilada…

A bit of history: Granada is the oldest city in Central America, founded in 1524 by Francisco Fernández de Córdoba. Time has not been kind to the “Great Sultan,” named in honor of its Moorish namesake in Spain. The city has suffered the slings and arrows of fortune, ranging from devastating earthquakes to the likes of that infamous pirate Henry Morgan, who sacked the town in June 1665.

Read more

Not Just Another Flash in the Pan Pipe

text and photos by Michael Sherer Haunting sinuous melodies interwoven with cañas and Peruvian pan pipes, punctuated by a perfect blend of voices backed by guitars and 10-string charangos, peppered with conga drums and a professional quality home-made bass drum fill the green-and-white room at the La Peña de Sol Latino restaurant and bar five nights a week in La […]

Read more

Confessions of a Nocturnal Bibliophile

Five blocks south of el Parque Central in La Antigua, located at 4a avenida sur #2, sits a local treasure: the Steve Skelton Memorial Library, operated under the auspices of the local American Legion post. Behind the vivid blue stucco walls and through the black iron gates lies a reader’s dream, set in two overcrowded rooms stacked from floor to ceiling with over 30,000 volumes and the most unusual assortment of books in town.

Read more

Producing Potable Water

The EcoFiltro has won awards for sustainable technology, now there is a need to make many more of them written by Michael Sherer On the outskirts of La Antigua Guatemala, set back in a corner of the 22-acre, lushly planted Finca El Pintado, is the factory that churns out daily miracles: clay pots, crafted from the best deposits from Rabinal, […]

Read more