Rescuing Rosie

Happy and healthy Rosie (photo by César Tián)

by Kathy Jo Robbert The chestnut mare floats in her paddock, performing a perfect passage, an advanced dressage movement performed under a rider. But this mare does it all on her own. With her diagonal legs working in perfect synchronization, lifting higher, higher, the mare celebrates the freedom of being who she is. For the first time in a long […]

Read more

Roberto Luz

Festival performers: Naik Madera

Roberto Luz is a tall, enigmatic man with long, dark hair and the posture of the perpetually preoccupied: head bent slightly forward, eyes in the middle distance. In person he’s charming and informed, but when talking to him one cannot help but feel as if he’s simultaneously elsewhere, listening to a music the observer cannot hear. He may very well be.

Read more

Dr. Nicholas Hellmuth

Dr. Nicholas Hellmuth, founder of FLAAR — Foundation for Latin American Anthropological Research

Most people who read the Popol Vuh, the Mayan book of creation, are historians or anthropologists who do so only once to gain an insight into Mesoamerican culture thousands of years ago. Nicholas Hellmuth, Ph.D., has read the text around a dozen times. He and his team are committed to separating history from legend by verifying the authenticity of every […]

Read more

New ‘Blood’ in the War on Malnutrition and Truancy

Funny thing about Margaret Blood. She fits no profile of North American do-gooders who come to Guatemala. She hails not from the Bible Belt. Nor is she a hippie-esque proletarian or a homeschooling missionary mom. But a mission she has, a mission of such scope that some of her friends thought it could never be realized. But she may prove them wrong.

Read more

Rigoberta Menchú, Changing the World

When a Guatemalan indigenous woman stepped forward to receive the Nobel Peace Prize in 1992, a light was momentarily cast upon indigenous people throughout the world. Rigoberta Menchú Tum, who was living in self-imposed exile at the time, was awarded the prestigious accolade in recognition of her work: highlighting the exploitation and persecution of the country’s indigenous people during its […]

Read more

Master Fisherman, Paustino Cruz Colindres

Being the fishing fanatic that I am, I always love investigating what is happening around Guatemala in the fishing industry and trying my luck at fishing in all its various forms. One of my favorite little fishing villages on the Pacific Coast is El Paredón Buena Vista. This tranquil little town, with its sandy streets and friendly locals, was more […]

Read more

Asisclo Valladares

Guatemalan Ambassador to the U.K. There’s not a cocktail bar in Central London that doesn’t stock Ron Zacapa, an English Starbucks that isn’t preparing to launch a “Guatemala cappuccino” or a high-end British supermarket that doesn’t sell petit-pois straight from the country’s Highlands, according to Guatemalan Embassy staff in the U.K. Outside the U.S., Guatemala’s biggest export market is Great […]

Read more

David Elron

Improving the well-being of others When David Elron first visited Guatemala in 2001 he was a carefree backpacker who thought he’d stay for a couple of weeks and move on. However, after meeting a shaman in the highland town of Todos Santos, the Israeli’s plans quickly changed. “I ended up traveling with the shaman, studying with him and eventually teaching […]

Read more

Siggy Holbik

Bridging cultures and continents with Guatemalan crafts Many of us living in (and visiting) La Antigua Guatemala love to stop by Casa de los Gigantes (7a calle oriente #18) from time to time to see what’s new in the “House of the Giants.” It is well worth your time to investigate every nook and cranny for some treasure or another. […]

Read more

Golden Fork Award

Christian Rossell (photo: Isaac Castellanos, courtesy of febos productions)

Christian Rossell voted Chef of the Year, 2012 The name Christian Rossell has long been synonymous with fine Italian dining: in 2005, the chef opened the doors of his first restaurant, Pecorino, before unveiling a chain of deli’s, and then launching the exquisite pizzeria Romano’s, which introduced Guatemala to thin-crust pizzas. But this year, the name is also synonymous with […]

Read more

One-Man Band: Soapbox aka Rodrigo Rosales

One-Man Band: Soapbox aka Rodrigo Rosales (photo by Alan Benchoam)

Anyone who listens to music radio in Guatemala will no doubt be familiar with the name Soapbox. The talented musician had a No. 1 hit with his first solo single Time, and his second release, Now I’m Gone, looks to be heading in a similar direction. But not everyone may be aware that the man behind the name, Rodrigo Rosales, […]

Read more

Walter White Jr. 1930 — 2011

by Martin Leadbitter Walter White Jr.—humorist, socialite and inventor—died in January this year, aged 80. Walter was the life and soul of the original anglophone ex-patriate community in La Antigua Guatemala, and his passing is felt as both the loss of a friend and as the loss of a symbol and unifying force. For almost 30 years (“I came down […]

Read more

The Heart of the Mayan World

A candid chat with INGUAT’s Walter Fischer Imagine a place with volcanoes and mountains, jungles and deserts, white sands and black beaches … but while you and I have already discovered the beauty of Guatemala, the majority of the world remains oblivious. INGUAT, the country’s tourism board, has embarked on a 10-year campaign to increase tourism in the country at […]

Read more

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

The Woman Behind the Crusader

A chat with Vida Amor De Paz, Guatemala’s crusader for protecting the planet Her smile is electric. Her energy is vibrant. Her achievements … inspiring. My brief interview with Vida Amor De Paz has certainly left me with a powerfully affecting impression. I am new to Guatemala and can claim no more than five months of exploring the country and […]

Read more

Robert Hinshaw

Given his age, 75, you’d think anthropologist Robert Hinshaw would want to settle back with one of those Scandanavian vodkas he occasionally enjoys and retire to his Colorado mountain retreat. Instead, he wants to make a difference in this world, as “payback” for all he’s received. He explains: “Gilbert White, the late geographer and a great mentor, laid this challenge […]

Read more

Thor Janson

Wildlife conservationist, photographer, author, adventurer, environmentalist and educator The volcano Pacaya in Guatemala began erupting more dramatically than usual one day several years ago, and nature photographer Thor Janson rushed to the slopes to take pictures for his files. “By 4 o’clock Pacaya was spewing molten lava several hundred meters into the air every 30 to 45 seconds,” Thor recalls. […]

Read more

Pat Crocker, Artist and Architect

If you lived in La Antigua Guatemala after World War II and before 1972 you would have known Pat Crocker for his work in the restoration of colonial houses and for his exquisite watercolor paintings of Indian costume. Frederick Siddartha Crocker Junior, or as he would sometimes introduce himself “Frederick, ‘The Enlightened One,’Crocker,” was born in Folsom, West Virginia, in […]

Read more

La Cambalacha Youth Art Initiative

Text and photos by Jennifer Block Restoring creative expression through direct action, Gabriela Cordón aims to transform Guatemala’s educational system via her youth arts initiative. You’d be forgiven for thinking La Cambalacha is just another summer camp for kids. The place spills forth with color and laughter. On stage, a group of children practice a clown routine; another group makes […]

Read more
1 2