Interview: La Antigua Mayor Susana Ascencio

Almost a month after previous Mayor Edgar Ruiz Paredes was arrested on corruption charges and stepped down, his successor Susana Ascencio had already emerged as his antithesis. Under the direction of Mayor Ascencio, La Antigua Guatemala’s municipality has submitted open bidding on a mega-project aimed at relieving the city’s congested traffic. The solution is to redirect traffic passing through on […]

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Voca People at Festival Internacional de Cultura Paiz

They are out of this world! This month the XII Festival Internacional de Cultura Paiz—La Nueva Era features VocaPeople who will be performing in La Antigua Guatemala on Sat., Feb. 2 and Sun., Feb. 3, both performances at 7 p.m., La Ermita de la Santa Cruz. Following is an offbeat interview with Lior Kalfo, creator and director of VocaPeople: Tell […]

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Interview: Franklin Contreras

Portrait of Franklin Contreras by Mathieu Hutin

From building houses out of cardboard boxes in his parents’ electrical store when he was a child, to designing candy stores at the university, Franklin Contreras was always destined to be an architect. The talented Guatemalan now owns his own firm, which employs over 200 people, and their designs stand out as pieces of art, especially along the streets of […]

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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 […]

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Quick Sketch: Seven Questions for Orestes

Briefly describe your art. My art is to represent everything as much as I can in high texture. What is your favorite art medium? Clay. Then once I fire it, it becomes ceramic. When did you learn how to work with clay and ceramic? I was going to take a class in English literature, but the class was canceled. Then […]

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