Guatemala English language Magazine
Strange and Delicious Fruits of June Regardless of location, farmers’ markets throughout Guatemala provide a grand opportunity to experience new flavors, textures and colors in fruits foreign to the extranjero tongue. If you’re worried about consuming raw fruits here in Guatemala, remember that a couple minutes soaked in low strength bleach water will kill anything looming on the skin of […]
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Deer are among the 10 most commonly depicted animals on Mayan vases, plates and bowls of the Late Classic period. Although two species of deer inhabit the Mayan heartland, the white-tailed deer, Odocoileus virginianus, is the one usually depicted in Mayan art. For the Classic Maya, the deer was in some ways as important as the jaguar, monkey and snakes. […]
Read moreHabitat for Humanity conference in honor of Guatemala success by Anna-Claire Bevan It’s not often that Guatemala is described as a global leader, but in the world of Habitat for Humanity, that’s exactly how it’s known. The NGO´s international president Ken Klein recently visited the country to celebrate the success of Habitat Guatemala and learn from its effective disaster-response program. […]
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Dermalogica, the world’s leading professional skin-care brand, recently launched FITE—Financial Independence Through Entrepreneurship—to help women entrepreneurs in Guatemala and other developing nations to develop or expand their business. In establishing FITE, Dermalogica partnered with the KIVA organization, a non-profit microfinance leader that provides loans to people without access to traditional banking systems. Dermalogica has also launched a new product line, […]
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Homesick U.S. natives living down here can visit Hawaii, Alaska, San Francisco, San Antonio, Los Angeles, St. Louis, Chicago and maybe Philadelphia all in one day without ever leaving Guatemala. And you may do so without a passport or a Star Trek transporter room. I will prove it to you. To get started you need a recent map of la […]
Read more“Water, Rivers and People / Agua, Ríos y Pueblos,” is an international traveling photographic exhibit that takes a critical look at water conflicts around the world. The exhibit focuses on the human and environmental costs of contamination and catastrophes, ecosystem degradation, water as a human right, privatization and mega-development projects such as hydroelectric dams and open pit mining. The exhibit […]
Read morewritten by Hannah Freiwald Asociación Manos Abiertas (AMA) was founded in March 2008 in response to the urgent need for reproductive health services in Ciudad Vieja. Our mission is to offer a safe and welcoming place where health services are provided for women by women, in a respectful and confidential manner without discrimination. We strive to treat the woman as […]
Read moreSan Juan Olintepeque, a historic town about 6 kilometers north of Quetzaltenango, celebrates its patron, St. John the Baptist, with a colorful festival. This area is generally considered to be the site where the famous Maya-K’iche’ prince, Tecún Umán, died in battle against Pedro de Alvarado in 1524. The annual festival features costumed dancers, the traditional dance of the bull, […]
Read moreA luxury getaway on a coffee plantation by Tanya Hughes “The hardest part is stepping off the edge,” my canopy-tour guide said encouragingly. Dubiously, I peered over the 40-foot drop. After a couple of deep breaths I took that step and I was flying through the air, held securely in place by my harness. Both youngsters and adults can line […]
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Hand crafting the not-so-simple palm frond broom text and photos by Kathy Rousso Palma real (royal palm) grows in Guatemala’s hot climatic regions, and many products can be made from the fronds of this tree. Custom dictates that the harvest takes place three days before the full moon, after which the fronds are dried and split into strips. The outer […]
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Mayan Patron Saint is an enigma text and photos by Thor Janson www.bushmanollie.com There is not a town or village in the entire Mayan Highlands where the presence of Maximón is not being asserted. Although the guide books for many years have only listed three Maximón shrines—San Andrés Itzapa, Zunil and Santiago Atitlán—there are literally thousands of Maximón temples and […]
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Guatemala’s second (and maybe best) city written by Blake Nelson I spent my first year out of college teaching in Puerto Cortés, Honduras, and a typical conversation went like this: LOCAL: Do you like living here? ME: I love it! LOCAL: Really? I don’t. ME: Let’s change the subject! After to moving to Quetzaltenango (commonly known as Xela, from the […]
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One volunteer’s overwhelming experience serving in the city dump written by Hannah Wallace Bowman Every day at 7:15 a.m., a bleary-eyed group of Westerners gathers on the pavement outside La Antigua Guatemala’s San Francisco Church. Clutching banana bread and paper cups of steaming coffee, they soak up the early morning sun. Preparing to make their way into one of the […]
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Ecofiltro, a Guatemalan company that produces an innovative, easy-to-use water purifier, has been named one the world’s Top 50 Small and Medium Enterprises by infoDev, an international association sponsored by the World Bank. Based in La Antigua Guatemala, Ecofiltro, S.A., is a joint effort between Guatemalan scientist Fernando Mazariegos, who invented Ecofiltro in 1981, and entrepreneur Philip Wilson. Ecofiltro has […]
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You can see it, hear it, taste and smell it, even touch it. All the senses get involved with bronze in Guatemala. Bronze metal is seen and heard in church bells, of course, and bronze tones cover the hillsides in the reddish-brown fields of peanut and wheat. Light tan coffee beans are bronzed during roasting, giving off wonderful aromas. Then […]
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Life is a process of becoming. From the moment of birth the process begins through a combination of the stages we go through—infancy, childhood, adolescence, adulthood. In the early stages we move from one to another because there isn’t any choice. We can’t spend the rest of our lives in diapers or dragging around our security blanket! Many times during […]
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written by Anna-Claire Bevan photo by Jacobo Blijdenstein One hundred years after his birth, Guatemala honored the life of its exiled, Nobel Prize-winning poet, Miguel Ángel Asturias, by placing a statue of him on one of the main streets of its capital city. Made entirely of bronze, the full-body sculpture was the masterpiece of Max Leiva and celebrates the memory […]
Read moreWhile the city grid of La Antigua Guatemala was laid out in 1541, it seems that the concept of urban planning was abandoned after the colonial era. Over the years, many groups, including Salvemos Antigua, petitioned the mayors for an urban planning commission. For a centuries-old city, alas, we have a “new” urban planning concept today! Antigua’s City Council approved […]
Read moreThe IV World Convention on Maya Archaeology comes to La Antigua Guatemala and Hotel Camino Real June 17-19, featuring global experts on Mayan culture. With the theme “El Popol Vuh Visto a Traves del Arte Maya” (The Popol Vuh seen through Mayan Art), the conference will contrast the colonial-period Maya Popol Vuh writings with the archaeological record. Expert presenters include […]
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This month’s cover story features the gem of the Highlands, Quetzaltenango (aka Xela), Guatemala’s second-largest city which is widely regarded as the country’s cultural capital. The story by Xela resident Blake Nelson points out the highlights, accompanied by photos, including our cover shot, by Quetzaltenango’s foremost photographer Harry Díaz. The enigma of Maximón is the topic of Thor Janson’s article […]
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