Revue Magazine

From school bus, to auction house, to workshop, to workhorse
text & photos by Gwyn Lawrence
For most people, the birthing process starts in the quiet, sterile, environment of a delivery room. For a camioneta, it starts in the noisy chaos of an auction room deep in the United States.
U.S. school buses are typically sold when they [...]

Panajachel is firstly a walking city. If you drive in it, you soon tire of the paucity of two-way streets. And every rocky contour of those streets registers on the pant-seat of every chicken-bus rider. Tuktuks look fun, until you actually ride in one. And much of Pana is not overly bike-friendly. So, unless pogo sticks catch on, feet remain the preferred vehicle.

A rewarding excursion to Guatemala’s first winery to produce wine from locally-grown grapes since colonial times
text and photos by Ira Lewis
Hidden behind a coffee finca on the lower slopes of volcano El Agua is the first winery to produce wine from Guatemalan-grown grapes since colonial times: Chateau DeFay. Jacques and Angie DeFay recently presented their [...]

Learning a new language is neither for the timid nor the middle-aged. Many afternoons I thought that my brain was overheating and sending smoke out my ears

The Festival Atitlán returns for its 9th year, once again celebrating springtime with music, dance, theatre, graphic art displays and workshops, plus a great kid section, and a promise of a beautiful day with family and friends outdoors on the shores of Lake Atitlán. As is the custom, the proceeds are donated to a local [...]

The mission of Thirteen Threads is to empower organized groups of indigenous women to bring about changes, through their own efforts, that will alleviate the adverse effects of poverty and improve their quality of life.

All year he hides under the bed or in the junk piled up in the corner, casting misfortune or worse on helpless mortals. But on Monday, Dec. 7 at 6 p.m. sharp, the devil gets his comeuppance, as he is tossed out of the house along with the trash and set ablaze in the Quema del Diablo (Burning the Devil), a tradition in many Guatemalan towns that literally sparks the beginning of the Christmas season. —Juan Carlos Ordóñez

by Sue Patterson and Laurel White
Last May, Emma, a 35-year-old mother of nine, passed away from cervical cancer, now considered a sexually-transmitted disease. Her premature death was a terrible and preventable tragedy. After hearing a radio announcement about a WINGS-sponsored screening in Chimaltenango, she came for her first such screening two years ago, but the [...]

For centuries, all over the world artistic expressions of the birth of Jesus have touched people of all ages and stages, the right and the poor, the merry and the melancholy, the proud and the profane.

These days of celebrations bring colorful treats of greens, reds, golds and other holiday shades. All the senses enjoy December, with its rich foods to taste, velvet cloths to touch, carols to hear. The laughter of children, the ringing of the bells, the singing in the streets, all the sounds of the month join the colors and savors to enjoy.

Late November brings us the opportunity to celebrate and observe another round of distinctly Guatemalan festivities, the ferias or town fairs of towns whose patron saints are St. Catherine (Santa Catarina), St. Martin (San Martín) and St. Andrew (San Andrés).

In Guatemala, it is easier to “just drop in” on your friends than it would be in Minneapolis or Melbourne. One reason, I think (write me if you disagree) is that until the end of the previous century telephone calls were something you rarely tried at home. That was when Italy’s telecommunications monopoly brought Gua-temala’s [...]

The swirling mist dusts Volcán San Pedro in a muted dove gray, catching dawn’s sunrays and washing it in an ethereal glow. The steely-mirrored waters of Lake Atitlán are quiet, rippled only by the wake of a distant boat that slides across its surface. The air is still, cool and refreshing. This awe-inspiring view is the reason that Lake Atitlán is undisputedly one of the world’s most beautiful lakes. It is here, in the moment and in the quiet that one can touch the magnificence of God’s creation.