Guatemala English language Magazine
“Wine is bottled poetry,” wrote Robert Louis Stevenson. It is the special gift that one brings or the perfect complement to an excellent meal. It’s the extra dash of flavor in a simmering pot of coq au vin or the pot au feu. Whatever the reason or the season, you can find excellent wine selections in La Antigua Guatemala; many […]
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There is a small corner of Cuba in La Antigua on 5a avenida, north of Los Arcos. Walk into Tabacos y Vinos, turn left at the entrance and face the glass-fronted case. Open the doors where the scents of the earthy Pinar del Rio, the Vuelta Abajo and other heady aromas of the finest cigars in the world are waiting […]
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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 moreLight begins to shine on buried treasure Not far from La Antigua’s Central Park lies a newly refurbished Guatemalan version of Ali Baba’s cave. Walk two blocks east on 5a calle, past the original University of San Carlos and what’s now a museum. Then another half block to the ornate wooden doors and the dark red-brick exterior with a small […]
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There was a small shrine on the sidewalk a few weeks ago, consisting of a flickering candle in a tin can, a few flowers and a smiling photograph of Marcía with a large black plastic garbage bag made into a wreath and the typed notice of her recent passing.
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The recent Primer Festival Gastronómico in La Antigua Guatemala centered on the uses of chocolate, primarily cooking with cacao. The highlight of the event however was created by Alex Farrar, owner of a local bistro/art gallery and an excellent artist in his own right (he won first prize at the Venetian Masked Ball in February). Farrar appeared with his easel, […]
Read moreA 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 moreQueso fresco, queso de capas, queso de Jalapa, queso de Petén, queso de Taxisco: it’s all here, deep down in the lower levels of the Mercado Central in Zone One of Guatemala City.
Read moretext 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 moreIf 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 moreA 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.
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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 moreFive 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.
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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, […]
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