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La Historia de Antigua
The Church of La Concepcion after the Santa Marta earthquake of 1773
( the church is at the end of Calle del Hermano Pedro)
Antigua or Santiago de los Caballeros de Guatemala ("St. James of the Knights of Guatemala") was the capital of the whole of Central America and was the second site for the capital, the first being destroyed by the eruption of Volcan Agua in 1541. It was founded here in what is now known simply as Antigua or La Antigua (the old city) in 1543. However, on September 29, 1717, an estimated 7.4 magnitude earthquake hit the city, and destroyed over 3,000 buildings. Much of the city's architecture was ruined. The damage the earthquake did to the city made authorities consider moving the capital to another city. However they foolishly stayed put until in 1773, the Santa Marta earthquakes destroyed much of the town, which led to the third change in location for the city to what is now Guatemala City. One can only imagine what Lady Bracknell would say? [in your best Dame Edith or Dame Maggie voice, suck those cheeks in, after three ......] “To lose one capital, to an earthquake, may be regarded as a misfortune. To lose two looks like carelessness ……”
General view over Antigua from the Cerro de la Cruz
(sorry no comentario!)
Colonial Antigua is eight blocks by eight blocks and the whole city is a UNESCO world heritage site. The streets are cobbled, as are the pavements and the architecture is magnificent. And because of its status no new building is allowed and things remain just as they are, not an inch of tarmac or an illuminated shop sign to be seen! Most of the baroque churches have been left untouched since the 1773 earthquake, so there is hardly a “calle” in Antigua that does not have its own ruined church!
Calles (streets) run east-west and Avenidas run north-south. The central park occupies the block between the 4th and 5th Calles/Avenidias and you can walk from one side of the old city to the other in 15 minutes.
Antigua is famous for its religious processions every Sunday during lent and for Semana Santa (Holy Week), there are daily processions through the city attracting many, many thousands of onlookers. The area around Antigua is also the region for coffee and macadamia nut plantations.
Santa Semana 2010 - about 200 men carry each "float"
there are numerous floats depicting the events for the particular day of Holy Week
As the centre for tourism in Guatemala, whilst the city is quiet and timeless during the week, at weekends it gets crowded with tourists – mainly Americans. Antigua is also a preferred retirement spot for people from all over the USA and Europe. The colonial houses in the centre whilst very plain in their frontage to the road, hide the most amazing house within, all single storey and built around various courtyards. However, it is also incredibly expensive so most people live “out of town” in what I will call “greater” Antigua including such places as Ciuded Vieja, Jocotenango, San Pedro Des Huertas, San Juan del Obispo ……..
With a population of around 35,500 for “greater” Antigua, I feel very lucky to have found a house for rent in the Calle de Hermano Pedro (“the street of Brother Peter”) in the old city, so I have my own cobbled street and a ruined church at the end of it (see pic at top of this post) and am probably one of only 3000 people who actually live as part of this world heritage site “one old wreck living in another!” I am absolutely on the edge of the city and my large new garden is surrounded on three sides by open land of trees and grass and yet more ruins! I say house it is actually the very functional old servants quarters for a much grander house, (more on “mi nueve casa” later after I move in on December 1st).
Hilachas con Frijoles Rojos, Arroz , Güicoy y Tortillas.
Hilachas is a beef stew with vegetables, it is mildly spicy and uses tomatoes and tomatillos in the sauce, “Comida Tipico”. It uses beef skirt, boiled first then shredded, then re-cooked with vegetables and spiced up to taste with chilli paste and the tomatillos! You can follow my efforts from the photos. I will be eating it with red beans, rice, güicoy (squash) and the ever present tortillas! Mmmmmmm! Rico! (nice). Recipe at http://www.whats4eats.com/meats/hilachas-recipe I am going to buy a Guatemalan Recipe book en Español once I move, this from the internet so cannot guarantee how authentic a recipe it is!
Tomatillos - A slightly spicy green tomato type fruit
Ingredients for the Hilachas
Ingredients for the sauce- ready for the liquadora
The butcher was so good, I asked for “carne de vaca por Hilachas, un libre y medio, por favor” and he very patiently in clear Spanish explained just how I needed to shred the meat once cooked, a cut it for me in such a way as to make the shredding easy! People have time here, to talk to you and enjoying the fact that an “extranjero” (foreigner) is actually buying meet in the general open/market!
The boiled beef ready for shredding
Hilachas!
End result, not spicy enough! It ended up tasting like boiled beef and carrots! Nice but packed no gastronomic punch! I think the recipe I used was american and so reduced the authentic spicyness! That's my excuse ~ anyways am just about to "pep it up" as have a friend coming for lunch, and it is a dish that is better the day after making!
I have started to patronise certain stalls in the market, very much trying to make sure my Quetzales are going directly to the producer/farmer, with such stiff competition nobody can afford to sell you poor quality produce. Today moras (blackberries) were down to 4Q a pound (30p) and my pound and a half of beef skirt cost just over £2. This will all be washed down with a very nice Argentinian Malbec at £2 per bottle.
Un concierto
It’s Saturday 17:00 and I am going to the Cooperacion Español (an amazing arts centre sponsored by the Spanish government through the Guatemalan Embassy) as there is a concert by the National Youth Orchestra of San Salvador in celebration of 200 years of independence at 18:00. Will take the camera!
The concert was fun, the youth orchestra were as good as any local youth orchestra in UK once the had warmed to the task. Attracted a large audience, and the evening was cool but dry. The backdrop of the ruined church made it a perfect setting. The only downside was that every official in town felt the need to make a speech of welcome! So the concert only got underway after 20 minutes of “muchas gracias por este concierto muy spectacular and I want to thank the Ambassador, the Mayor, the Leader of the Council, Cooperacion Español, the parents of the children, the weather, the people who put out the chairs, you for turning up, the little lady who made the tortillas to feed the men who put up the stage ………………. zzzzzzzzz"
Notas generales
Volcano climbing – continued: The construction of a Spanish question goes something like this:
“Did you to he/she/it say your car, red, old and broken it was not functioning to the repairman.”
In reply, the car, the repairman and you and possibly person asking the question are all replaced with pronouns with different conjugations depending on whether they are the subject, direct object, indirect object or a possessive, the verb is about all that remains intact. There is a “la la” rule meaning that two pronouns starting with “l” cannot follow each other and the first has to be replaced with “se”~ so a singular pronoun might be replaced by one which can be singular or plural, male or female ……. pronouns either come before the first verb or can be attached to the end of the second …….. and it is necessary to do this with the speed of light as you are answering a question! Simple! I do hope you are following all this as there will be a test later!
Maybe this will help?
Sin embargo (however), after a whole week of practicing making answer to questions the light is dawning at the end of a very long tunnel. At the moment providing I am in relative control of a conversation I can nip along with a fare degree of rapidity and fluency, and it is good to receive positive comments from people on the clarity of my diction and speed of delivery.
I hope to be planting some kind of flag at the sumit of a pequito (very small) volcan around Christmas!
My final draft of the poster for the Arts Festival was approved so my handy work will be on display throughout “greater” Antigua by the end of the week. (Will include it in a future posting).
We had a little rain this week, before the long dry summer sets in. Have made friends with the guys who run SaberRico restaurant in town, they introduced me to a magnificent cheese like an aged Parmesan, from the area of Zacapa, but of course being Latin America it has the advantage of being “perked up” by the addition of some chillis! An awesome cheese by any standards, it is made in a tiny area of the country between the volcanos where there is a constant crisp and dry air current to age the cheese. (SaberRico www.saberico.com.gt)
Queso de Zacapa
This week: I need to buy the prizes for the art competition in the Festival, spice up the Hilachas, and start mentally interior designing the new house!
Hasta Proxima Domingo, amigos!
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