The Red and the Black - El Rojo y El Negro

Rojo y Negro Hormigas!   (ants)

Oh my word, working in the garden certainly has its own rewards, except that my neighbour has today thinned out the hedge separating his garden from mine and I feel exposed!  No more naked weeding!   (I joke!)

I have removed and remodelled part of the garden which will be my nursery and vegetable garden, this involved much pulling up of weeds and I have started to construct a “natural” fence in order to hide the what was a work area for the gardener.  I have also found the most wonderful garden centre the plants are relatively expensive but the addition of a few hanging baskets of exotic flowers has brightened up the terrace no end.

I was wearing rubber gloved and tried to remember to tuck my trousers into my socks, but the area was/is full of ants. There are little tiny red ants that bite and their bite stings like crazy.  Especially when you plunge your hand by mistake into a nest of these blighters and then find that your glove has a hole in it!  And after about half an hour the only thing to do is to run to the door strip and run into the shower in the hope that I can remove the little devils and gain some relief from the pain!

The much (MUCH!) bigger black ants seem on first meeting to be more amiable provided you don’t interfere with the leaf moving, it is so strange to stand watch a leaf moving across the grass, on investigation there will be small team of ants some lifting and couple seemingly giving instructions.  I kicked an old advocado shell across the  lawn the other day and out poured about 200 of these fellows, they were not happy!  A strategic withdrawal was required.  And I do not know if a these guys bite and hope I don’t have to find out!

Rojo y Negro Tamales!

Christmas and New Year and any family occasion is normally celebrated here buy the production of Red and Black Tamales.   I got acquainted with these lovely comestibles at a party on Boxing Day they were served along with Porto Rican red beans and rice  and a potato salad.

So what are they?   Tamales are a traditional Latin American dish made of maize flour dough, usually corn-based), which is steamed or boiled in a banana leaf wrapper. The wrapping is discarded before eating. Tamales can themselves be filled with meats, cheese, fruits, vegetables, chilies or any preparation according to taste, and both the filling and the cooking liquid may be seasoned.

Tamales have been traced back to the Ancient Mayans, who prepared them for feasts as early as the Preclassic period (1200-250 BC). 

The house of the little grandmothers

The Red and Black Tamales

 

In Guatemala these are the absolute must at Christmas and New Year the red being filled along with the masa with chicken, capers, olives, chillies and all in a red chilli paste!  The black being filled with chicken, raisins, sultanas, cherries, prunes and lots of sugar to make a dark paste plus the obligatory chillies. Mmmmmmmm!

Except that tamales at the fiesta were not chicken but Salmon!  And they tasted fantastic. Sadly many people in Guatemala simply cannot afford to either make or buy them.  I bought 3 red and 3 black for New Year and it cost me Q.75 making them about £1.10 each, or for some people almost a days wages!

Rojo y Negro Serpentes!

OK ....... "If red touches yellow, you're a dead fellow; if red touches black, you're all right, Jack" ..................

Just encountered my first reminder that I am gardening in the tropics! And suddenly I spot a tail~ red and balck bands definately belonging to a snake! A strategic withdrawal ~ armed with alonghandled how I gave the taila poke and found that the "snake" was fortunately long dead but it was in a border I was clearing, and a friend has told me that there will certainly be some in what was a compost heap! My dead "friend" is now hanging in a tree ~ a grim reminder to his relatives! But as the red bands touched black bands it was only a harmless milk snake! Had their been a yellow band it would have been a very venomous coral snake!

After much research on the net I decided to play it safe in future and proceed with caution! 

The good news “hissing sid” turned out to be a long abandoned toy, made of wood!  But I am still not taking any chances in future as this is the time of year according to Mayan tradition for snakes to be on the move!

 

And finally ……

I got news today that my investments have paid me a dividend of around £85 so I went out and bought a camera to replace the one that was stolen!   Did some negotiating and got the price reduced from Q1300 to Q1050 and including a 2GB memory disk! I made up the difference (£12) by having a meat free week! Happy bunny!

 Next blog with my own photos!  

It has occured to me that if you areregistered with this blog you should easily be able to "post comments"  ~ but there are non!   Maybe re-registering will do the trick ~ would love to know what you think about my whitterings!

Hasta Luego Amigos!   (Soon)

Feliz Navidad!

(Best viewed from the website  click title above to go there!)

Christmas Eve Antigua - 1979 - Dance of the Gigantes!

Its Christmas Eve 8:20am I've done my final shopping and am looking forward to two days in the garden – my final shopping included wire cutters, small hooks and a very tough looking pair of gardening gloves and I plan to wear rubber gloves underneath as where I plan to go today is full of fire ants!

Here people will work until evening, then party and visit friends, some will go to midnight mass and then at 1am tomorrow consume the Christmas meal!  (YES 1 am not 1 pm!)  Most will then go to bed the worse for wear and not get up until the afternoon tomorrow!  So December 25^th is pretty much a wash-out! Everything happens Christmas Eve night. As it happens I have justinvited a friend to have a Christmas day meal with me tommorow evening -so have put up my twinkly lights on the patio and bought some candles!

The same dance 2010

Presents are distributed before the meal today, also.  In the streets this afternoon will be the “Dance of the Gigantes”  …… “Late afternoon of Christmas eve sees the Dance of the Giants. Los Gigantes, some dressed like the three kings, others just rocking gaudy finery, dance around the main streets on stilts. Marimba music sets the tone as holidayers join in or just tap a toe while they watch the cheery mad procession. Later, folks gather with family, with many attending church, eat a holiday spread and then open a modest selection of presents. At midnight there is a massive display of fireworks in the main “parquet central” that tilts the town with the sheer ooh and ahh of it all.”

So guess I will be ooh-ing and ahh-ing if I am not arghhhh-ing with back-ache from the gardening! But being only four blocks from the main square will probably be able to see it all from the comfort of my patio!  The people here are actually “firework mad” I have watched displays of fireworks every night since December 7 (Devil Burning) and expect that they will continue every night until the Feast of the Kings on Jan 6.

Although I plan to be alone this Christmas (that just changed!), I have a Guatemalan friend visiting from Monday – Thursday next week – he will be here for another “bonkers” local custom the Day of the Innocents (December 28^th)  again I quote from a helpful website “Okay, this isn't really a festival. Instead, it's a day of fun and mayhem Guate style. It can sort of be likened to April Fool's Day, but with a harder edge. Instead of playing lame and harmless pranks, people will do things like phone a friend to say in the most serious and excited tones that her husband has been in an accident and is in the hospital. Or how about this knee-slapper: I feel I have to tell you that your husband is having and affair and you're the last to know. Or how about this one: I have a wasting disease and I wanted you to be the first to know. If the person swallows the story then the taunt of "innocente" follows. One hopes all is forgiven by New Year's eve. …. “  Makes the Dimbleby Spaghetti Tree rather tame.  An interesting idea of a joke!

This picture is "Jocón de Pollo" just change the Chicken for Pork!

I also have gone a  little crazy I burst my food budget by Q.200 (£17)and have splashed out  on the finest pork loin  (£1.25 per lb!) with which I will cook “Jocón” (pronounced Hock-on)a pork cooked in a sauce of coriander and tomatillos, sesame and pumpkin seeds, served with rice and a local vegetable that looks like a giant bright green pear!(Hope my guest enjoys it!)

I have also bought Cemitas - an aniseed, wholemeal cake/bread – great with coffee – and at great expense  £3 the local Christmas Cake which I am assured is full of fruit! It looks like around version of farmhouse fruit cake!

So along with some Chilean wine at £2 a bottle (well several bottles actually) I am all set. I will start Christmas day with a tradition breakfast of  fried plantains, sausages, scrambles eggs, rolls and refried beans!    Mmmm can’t wait.

The shower packed up this week, the element went so a new shower was fitted, these showers cost a maximum of £10 and are incredible – hot water in 5 seconds!  I was a little worried when the guy who came to change the unit didn’t bother to switch off either the water or the electricity!   At the moment when I thought danger really was looming I went for a stroll in the garden – so that he could concentrate! There are reasons the showers are called “Widow makers!”

Just found out that there is a “basura” war going on!  (Basura = Rubbish)  Disafordunadamente (hope you remember my favourite Spanish word!) I have paid the rival company for the removal of my rubbish, much to the upset of the contracted collector.  And I have paid the others in advance when I should only pay monthly in arrears!  So have just had an interesting chat in Spanish with my “collector” to ensure a strategy that enables him to collect my rubbish and to thwart the rivals!  Life is so exciting here!

The electricity meters are displayed on the front wall of every property and once a month during the night they are read and using a hand held machine the bill is produced and put in your letter box – the bill can be paid in any bank and you have a month to pay!  My bill was a shocking Q.100.03 (£9.50!) I really must stop enjoying those long showers!  I had budgeted for Q.250 so am a happy bunny!

Christmas Meal in a Simple Guatemalan home!

Finally,  may I wish you all a very Happy Christmas, I hope you are enjoying my blog.

Next week, a review of the year …………

FELIZ NAVIDAD!

The Virgin, the Robber and the Condicional!

It’s six-thirty on Sunday morning and here I am writing my weekly blog to quote Victor Meldrew “I simply cannot believe it” this time next week and it will be Christmas Day!   Yes, there are decorations in the shops, fairy lights a go-go, all imported from China, and yes, I have bought two lots of lights to put up on my covered patio probably as a permanent feature, but that will be it.  As Christmas day is a Sunday life here will go as usual, the shops and offices will be open for business as usual on Monday. I am going to try to make “Pepían” as my Christmas meal, 100% Guatemalan and of Antigua!  (details later).

It is great that I can get the BBC, “The world at one” though I might have to write to the Beeb informing them that for some of us it is the World at 7am!

It is easy to forget that Antigua is a privileged place, during the 36 years of the Civil War (1960 – 1996) the status of Antigua as the centre for tourism meant it escaped pretty much unscathed from the brutal onslaughts elsewhere. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guatemalan_Civil_War)  Today, the rich live here or close by and it is remarkable the number of helicopters that leave in the morning and return in the evening taking CEOs to their offices in Guatemala City. So the city is rich people, retired people and tourists, serviced by hotels, restaurants, art galleries, cafes and cultural activities. It is only when you go to the “Mercado” that it really hits you that Antigua is also the capital of a mainly poor and rural state, mingling with the mainly Mayan local people as they buy/sell and bargain for vegetables, fruits, spices, household items, clothes and white goods.

The people are paid every two weeks around the 15^th and 30^th or each month and in December on the 15^th everybody gets a bonus of double pay! The money is paid into the banks and it seems the entire population then queues to remove every last Quetzal from the bank. The banks stay open until 9pm on the pay day Fridays and open at 7am on the Saturday.  As a consequence it is also a bonanza time for “Los Ladrones”  robbers and pick pockets!  Antigua is a magnet in any case, and I take the precaution of never carrying my bank cards, cash is distributed between about five pockets and my wallet virtually empty!   

 

Disafordunadamente, sadly and stupidly(?) I was taking pictures in the Mercado for the blog on Thursday and arrived home minus my camera! I wanted to show just how crowded it was, you could hardly move…… I only hope somebody else is enjoying my pictures! So, like my wallet my pocket was also empty!

On to happier matters.......

Tuesday was the Feast of the Virgin of Guadelupe (Mexico) however, it is very much celebrated by some people here and there was a festival at the Merced Church. Families create colourful children focused “shrines” – (photo booths) and the charge 10Q. for you to pose in front of their Shrine. Children dress up in traditional costumes but as adults – the boys complete with painted on moustaches! The day ends with a procession of the children around the town.  In Mexico this day marks the start of Christmas Festivities ….  It is “odd” to be in such a religiously focused society with all the feast days celebrated with gusto, fireworks and a procession of two complete with marching bands!   I need to explore what the Mayan communities do at this time.

Meanwhile back on “Volcan Española” – this weeks little surprise include the fact that you can express a doubt about something that happened in the past with a single form of word ending! For example; “ …..regresaría ……?”  implies that  “I wondered when somebody returned.”  

Fortunately, we have reached a plateau and the next two or three weeks will be spent bedding in all I have studied so far and only in the new year will I tackle the all important “Subjunctive”, “commands” and other little treats!

I am taking a weeks break from lessons between Christmas and the New Year in order to do my own revision and hopefully travel up to Lake Atitlan.

I expect the garden will be the focus of my attention for the next two or three weeks I am busily splitting plants in the “tropical garden” and also clearing the area for the vegetable garden it is great fun even if I do in the process provide a free lunch for a myriad of insects!

Ok, I have not actually seen one of these in my garden but they are so amazing!  The Guatemalan Harlequin Beetle!  Instead I have ants the size of small mice carting leaves around the garden in procession!

An interesting tradition.....

Finally, a nice little tradition here “Guatemalan Worry Dolls” these little dolls are told one’s worries at night and then placed under the pillow, they worry whilst you sleep! These dolls are now increasingly used by psychologists working with children to resolves family problems. More details here (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worry_doll)

This week also marks the end of the CasaSito year the newsletter can be read here:

(http://www.casasito.org/html%20ingles/noticiasingles.html)

This week I have to research Pepían and a couple of other traditional recipes for Christmastide in Guatemala. 

I really do hope the weather is not too bad as you do battle with the shops, the crowds and the sheer hell of the pre-Christmas rush!  Salud!

Hasta La Navidad, amigos!

My garden, my house, and the Day of the Devil ……………

(Videos only available if you vie the blog within the blog website!  Click title of blog to go the the website!)

Some formatting problems this week, apologies in advance ~ I am totally in the hands of Google ~ and like so many "user friendly" programmes one IT decides what you want trying to change things just makes matters worse!

Hola!

My garden, my house, and the  Day of the Devil ……………

Finally I found a cyber café with a reasonably strong signal so I could upload my videos ~ so I have learned keep the videos short (in future)……

So, I have been in my little yellow house ~ mi piquita casa amarilla (PCA) ~ for 10 days and am loving it. A friend has helped me to rearrange the furniture and apart from an internal repaint I have the place pretty much right for me. Though I had hoped to get the sofa indoors, though everybody says that once this slightly cold spell has passed, I will be thankful of somewhere comfortable to sit outside!

Bought some gardening tools and have started splitting the vast numbers of irises and bromeliads. And I bought a large spade to start work in what will be the vegetable garden.  I shall have the time for this as there is little happening at CasaSito for the next month before things kick off at the end of January.

Getting re-used to the idea of washing the dishes in cold water using specially formulated washing powder, the only source of hot water I have in the house is the shower unit powered by a “widow maker”  basically a unit containing an electric coil that heats up as soon as a water flow is detected – clever!  The widow maker comes from the fact that many people fail to keep them maintained and the combination of electricity and water and a naked body standing under the unit……..

This week I have had new security lights in the garden the TV now boasts 102 channels of mainly dubbed rubbish no BBC L but very useful for improving the Spanish.

The big event of the week was ……..

“The day of the Devil”

Street food was in abundance for the Fiesta which actually goes on for three days, the main place itis celebrated is the  Ciudad Vieja, with Antigua running a close second.

The "Virgin" with an interesting black angel .....

The Devil getting ready to go out with a bang!

Well, it felt like we were all attending a medieval witch burning, much shouting and clapping as bits of the devil fell off in a burst of sparks and flames, but the Feast of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Dec 8) would not be complete without the ritual devil burning the evening before!

Just about all of Antigua turned out for this, TV cameras the lot!    

All ready and waiting for the 6 o’clock sharp immolation! 

At around 5.50 one of the good burghers of Antigua dressed in 18th Century costume gave a diverting speech 

about the significance of the ceremony and after much laughter, suddenly it all started! 

Mephistopheles was absolutely packed with fire crackers and he was turned to ask in under 5 minutes! 

But why, WHY I hear you cry …… well, here’s the official line….. 

All year long he hides under the bed or in the junk piled up in the corner, casting misfortune or worse on helpless mortals. But on Wednesday, December 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 of the Devil), a tradition in many Guatemalan towns that literally sparks the beginning of the Christmas Season.

The origins of the Quema del Diablo in Guatemala can be traced to colonial times, when the well-to-do adorned the fronts of their homes with elaborate lanterns on the eve of the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, explains historian Miguel Álvarez Arévalo. Unable to afford lanterns, poor denizens instead lit bonfires made of kindling and the trash from their homes. The practice over time evolved into the Quema del Diablo.

How the Devil entered the picture is the subject of some debate, according to eminent historian Celso A. Lara Figueroa. One account claims that the sermons of priests describing how the Virgin of the Immaculate Conception squashed the head of the Devil established the link. What is clear, however, is that the fires, viewed in many cultures as having a purifying effect, came to symbolize the triumph of Good over Evil.

It’s a crazy day people dressed as the devil , playing silly jokes, like wishing everybody they meet in the 

street “Feliz Compleaños” (Happy Birthday), people try to wear red in “honour” of the devil, I sported a 

red tee shirt!  I didn’t need to play silly jokes as my Spanish lesson contains enough to laugh about!  

This all took place 200 yards from my Casa as it is held outside the Ruins of the Convent of the Immaculate 

Conception – except this year they moved up the road a bit as they finally realised that lighting a huge bonfire 

25 yards in front of petrol station was probably not a clever idea!

Anyways it was a great way to spend an hour, I had invited Jacob (USA) and Marion (Germany) two people 

staying a the CasaSito volunteers house round to my “little yellow house”  for dinner so the evening 

was very jolly.

Sadly we missed the Dance of the Devils in which a lunatic wears a frame packed with firecrakers

amd runs round the streets scaring the "life" out of people!  This has to be one of the craziest 

dances of the world.

Have a friend staying for the weekend, so Sunday (today) we plan to play tourists and to visit some of the sights!

Oh yes, the bad news is Advocado tree has an infection, and I am advised to get it fumigated at some point 

in time, the good news is, that the insects causing the problem mean the tree is visited by a vast array of 

beautiful birds looking for a free lunch!

Tody Flycatcher

Barred Antshrike

Mourning Dove

Becard 

Hasta una semana, amigos!

The Third Festival de Artes – PART two of this weeks blog!

Sorry but the videos will appear next week! ......   I need to find a cyber cafe with a good strong connection!

The poster I helped to design!

What a day!   Preparations had been going on all of last week. I was in charge of the art and sculpture exhibition.  Entries were arriving to the office/volunteers house all week and had to be sorted into categories and then a plan devises for hanging the pictures on large panels at the Cooperación Española on the evening before.

I was also in charge of buying all the prizes, which consisted of various art materials. So ably assisted by two young “interns” – two girls doing a months experience with CasaSito as part of their secretarial diploma – fortunately one of them was doing a bilingual course, so when we went to the Bodegona to buy all the prizes she was able to act as interpreter!

Well in order to cut a long story down to size,  it took three hours on the Friday evening and a further two early Saturday morning to get the exhibition ready for a 10 o’clock start – outside the building Paulo and a crowd of volunteers set up the various stalls, interactive activities and the stage. 

Suffice it to say the day went off without a hitch, except that two of my three judges, simply decide to go off for coffee, without telling the third judge and went AWOL for an hour and a half!  It was only when they got back that it dawned on them that the task was no easy matter – anyways after some time I got my list of 16 winners.

The day was a huge success as you can see from the attached pictures – the standard of art was in some cases extremely high!   The three best in show pictures came with a scholarship for the artists to spend a year being taught by professional artists, as a potential start to a career!

Aside from the exhibition I met many retired “gringos” (Americans) who all live in Antigua basically for the same reasons as me – 1. a little money goes a long way, 2. to volunteer and 3. to enjoy the pleasant climate!

By the end of the day I really felt a part of the CasaSito extended family! And look forward to making areal contribution when the new year starts at the end of January.

~~~~~~

Oh yes, I was shopping for bits and pieces for “my little yellow house”  (mi pequita casa amarilla) and came across a couple of stalls in the market selling plants -  Roses at £1 each and wonderful climbing shrubs at £1.40!  So I think a Rose bed is in order, together with some climbing plants up the supports for my patio (apparently a terrace is the name given to a patio on a higher level than ground level!) …….

This week I am enjoying the fact that after my lessons my day is free to do my homework in the garden and to try and find a way to upload my videos now I am no longer on Broad(ish)band!

Enjoy the pictures of my garden, the house and the ARTS Festival.

Hasta luego. Amigos  (After sometime!)