On January 15th, one of Guatemala’s most famous religious holidays takes place: the Día de Esquipulas. National and international pilgrims make their way to the town of Esquipulas to visit the statue of the black Christ of Esquipulas. Many pilgrims traditionally believe that the Christ had been sculpted in black to resemble the dark skin [...]
“If music be the food of love, play on!” Shakespeare’s immortal words always bring to mind the way that music shapes our lives, reflects our emotions and connects people across the world. This New Year’s, I experienced an unexpected brush with Guatemalan culture in the form of music. The sounds of a Guatemalan marching band [...]
In November this year, the Maestros Cien Puntos Prize was awarded to ten Guatemalan teachers in recognition of their outstanding service to education in Guatemala in the Palacio Nacional de la Cultura. Previous winners attended the ceremony along with other education officials and sponsors of the scheme. The award assesses innovation in teaching and the [...]
As I get older, it seems to become more and more difficult every year to hold onto the excitement and wonder that comes as with the Christmas season. Now that I’ve moved hundreds of miles away from home and gotten my own apartment, I’ve lost many of the Christmas traditions of my past. Although, I [...]
“Yes! Same same but different!” If you’ve ever spent time in South East Asia you’ll be familiar with this paradoxical phrase. Everything here is same same but different: the bus ticket that takes you to a destination 100kms away from the place you thought you were heading; the souvenir that’s totally different from the one [...]
The first time I left my home country, I was 19 years old. For me, 19 years seemed an eternity to wait before finally experiencing the thrill of international travel. Ever since childhood, the idea of other countries, cultures, and languages completely fascinated me. I dreamt of the day when I would experience a foreign [...]
The five of us piled into the tatty jeep with our drenched rucksacks piled on top of us and we sat soaked to the bone all the way to the hostel. We had turned up at one of the more common hostels in the area only to find out that they had overbooked, and after [...]
Not so long ago, I wrote about the recently released HDI report and briefly touched upon some of the figures regarding education in Guatemala, which showed that only 15.6% of Guatemala’s female population are educated to at least secondary school level, compared to 21% of males. These figures have played on my mind ever since. [...]
International travel has always been one of the most inspirational and important parts of my life as a student, and now as a professional in international development. Miriam Beard, the daughter of an American suffragette, once said that “travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change that goes on, deep and [...]
2TQRBB4WQQ9F Most people’s view of indigenous life occurs on the other side of a camera or computer screen. When filmmakers and reporters are lucky enough to get a brief glimpse of indigenous communities, they have to tell a story from the outsider’s perspective. Most of the time our filter of developed world only shows us [...]
If Columbus Day gets much attention in the U.S., it’s either because the post office is closed or because the arguments for not observing the day are reopened. The name doesn’t help. Columbus isn’t an easy person to celebrate, considering the great human and cultural loss that resulted from his crew’s landing in the West [...]
Salsa, tango, cumbia are all familiar styles of music in the United States. The tango originated in Argentina, the cumbia came from Colombia, and the salsa started in Cuba. Guatemalan styles of music on the other hand are less well known in the rest of the world. The marimba, a percussion instrument that looks like [...]
The practical need and creative push to talk about all the virtual bits and pieces of new, digital technologies have set off a surge in neologisms. Now making offhanded references to things like blogs and emoticons, we’ve inducted new words into common speech and come up with many more still on the margins of use. [...]
In 1994 the UN declared August 9th the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples. This year’s theme is “Indigenous designs: celebrating stories and cultures, crafting their own future.” The theme highlights the importance of preserving indigenous cultures by celebrating the rich and beautiful forms of indigenous arts. This little known holiday is especially important [...]
Often, art is the fastest and most effective way to change minds and encourage others to reexamine long held beliefs. Artzenico, an experimental theater group based in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala, aims to do just that with their unique and absurdist plays that tackle serious social and political issues. Bonifaz Diaz and Jordi Mollering founded the five [...]
