There is child labor, wars, pollution, crime, murders, drug wars etc. When you think about all these, the world is nothing but a depressing place to be. However, if you just look up to sky, nature still endures human cruelty with its glory. The earth is actually a beautiful place to be as long as we come to the realization that we are a part of it not its governor. Trying to stay in harmony with it could be great, right?
The whole time I lived in Guatemala, I was kind of obsessed with the shiny shoes that indigenous ladies use. It is such a different and remarkable sense of style and fashion. They stick with their traditional trajes and somehow most of them make the clothing even more appealing with these kind of shiny, brightly colored high heels. Personally I probably can’t wear these shoes, however I have to admit that some ladies look gorgeous with them.
By the way this was shot at La Demo market.
In my opinion, one of the most remarkable things about Guatemala is the amount of food coloring used in candies. Even though, I was totally attracted to these saturated colors in the markets, honestly I have never had the guts to taste them. Food coloring creates some health related questions for me.
However, they look so much fun. Candies are almost the same colors as the umbrella. If I were a little girl, I would totally cry for hours to be able to get one of those pink ones, and my mom would just ignore me.
“In 1999, the ILO estimated that 14.6 percent of children between the ages of 10 and 14 in Guatemala were working. Three out of four working children in Guatemala work in rural areas and child labor rates are highest in areas with a large indigenous population. Children work on family farms and helping harvest commercial crops such as coffee and sugarcane. Children are also employed as domestic servants, shoeshine boys, beggars, street performers, construction workers, in the fireworks industry, and in quarries where they chip and carry stones to make gravel.” (For further reading please visit this link.)
In 2009, this number went up to %16.8.
10 years apart, we are still exploiting children who are supposed to be in the classrooms for a better future for themselves and for their country.
I would like to say goodbye to Xela and XelaDailyPhoto with a picture of the street where my life in Xela started and ended.
Due to a job offer that I received from a local newspaper in Costa Rica, I am leaving Guatemala, without completing many plans that I had in mind. Hopefully, sooner or later I will be back and complete a ll the photography projects that I wanted to do in Guatemala.
About five months ago, when I arrived Xela, I spent my first few days at The Black Cat Hostel and then started working there. I kept working even on my last night in Guatemala and took a shuttle from there to come to Mexico. So this street is literally where I started and ended a story. Now it is time to move on for me.
XelaDailyPhoto will be taken over by Josh Bachman, one of our contributors, who will be living in Xela until May.
I wish you all the best!
I have been intending to photograph shoeshine guys for a long time. In Missouri, where I come from, we don’t really have shoeshine guys in the streets. However, in Turkey, where I grew up, we have it. So being miles away from home and seeing these little details is one of those small things that puts a smile on my face with a sense of nostalgia.
This is one of the stops where you take a bus to Almolonga and Zunil. It is located in front of the gas station in La Rotonda. Almolonga is where the hot springs are and Zunil is where you can visit San Simon/Maximón.
This weekend I was honored to meet this amazing person, Mario Anibal González. Mr. González, 84, from Quetzaltenango, is the founder of the University of San Carlos in Quetzaltenango. His grandson, Giovanni González commented that Mr. González is an economist, politician, columnist for La Hora, the author of the municipal law and most importantly a humanist, who is recognized in the country.
Additionally he is the owner of a big library, that he already donated the half of it to public library in Xela and Guatemala City. Currently, where he lives he only has half of his books, which fill a room. Among those, he has books as old as 154 years old.
Bomberos Voluntarios celebrated its 50th anniversary on Sunday morning, with a parade in Xela. Bomberos Voluntarios are capacitated to assist in the cases of fire, rescue and pre-hospitilized situations. You can dial 122 in an emergency situation.
La Rotonda is not really a frequently visited neighborhood by tourists in Xela. However, it is actually quite important as it has a small bus station where you can take the buses to San Andres Xecul Totonicapan, which has this beautiful church, to San Francisco de Los Altos, the town with the big animal market, Salcaja, that has the oldest church in Central America, San Cristobal Totonicapan, that has the second oldest church in Central America (and honestly I think this one is prettier than the oldest one) and most importantly to Cuatro Caminos, where you can do bus transfers to reach your ultimate destination.
p.s: To go to San Cristobal Totonicapan, you need to do a transfer at Cuatro Caminos.
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