tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-63687104855858177602019-08-11T16:21:57.195-06:00News and happenings in Guatemala.<br><b>Comments are Welcome!</b>ShutterSparks / KW2Phttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18439661823512170380noreply@blogger.comBlogger25125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6368710485585817760.post-1052127065835259872013-09-15T10:22:00.000-06:002013-09-15T10:22:53.337-06:00

ShutterSparks / KW2Phttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18439661823512170380noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6368710485585817760.post-767891749315500092010-09-15T19:26:00.000-06:002010-09-15T19:26:48.213-06:00

All across Guatemala today we celebrated the independence of Central America from Spain, 189 years ago.  Yesterday the country was criss-crossed by thousands of runners carrying torches for long distances.  Preparations began early this morning for parades and ceremonies at local schools. Here is a set of photos of the parade and festivities in La Libertad, a small aldea a few miles north of Rio

ShutterSparks / KW2Phttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18439661823512170380noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6368710485585817760.post-38573903797157171652010-09-13T15:52:00.001-06:002010-09-13T15:52:04.725-06:00

Sunset at Punta Caimanes - DSCF7446, originally uploaded by ShutterSparks.With all the trouble that rainy season brings, it also brings scenes like this one.

ShutterSparks / KW2Phttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18439661823512170380noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6368710485585817760.post-26591399837628408162010-09-03T15:06:00.000-06:002010-09-03T15:07:27.422-06:00

1) The empty Coke bottles on your porch are full of water.2) A rainbow-colored stain on the water where your dinghy used to be.3) Concrete walkways are dark green or black instead of white.4) Boaters stop complaining about getting "dinghy-butt".5) The parking lot entrance is now the boat launching ramp.

ShutterSparks / KW2Phttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18439661823512170380noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6368710485585817760.post-298036825156181632010-07-26T11:56:00.001-06:002010-07-26T11:58:22.121-06:00

ShutterSparks / KW2Phttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18439661823512170380noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6368710485585817760.post-14914371532452947532010-07-24T15:05:00.001-06:002010-07-24T15:07:09.201-06:00

ShutterSparks / KW2Phttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18439661823512170380noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6368710485585817760.post-54331613232749371292010-07-22T16:51:00.002-06:002010-07-22T16:54:16.539-06:00

ShutterSparks / KW2Phttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18439661823512170380noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6368710485585817760.post-34841918934766366472010-06-21T16:53:00.005-06:002010-06-21T17:07:01.574-06:00

The preceding article here discusses the causes of the big sinkhole that opened up on Zone 2 in Guatemala City and the probability that more such underground caverns exist. Lest there be any doubt, here's another view of the Zone 2 sinkhole and another in Zone 6 that recently occurred.How would you like to wake up to this in your living room?Sinkhole Guatemala, originally uploaded by

ShutterSparks / KW2Phttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18439661823512170380noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6368710485585817760.post-64827140340925366522010-06-20T11:44:00.004-06:002010-06-30T11:42:39.408-06:00

It made world news when a giant sinkhole opened up in Guatemala City during Tropical Storm Agatha. It swallowed a multi-storey apartment building and several homes. This spectacular photo of the hole circulated for days on the Internet:Click the photo to see larger and much larger versions.There has been a lot of discussion since over what may have caused it. Geologists and engineers have been

ShutterSparks / KW2Phttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18439661823512170380noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6368710485585817760.post-7325747171284127172010-05-31T16:36:00.003-06:002010-06-01T09:38:57.250-06:00

Click the photo to see larger and much larger versions.This sinkhole formed in Zone 2 of Guatemala City during tropical storm Agatha. It swallowed a three-story building and eleven homes which are at the bottom of the 180-plus foot deep hole. While this sinkhole formed seemingly as a result of the heavy rains from the tropical storm, the cause is more likely due to years of pumping out of

ShutterSparks / KW2Phttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18439661823512170380noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6368710485585817760.post-73959133971584163242010-05-31T13:17:00.000-06:002010-05-31T13:18:42.662-06:00

INSIVUMEH released a news bulletin a short while ago:Volcan Pacaya began a new eruptive phase this morning with strong Strombolian explosions at approximately one minute intervals, launching ash 500 to 800 meters (1,500 to 2,500 feet) into the air.Where the ash will fall depends on wind direction.

ShutterSparks / KW2Phttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18439661823512170380noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6368710485585817760.post-78943350664964723042010-05-28T11:03:00.004-06:002010-05-29T19:01:49.121-06:00

Here are some good videos of Volcan Pacaya's eruption last night, May 27, 2010:

ShutterSparks / KW2Phttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18439661823512170380noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6368710485585817760.post-87497000012246309092010-05-28T09:05:00.004-06:002010-05-29T19:03:17.329-06:00

Last night (Thursday night, May 27, 2010) Volcan Pacaya had an event at 6:55 PM local time. This morning I've gotten some concerned questions from overseas about Pacaya's eruption.There is no problem, no effects in Eastern Guatemala. The problem is limited to the usual places that get ashfalls when Pacaya has an event, that is the skirts of the volcano itself, parts of Esquintla, Sacatepequez,

ShutterSparks / KW2Phttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18439661823512170380noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6368710485585817760.post-57159640566647420542009-06-07T10:50:00.002-06:002009-06-07T10:55:20.252-06:00

The following is an interesting and unusual story to appear in news about Guatemala:In the New York Times, there is an interesting story about a hydraulic analog computer from 1949 used to model the feedback loops in the economy. According to the article, 'copies of the 'Moniac,' as it became known in the United States, were built and sold to Harvard, Cambridge, Oxford, Ford Motor Company and the

ShutterSparks / KW2Phttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18439661823512170380noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6368710485585817760.post-25621920007541911032009-03-25T06:25:00.001-06:002009-03-25T06:25:00.614-06:00

Several children listed as missing during Guatemala's 1960-1996 civil war were sold in illegal adoptions, the country's social welfare agency records revealed. The director of the government's Peace Archive, Marco Tulio Alvarez, told a press conference in Guatemala City on Monday that during the analysis the archive, officials found a series of irregularities that prove the disappearance of

ShutterSparks / KW2Phttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18439661823512170380noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6368710485585817760.post-52649134610317900402009-03-25T06:20:00.002-06:002009-03-25T06:20:00.230-06:00

Information long hidden in police archives covered with mold and bat droppings could implicate hundreds of former officers accused of killing students and leftists during Guatemala's 36-year civil war, according to human rights activists.Sergio Morales, the Guatemalan government human rights ombudsman, on Tuesday is set to release the first report on the contents of 80 million documents unearthed

ShutterSparks / KW2Phttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18439661823512170380noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6368710485585817760.post-1757437011346933952009-03-19T08:04:00.001-06:002009-03-19T08:04:00.329-06:00

The U.S. government knew that top Guatemalan officials it supported with arms and cash were behind the disappearance of thousands of people during a 36-year civil war, declassified documents obtained by a U.S. research institute show.The National Security Archive, a Washington D.C.-based institute that requests and publishes declassified government documents, obtained diplomatic and intelligence

ShutterSparks / KW2Phttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18439661823512170380noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6368710485585817760.post-23092810618962192992009-03-10T08:33:00.003-06:002009-04-12T21:27:32.696-06:00

A group of archaeologists led by Richard Hansen, who discovered the frieze representing the twin heroes of the Popul Vuh, Hunapú and Ixbalanqué, revealed it to the public on Sunday. The frieze was built about 300 years before Christ in the El Mirador archaeological site, in the north of Petén.Hansen, director of the El Mirador Basin project and who coordinates the group of archaeologists-mostly

ShutterSparks / KW2Phttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18439661823512170380noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6368710485585817760.post-34222291131023784412009-03-07T07:50:00.001-06:002009-03-07T07:50:00.289-06:00

The family of Guatemala's defense minister received death threats after the government promised to open long-sealed military archives that could reveal army abuses during the country's civil war, President Alvaro Colom said on Tuesday.Colom vowed last year to open the archives to allow investigators to scour them for evidence of army-backed massacres during the 1960-1996 conflict between the

ShutterSparks / KW2Phttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18439661823512170380noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6368710485585817760.post-47377475495294363362009-03-07T07:15:00.001-06:002009-03-07T07:15:00.356-06:00

A new government commission will organize and declassify military documents that could shed light on torture, disappearances and other atrocities during Guatemala's 36-year civil war, President Alvaro Colom announced Tuesday.Starting next week, the five-member panel will spend 10 months gathering files from military bases and other institutions, Colom said. Once organized, the documents will be

ShutterSparks / KW2Phttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18439661823512170380noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6368710485585817760.post-36849998904707488012009-03-07T06:15:00.001-06:002009-03-07T06:15:00.329-06:00

The prosecution began the process of investigation to determine what happened to two of the alleged military plans to be submitted to the court for investigation, but that mysteriously disappeared.The investigations were in the Fiscalía de Delitos Administrativos (Office of Administrative Offenses), which is also the complaint filed last week by more than 28 social organizations against Abraham

ShutterSparks / KW2Phttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18439661823512170380noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6368710485585817760.post-81561352097881567662009-02-21T10:42:00.001-06:002009-02-21T10:42:00.402-06:00

Decree 74-2008 went into force on February 20th. The new law prohibits smoking in enclosed spaces, which is defined as any space that is enclosed by walls or covered by a roof. It is only legal to smoke in unenclosed and uncovered spaces."All the ashtrays must be removed from tables because smoking areas go down in history," according to Brenda Aquino, of the Ministerial Anti-Tobacco

ShutterSparks / KW2Phttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18439661823512170380noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6368710485585817760.post-38274447747738698572009-01-24T11:00:00.004-06:002009-01-27T10:34:03.441-06:00

Yesterday a benefit auction for Eco-Rio was held at Mario's Marina. A long list of valuable products and services were donated by local businesses and individuals. The items were auctioned to the highest bidder. A large number of people showed up and a great time was had by all.Eco-Rio is an organization that has been around for a long time in Rio Dulce. Eco-Rio tends to keep a low profile

ShutterSparks / KW2Phttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18439661823512170380noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6368710485585817760.post-27749532324008880322008-04-14T02:30:00.006-06:002009-04-13T20:25:15.949-06:00

Yes, Rio Dulce has an annual fair, complete with thrill rides, kiddy rides, food and candy booths, large portable restaurants, game booths, and portable beer drinking establishments that show videos of Central American and Mexican rodeos (which are considerably rougher and tougher than the U.S. version). The fair takes place each year around Semana Santa (Easter). It officially opened today,

ShutterSparks / KW2Phttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18439661823512170380noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6368710485585817760.post-56439621821469874842008-04-01T16:18:00.004-06:002009-04-12T22:33:39.990-06:00

March 21st was Good Friday (Viernes Santo). It is a day of penance and fasting that is observed throughout Latin America. In Guatemala, the Catholic Church and the cofradias (brotherhoods) mount processions commemorating Christ's Passion. These processions vary from small ones bearing just a crucifix to huge processions with many displays carried by members of the various cofradias. The most

ShutterSparks / KW2Phttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18439661823512170380noreply@blogger.com0