Just yesterday, Zach was asking what is your favorite viewing spot of the Antigua Guatemala area? Well, I don’t have just one. Obviously I like the views from Cerro de la Cruz, Finca Filadelfia and Santo Domingo del Cerro. Nevertheless, I finding the views from the road that takes you to El Hato village quite refreshing and unique. Today’s panoramic vista of Finca Filadelfia for instance even took by surprise the general manager of Finca Filadelfia who jokingly said I must have taken it from the air.

Anyway, once again AntiguaDailyPhoto is participating in the monthly theme day organized by the Daily Photo community which has decided to have as theme for August 1, postcard-worthy images. I believe this panoramic vista of Finca Filadelfia, a renown coffee plantation located on the outskirts of Antigua Guatemala is postcard-worthy, don’t you agree?

Click here to view thumbnails for all participants.

Flying through the air you can see all through the valley at Antigua Canopy Tours which is located at Finca Filadelfia. Seven zip-lines, and the longest being 715 ft on the Cannon tour. The view is breath taking. It is a great way to experience the vast scenery.

If you want see everything that is available at Antigua Canopy Tours, please, read all the posts published about the subject by Laura McNamara in AntiguaDailyPhoto.com. There are over 12 posts covering the Antigua Canopy Tours from every possible angle.

What is your favorite viewing spot of the Antigua Guatemala area?

text and photo by Zach Olson.

On sundays there is a restaurant open on the top of the mountain within Finca Filadelfia. The food is delicious, and the majestic view will captivate you for hours. If you haven’t taken the time to visit this restaurant you need to schedule it for this sunday! Your life isn’t complete until you’ve visited this restaurant. All the food is wood fire cooked, and tastes as fresh as if you grew it yourself. The ride up and down is bumpy, but worth it. I wish we could go there everyday, it is that breathtaking.

text and photo by Zach Olson.

About Guest Contributor: Zach Olson is a Photographer from the Dallas Texas area. He enjoys shooting all types of photography, capturing a single moment that explains and entire event or emotion.

Perhaps it is the fact that La Antigua Guatemala is surrounded by so many coffee plantations and fincas (farms) as well as protected areas that birdwatching does not require far away trips. In fact, just go to a park or restaurant with trees to be able to watch birds. The bird above was capture from the window of the Duane Carter Library, La Biblioteca as we call it, located on Portal de las Panaderas, above G&T bank, right across from Parque Central.

Of course, if you want to watch birds as well as enjoy the quiet and peace of the highland forest around Antigua Guatemala, contact Filadelfia Resort and Tours where you can do birdwatching and canopy tours as well as coffee tours. Filadelfia Resort and Tours is located in San Felipe de Jesús, a village about three kilometers from La Antigua Guatemala, but with access to protected forest land with lots of bird tweeting.

By the way, does anybody know the name and species of the bird in the picture above?

The restaurant located on the best spot of Santo Domingo del Cerro goes by the name of Tenedor del Cerro. The views from this restaurant are simply breath-taking, especially during the dry season when you can see all three volcanoes hugging the Panchoy valley. Next to the restaurant there are a couple of terraces with magnificent views; plataformas they call them and there are many tables and lounge chair for you to sip a hot cup of coffee or cool down with Moza or Cabro as well as your favorite cocktail.

I recommend a visit to Santo Domingo del Cerro as well as Cerro de La Cruz and Finca Filadelfia to get the best panoramic vistas from the quincentennial colonial town of Santiago de Guatemala, also known as La Antigua Guatemala.

Coffee spawns a new industry around Antigua Guatemala: Coffee tours. It was only a matter of time before the coffee plantations open their doors to tourists interested in learning about the worlds favorite drink. Off course, coffee tours was only the beginning and soon enough the coffee plantations started offering horse and mule rides, bike rides, mountain trails, coffee tasting, birding and canopy tours.

What’s next? Probably photo tours to take advantage of all the photographic opportunities inside the coffee plantations. Check out the photographs captured by members of the Club Fotográfico de Antigua (Antigua’s Photo Club) in a recent photo tour inside Finca Filadelfia, which became a photo exhibition entitled Con sabor y aroma a café shown in La Antigua and in Guatemala City. Con sabor y aroma a café was even covered by Guatemala’s national news networks.

Saturday, September 25, 2010 was the successful inauguration of the photo exhibition “Con sabor y aroma a café” by the members of the Club Fotográfico de Antigua. This is the second photo exhibit by Antigua’s Photo Club in less than a year. The first exhibition was held las November 2009 at Las Capuchinas ruins.

In many respects, the Con sabor y aroma a café exhibit was a major improvement in comparison with last year exhibition. For one, the exhibit had one central theme: Coffee. Secondly, the printing and matte mounting were of higher quality. Third, the photographs are being exhibited in a real coffee mill (beneficio de café) which adds a true coffee ambience to the show. Fourth, more people were involved in the process of setting up the photo exhibition. Lastly, on opening day five photographs were purchased.

If you are or will be in La Antigua Guatemala next week, don’t miss the chance to stop by Finca Filadelfia to check out and support the photo club through the purchase of high quality photographs.

I want to live on Calle de la Tostaduría. Do you know why?

Club Fotográfico de Antigua Photo Exhibition: Once again I have the pleasure of inviting you to the photo exhibit “Con sabor y aroma a café” which will open on Saturday 25 at 8 am and will be on display until October 9. El Club Fotográfico de Antigua Guatemala tiene el honor de invitarle a la exposición fotográfica: «Con sabor y aroma a café» del 25 de septiembre al 8 de octubre de 8 a 17 horas. Exposición y venta en Finca Filadelfia, La Antigua Guatemala (150 mts norte de la iglesia de San Felipe).

The Guatemalan antiriot police unit provided me with much needed images for my photographic bank. This in particular turned out to work very well in black and white. I might even put back a touch of blue color on the flags and police emblem. What do you think?

Club Fotográfico de Antigua Photo Exhibition: Once again I have the pleasure of inviting you to the photo exhibit “Con sabor y aroma a café” which will open tomorrow, Saturday 25 at 8 am and will be on display until October 9. El Club Fotográfico de Antigua Guatemala tiene el honor de invitarle a la exposición fotográfica: «Con sabor y aroma a café» del 25 de septiembre al 8 de octubre de 8 a 17 horas. Exposición y venta en Finca Filadelfia, La Antigua Guatemala (150 mts norte de la iglesia de San Felipe).

I found this bouquet near the juice bar at the breakfast buffet in Finca Filadelfia. It looks like a creative chef and his knife turn some classic Guatemalan vegetables into gorgeous and edible bouquet. I especially like the cucumber and beat flowers; how about you?

Among the zillion things you can do inside Finca Filadelfia, you can also have breakfast and lunch buffets on the weekends. This is something to try on a weekend before you take the coffee, mule or canopy tours.

I am thinking we should be compiling a list of the things one must do in and around Antigua Guatemala. Will you guys help me with ideas and things for the list? Let’s make the most comprehensive list possible.

Today I took a photo tour with other members of Club Fotográfico de Antigua inside Finca Filadelfia. The idea behind the tour was to capture new coffee images for a photo exhibit event as part of Festival en Finca Filadelfia con sabor a café on September 25.

The whole tour was an eye opener to say the least and I learned a lot about coffee as well as I had a great time with fellow photographers and club members. This image was captured as two coffee pickers were leaving after having performed the harvesting of coffee berries for our benefit.

Guatemala landslides aside: Elsewhere in Guatemala, landslides kill dozens as a result of the heavy rains. Once again, Guatemala suffers the effects of torrential rains. A massive landslide buried a crowd trying to dig out a bus from deep mud on Sunday, killing at least 22 people, with dozens more feared dead, as torrential rains battered Guatemala. Somehow, it seems that Guatemala has received much more rains than what it’s capable of absorbing and the entire country is falling apart. The news headlines about Guatemala will increase in the next few days as the emergency workers continue to dig out all the victims. “More than 30 separate landslides cut the Inter-American Highway, one of Guatemala’s main roads, within a single 30-mile (50-km) stretch…” Read Router’s Guatemala landslides kill dozens, toll seen rising to get an overview of the natural disasters.

How can one find beauty in such a rustic forged metal knocker? I don’t know, but the instant I saw it I knew I had to add it to my door knocker collection. I found this door knocker in Finca Filadelfia; look for it next time you visit La Antigua Guatemala.

Don’t ask me, but how did the venerable utilitarian pila (water tank) and lavadero (washbasin) became decorations elements or design accents?

In The Venerable Colonial Pila is Now Used as Decoration I introduced you to the washbasins and water tank inside McCafé in La Antigua Guatemala with the following words:

What’s a pila (pee-lah), I hear you ask? simple, the omnipresent pila guatemalteca is basically a water tank and one or two sinks or washbasins for doing dishes and washing the clothes. You have seen a colonial-styled pila before as part of La Casa Antigüeña series and you have also recently seen the public washbasins. So you now know how pilas are basically smaller versions of the public washbasins and water tanks, right?

I bet you never thought a colonial utilitarian washbasin and water tank could be used as decoration for a upscale, hi-tech wireless internet, coffee shop. I think it works and it does especially well, since the water is running all the time between the main two water compartments and adds a wonderful relaxing sound.

In Water Tanks and Colonial Style Social Networks I mentioned that “as in colonial times, these public water tanks and washbasins serve as the places for doing the laundry and for water distribution. Furthermore, public laundry washbasins (sometimes rivers or lake shores) serve as the gathering place for news, gossip and community building through the interactions that take place. Public washbasins could be considered the first news broadcasting sites or social networks such as Facebook or Twitter; computers are not required. In many places in Guatemala this stills holds true.”

In Colonial Washbasins from Guatemala I showed you how the washbasins and water tanks are often the central piece to decorate an inside patio in colonial homes.

Today’s entry showcases the pila and lavaderos right next to Cafetenango restaurant inside Finca Filadelfia. Looking at main photo above I am thinking I should have captured a video clip a few seconds of the running water and resulting sound. I have to keep a thread around my finger to remember to capture more videos, as my dear friend Kara Andrade has rightly recommended to me. Oops, sorry!

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Slowly but surely recycling is becoming a reality in Antigua Guatemala.

Can anybody explain me what is the Guatemalan fascination with toneles (barrels)?