Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Videos of Guatemala

Someone on the adoption forum posted some videos she found on YouTube. As I was watching them, and remembering how much I loved it there, I thought that maybe you guys would like to see them also. The first one is of Antigua. Antigua is the oldest city in Central America and it used to be the capital of Guatemala.
Disclaimer: You may want to turn down the sound on your computer. Since I speak very little Spanish, I'm not holding myself responsible for any of the lyrics or things said in these videos.

You will see the inside and outside of a beautiful, pale-yellow church. Here is a little information about the church that I found on the internet:

La Merced
The original church of La Merced was built between 1543 and 1546. But was reconstructed and renovated several times after being destroyed by a series of earthquakes. La Merced as it stands today was completed in 1767 and is an excellent example of the baroque style that was dominant in Antigua in the 18th century. Some repairs to the church were made in the 1850s. Next to the church are the ruins of the convent. In its central courtyard, the largest fountain in Guatemala can be found. It was build in the 18th century and measures 27 meters in diameter.







This second video is of the town where Andrew was born: Mazatenango. Again, I found this on YouTube. It's basically two people on a scooter as they ride through the town. Andrew's birth family is not from this town, but they are from one very close-by. It is not a tourist area, though, and I don't think that there are many pictures of it to be found.
Edited to say: The people on the scooter are a boy and a girl. The boy took the video and wrote the song that is in the background. The song is called Bonita y Bella and so I originally thought it was two girls on the scooter.
The original poster of the video commented about Mazetenango and Suchitepequez, with some interesting information about the area.




7 comments:

  1. the person who made this video was my nephew and girl friend riding in a scooter. but not 2 girls and they are not flirting with the boys, he just want to show how realy is the people out there

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  2. Sorry. Didn't mean to offend anyone. The video was called Bonita and Bella and I assumed it was two girls. Sorry about that.

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  3. WELL LOOK IF YOU DIN'T READ THE INTRODUCTION IN SPANISH, BONITA Y BELLA IS THE NAME OF THE SONG MY NEPHEW WROTE AND HE USED TO IN THE BACKGROUND.

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  4. WELL MAZATENANGO IS THE CITY BUT THE WHOLE DEPARTAMENTO (STATE) IS SUCHITEPEQUEZ, AND MAKE OF THE 50% OF THE RAISING CATTLE, WE PROVIDED THE 70% OF THE MEAT TO THE COUNTRY, WE HAVE THE MAJOR COFFE PLANTATIONS, SUGAR CANE PLANTATIONS, FRUITS PLANTATIONS, WHO NEED TOURIST.?
    WE DON'T.

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  5. Anonnymous---thank you for correcting my mistakes. I did not mean to offend you or your nephew. As I said on my blog, I read/speak very little Spanish and was not able to read the intro to your video.
    I also grew up in a tourist area and I understand not wanting them around! :)
    What I should have said is that I have heard that Mazetenango and the state of Suchitepequez are beautiful and I wish there were more pictures of them available. If you have more that you would like to share, I would LOVE to see them.
    Your nephew's song is beautiful. I wish that I was able to understand the words. I will ask a friend to translate it for me. Thank you for sharing his video on YouTube for the rest of us to see.

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  6. SORRY IF I SOUND TO RUDE, I JUST WANT TO EXPLAINIG TO YOU A LITTLE BIT ABOUT THE ZONE WHERE I COME FROM, AND LET ME SEE WHAT I CAN DO ABOUT PICTURES, I HAVE SOME PICTURES OF MAZATE AND OF COURSE I WILL SHARE THE PICS WITH YOU.
    THIS IS MY EMAIL AND MY NAME IS ALFONSO.

    CDSUCHI@YAHOO.COM

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  7. Ruthanne, I loved those videos. I especially liked the one you made. What is the name of that song you chose? I also liked that song on the second video. I hope that we can do some traveling on our next trip to Guatemala. I would love to go to Shay's birth city, Coatepeque. I'm sure that we'll be keeping it close to GC though. Thanks for those!

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