Revue Magazine

Rigoberta Menchú, Changing the World

2013-06-18T08:11:41-07:00

Rigoberta Menchú (photo courtesy of Moisés Castillo)

When a Guatemalan indigenous woman stepped forward to receive the Nobel Peace Prize in 1992, a light was momentarily cast upon indigenous people throughout the world.

Rigoberta Menchú Tum, who was living in self-imposed exile at the time, was awarded the prestigious accolade in recognition of her work: highlighting the exploitation and persecution of the country’s indigenous people during its brutal civil war.

More than 20 years later the war may have ended, but has Menchú’s esteemed prize improved the rights of the people for whom she was fighting?
With two unsuccessful presidential campaigns under her belt, where she failed on both occasions to garner more than 3 percent of the vote, it may seem like her work has done little to enhance the lives of Guatemala’s natives. However, her success may be larger than the polls suggest.

“I’ve really enjoyed the last two elections,” says Menchú. “I haven’t reached 30% of the vote, but I’ve reached 95% of the country.”

In 2007, the Maya activist became the first indigenous person to run for Guatemala’s top position and four years later founded the country’s first Mayan political party, WINAQ.

“We were never interested in winning the elections. You can’t win without money and no multimillionaire would support us,” she says.

Recounting an anecdote from her last campaign, she describes addressing a rural town when an opposition party’s bus drove by announcing it was giving away packets of rice, and her audience disappeared.
“Elections here are a carnival, they’re not democratic. Parties use poverty—giving the poor hope by handing them food.”

Despite the irony that most people she campaigns for do not vote for her, Menchú considers her political career a great success.

“I’ve opened a door to Mayas and to women. Not only do we now have a party, but we also have one person in Congress,” she says, referring to Maya lawyer Amilcar Pop.

But it’s not all politics.

In the same year she won the Nobel Peace Prize, the indigenous activist founded the self-titled Rigoberta Menchú Tum Foundation, dedicated to the pursuit of peace and promotion of indigenous people’s rights.
In the past two decades the organization has campaigned for justice for the victims of the war by exhuming mass graves, legislating new crimes, fighting for usurped ancestral lands to be returned to Mayan communities and legally documenting around 36,000 women. Menchú herself even traveled to Spain to bring genocide cases against Guatemala’s war criminals.

The Rigoberta Menchú Tum Foundation recently implemented a multicultural education program at San Carlos University aimed at training students from rural communities to become teachers.

Although sometimes misunderstood by the non-indigenous population, Menchú shrugs off criticism and remains devoted to her original cause: the plight of the people she represented in Oslo some 20 years ago.

Ganadores del concurso fotográfico julio 2013 de REVUE

2013-06-14T13:16:12-07:00

Ganadores por decisión de los jueces del equipo editorial / Winners by editorial decision

Posición/Position: 1er lugar / 1st place
Premio: 1 vale por Q300 para comer en El Cazador Italiano
Tema/theme: Iglesias de Guatemala / Churches in Guatemala
Título/title: Postales de Guatemala
Lugar/place: Ciudad de Guatemala
Autor/author: Leonel Mejía
Web: www.flickr.com/leonelmejia/

Posición/Position: 2do lugar / 2nd place
Premio/Prize: Porta lapiceros de Jades Xibalbá
Tema/theme: Iglesias de Guatemala / Churches in Guatemala
Título/title: Majestuoso
Lugar/place: Catedral, Quetzaltenango
Autor/author: Rodrigo Vela
Web: www.rodrigovela.com

Posición/Position: Mención honorífica / Honorable mention
Tema/theme: Iglesias de Guatemala / Churches in Guatemala
Título/title: Fairytale Church / Iglesia de Cuento de Hadas
Lugar/place: San Felipe de Jesús, Antigua Guatemala
Autor/author: Rich Polanco
Web: www.UnwireMe.com

Ganadores por voto popular en Facebook / Winners by popular votes in Facebook

Posición/Position: 1er lugar / 1st place
Premio: Cena para dos en el restaurante La Peña de Sol Latino / Dinner for two at La Peña de Sol
Tema/theme: Iglesias de Guatemala / Churches in Guatemala
Título/title: Catedral de San Raymundo
Lugar/place: San Raymundo, Guatemala
Autor/author: Jairo Chamalé

Posición/Position: 2do lugar / 2nd place
Premio: Piza papel de Jades Xibalbá
Tema/theme: Iglesias de Guatemala / Churches in Guatemala
Título/title: Fe Cristobalence
Lugar/place: San FParroquia de San Cristóbal, San Cristóbal Verapaz
Autor/author: Christian Alexander Molineros

Posición/Position: Mención honorífica / Honorable mention
Tema/theme: Iglesias de Guatemala / Churches in Guatemala
Título/title: Templo de Dios
Lugar/place: San Felipe de Jesús, Antigua Guatemala
Autor/author: Giovani Minera

Todas las fotografías participantes / All the photos participating

Agradecemos a todos lo que participaron con una fotografía en nuestro concurso fotográfico. We thank all the people participating in our photo contest.

Time Capsule: 2013 – 2065

2013-06-01T04:00:39-07:00

A sealed container to be opened in 52 years

A time capsule that was inspired by the ancient Maya has been installed by cultural officials in Guatemala City to show the country’s future generations what life was like in 2013.

Messages, cards, articles from the present day and predictions for tomorrow were deposited into the container, which will be opened in 2065.

“The opening of the capsule coincides with the start of a new phase in the Mayan calendar: Chol Ab´ y el Chol Q´ij,” says Everardo Chuc, director of cultural development.

“What we are doing now is the same thing that our ancestors used to do to ensure that future generations would know about their country and the people who lived in it.”

The documents, including letters from President Otto Pérez Molina and Olympic medalist Erick Barrondo, along with other memorabilia including the REVUE magazine’s January 2013 Photo Issue, were placed in a hand-decorated cedar box and wrapped in a huipil before being deposited within a green marble statue.

Officials hope the capsule will give those living half a century from now an idea of what Guatemala’s economic, social and political situation was like in 2013. The container was sealed on April 22, during an Earth Day ceremony, which marked the convergence of the two Mayan calendars—the Haab and the Tzolkin—with the lunar calendar.

Many of the children who witnessed the capsule being installed will be invited back to its opening in 52 years.
Located in the Palace of Culture in zone 1 of Guatemala City, the capsule will remain accessible to both foreigners and Guatemalans until it is opened.

Honduras Cuisine

2013-06-01T03:00:13-07:00

Fresh fruit truck, West End, Roatan

by Monish Welcome

From corn to the most delicious refried beans in Central America, Honduran food is typically described as a regional variation of what is known around the world as Mexican food. This is due to the common cultural heritage of Mesoamerica during pre-Columbian times.

For flavorings, Honduran cooks rely heavily on spices such as cumin, curry, allspice, and achiote. Fresh herbs include coriander and oregano; and you can never go wrong with lime juice to give food a very rich flavor.

Honduran food contains meat in all traditional dishes. Beef is preferred, but chicken and pork are also very popular.

Honduran cooks consider corn as a basic ingredient. Nearly all traditional recipes contain corn or foods made from corn. The starting ingredient for all these is masa, dough is made by mixing water with dry corn flour. The most common and simplest example of food made from corn in Latin America is the humble corn tortilla.

Along with corn, kidney beans are one of the pillars of Honduran cuisine. Whole cooked kidney beans are mashed to form a lumpy broth, which is reduced through slow cooking until it has thickened to the consistency of oatmeal. Next, a generous amount of oil is added and heat is increased, cooking the bean paste until it is caramelized. The result is a very rich, flavorful accompaniment that can be spread over bread and tortillas (of course). It combines extremely well with cheese, sour cream and other dairy products.

Given that Honduras is tropical, it should be no surprise that plantains appear often in the national menu. A popular presentation is to cut a ripe and sweet plantain into slices and then shallow fry in hot oil. Frying makes the plantain sweeter and softens it. Plantains combine deliciously with cheese or refried beans, but I think they’re dynamite served with sour cream.

The Honduran plato típico is usually a large and filling serving assembled from beef, marinated, diced and barbecued on a skewer; pork sausage and crackling; refried kidney beans; fried plantain slices; rice; salad; sour cream; and white cheese (similar to Greek feta cheese).

Next month Honduran cuisine from the coast and the Bay Islands—seafood, coconut and other exotic dishes.

Tangerine

2013-06-01T02:00:24-07:00

Fresh tangerine juice, thick with pulp, is a special treat this time of year, in bottles or even better just squeezed and served at your café table. (image by Rudy Girón)

Tangerine-mandarin, they’re slightly different types of orange fruit and color, but only an expert can tell the difference. Citrus has been cultivated in Asia over 3,600 years. When this tangy fruit came to the Spanish colonies straight from China, its rich color reminded Spanish-speakers of mandarin robes, so it’s mandarina here. In Europe and North America, the fruit came from China through India, then was traded in the export markets of Tangier, Morocco, so it’s tangerine in English. Same, but slightly different, indeed.

Fresh tangerine juice, thick with pulp, is a special treat this time of year, in bottles or even better just squeezed and served at your café table. In the La Antigua Guatemala market, stalls with rows of blenders have gracious owners ready to whip up a glass of mandarin juice for you.

The color is special, too—like an orange, but a slightly deeper shade. See if you can spot tangerine woven into huipiles, blouses and shawls from several villages around Lake Atitlán and in the Highlands.

Tangerine-mandarina-orange dyes came to Guatemala through Germany in the 1880s. About the same time, groves of the citrus were planted on the shores of Atitlán, attracting the weavers as the fruit and weavings will attract you.

The tangerine shade shows up on the bright plumage of macaws and other tropical birds soaring over the jungles and lakes near either coast, and on the scales of several species of fish if you dive the Caribbean or go deep-sea fishing in the Pacific. Look to the mountains for tangerine colors in lava flowing down Pacaya or Fuego volcanoes. The hot flow goes through all the colors of fire, including tangerine.

But the best sighting of tangerine-orange is rarest, saved for the lucky: Some days after a shower, as the sun disappears, there it is, bright tangerine clouds all across the skies, as refreshing as a glass of tangerine juice.

May you be fortunate enough to enjoy the sights and tastes of tangerine in Guatemala.

What system is used for property measurements in Guatemala?

2013-06-01T01:00:36-07:00

A common question I receive is about property measurements, probably expecting the short answer as whether we use feet (imperial system) or meters (metric system).

No easy answers here. When the Spanish came in 1524, European measurements were based on Marcus Vitruvius’ (80-70 BC—15 AD) “De Architectura,” known today as the “Ten Books of Architecture.” According to Vitruvius, architecture is an imitation of nature, which led him to defining his Vitruvian Man as drawn later by Leonardo da Vinci. The drawing and text are sometimes called the Canon of Proportions and is based on ideal human proportions.

The Spanish also used a similar system: a palm is four fingers, a foot is four palms, a cubit is six palms, four cubits make a man, a pace is four cubits, and a man is 24 palms. Other measurements include the length of the outspread arms is equal to the height of a man, the foot is one-seventh of the height of a man and so forth. A bit confusing perhaps as men are different sizes!

Varas were introduced in Mexico by Cortes in 1521 (before Alvarado came to Guatemala) as an official measurement, but regions in Spain used different sized varas. The first viceroy of Spanish America, Don Antonio de Mendoza, implemented the standard measurement of the Vara Castellana de Burgos (0.835905 meters) in the 1536 ordinance.

Thus, Antigua’s colonial architecture was all measured in varas and many properties are still measured that way today. A man’s long step is about a vara; the blocks located near the Central Park are 100 varas square. This system was implemented by all city councils throughout Guatemala. When a mayor is elected today he still receives the vara edilicia, which was the official measurement up until recently. Indeed, that vara (rod or staff) represents power, authority and justice for each city government.

The metric system was implemented by law in Spain in 1849 but was not adopted “officially” in Guatemala until 1910. This would have been in certain urban areas but not many other sectors of Guatemala, which were remote at that time. So today … urban properties may be measured in varas and/or meters; building/construction projects are measured in the metric system and, to confuse things even more, carpenters use the imperial system (inches). This is in urban areas; rural areas are a different story.

June 2013 in Revue Magazine

2013-06-01T00:00:23-07:00

The submissions for the June Revue photo contest, Rivers and Lakes, are spectacular. They bring to mind the beauty of nature in Guatemala; water, a life-giving potion, without it there would be no survivors.

There is a renewed love and appreciation of nature when you look at photographs that beckon you to the outdoors; pictures that take your breath away like the beauty of sunlight dancing on the water, or Thor Janson’s closing sentence in “Ecosystems of the Mayan Rainforest” that paints a picture in your mind.

“We end our journey standing on the sands of the Yucatán,
gazing out at the ocean, the red sun looking as though
it is melting into a molten sea of gold.”

Besides our salute to nature (including “It’s for the Birds”), we hope you’ll enjoy the all the other articles inside this edition: everything from varas (“Property Measurements”), to “Growing Roses in Guatemala,” searching for flower petals from the muc/orejuela (“Edible Flowers in the Mayan Diet”), and the color of tangerines (“Sensuous Guatemala”). There is more … shopping excursion in the capital (“Kitchen Paradise”), then to La Antigua to purchase hand-made boxes (“Guatemalan Artisans”).

Next, Lake Atitlán for “Total Relaxation Ahead,” on to Honduras to enjoy “Honduras Cuisine” … from there, jump 52 years ahead and rediscover life in 2013 (“Time Travel”).

“The Zen of Caber & Cupo” will improve your Spanish, and “Pase Adelante” invites us to “go forward.”
Our interview feature is with Rigoberta Menchú.

And best wishes to all the fathers on their special day.

Thank you for picking up the print edition, reading the Revue online (www.revue.gt) or “friending” the Revue Facebook page.

—John & Terry Kovick Biskovich

REVUE’s July 2013 Photo Contest: Churches in Guatemala

2013-05-28T19:04:38-07:00

We invite you to participate in our MONTHLY PHOTO CONTEST for July, 2013 with the theme CHURCHES IN GUATEMALA; please send ONE (1) HI-RES photo with caption/location and your name and website for the credit line to: photos@revue.gt.

Submissions entered by the 10th of June 2013 will be eligible.

Te invitamos a participar en nuestro CONCURSO FOTOGRÁFICO edición de JULIO, 2013 con el tema IGLESIAS DE GUATEMALA; Enviar UNA (1) foto en ALTA RESOLUCIÓN con el título, lugar donde fue tomada, su nombre y el sitio web para el crédito a: fotos@revue.gt.

Serán elegibles las fotos que se reciban hasta el 10 de junio, 2013.

Habrán premios para las fotos ganadoras. Para más información www.Revue.gt

I Exposición Nacional de Orquídeas

2013-05-28T17:00:16-07:00

La Asociación de Orquideología de La Antigua Guatemala AOLAG, presenta su I Exposición Nacional de Orquídeas, del 29 de mayo al 2 de junio en Museo de Arte Colonial, ubicado en la 5ta. Calle Oriente No. 5 de La Antigua Guatemala. . A partir del 30 de mayo al 2 de junio la exposición estará abierta en el horario de 9:00 a 17:30 horas. El costo de ingreso para los adultos será de Q.10.00 y de Q5.00 para niños y estudiantes con carné.

Ganadores del concurso fotográfico junio 2013 de REVUE

2013-05-16T15:08:09-07:00

Ganadores por decisión de los jueces del equipo editorial / Winners by editorial decision

Posición/Position: 1er lugar / 1st place
Premio: 1 vale por Q300 para comer en El Cazador Italiano
Tema/theme: Ríos y lagos de Guatemala / Rivers and lakes in Guatemala
Título/title: Lago de Atitlán como seda
Lugar/place: Lago de Atitlán, Sololá
Autor/author: Jorge Estuardo de León
Web: www.500px.com/georgestuardo

Posición/Position: 2do lugar / 2nd place
Premio/Prize: Certificado para brunch en Panza Verde
Tema/theme: Ríos y lagos de Guatemala / Rivers and lakes in Guatemala
Título/title: Río Chixoy
Lugar/place: Baja Verapaz, Guatemala
Autor/author: Norman Ávila
Web: www.about.me/neavilag

Posición/Position: Mención honorífica / Honorable mention
Tema/theme: Ríos y lagos de Guatemala / Rivers and lakes in Guatemala
Título/title: Amanecer en Río Dulce
Lugar/place: Río Dulce, Izabal
Autor/author: Javier Álvarez Vassaux
Web: www.flickr.com/javieralvarez97

Ganadores por voto popular en Facebook / Winners by popular votes in Facebook

Posición/Position: 1er lugar / 1st place
Premio: Cena para dos en el restaurante La Peña de Sol Latino / Dinner for two at La Peña de Sol
Tema/theme: Ríos y lagos de Guatemala / Rivers and lakes in Guatemala
Título/title: 31 de Dic en Atitlán
Lugar/place: Panajachel, Sololá
Autor/author: Tono Valdés
Web: www.tonovaldes.com

Posición/Position: 2do lugar / 2nd place
Premio: 2 botellas de vino
Tema/theme: Ríos y lagos de Guatemala / Rivers and lakes in Guatemala
Título/title: Navegando en el Lago de Atitlán
Lugar/place: Panajachel, Sololá
Autor/author: Juan Pablo Noriega

Posición/Position: Mención honorífica / Honorable mention
Tema/theme: Ríos y lagos de Guatemala / Rivers and lakes in Guatemala
Título/title: El placer de un lugar mágico…
Lugar/place: Lago de Atitlán, Sololá
Autor/author: César V. Rosales

Todas las fotografías participantes / All the photos participating

Agradecemos a todos lo que participaron con una fotografía en nuestro concurso fotográfico. We thank all the people participating in our photo contest.