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K I T E M O M E N T S America |
planet. kite. matrix. |
kites: pictures, cultures, people, moments.
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Argentina |
> argentina kite-matrix SUBweb. |
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photos by Manolo
back to matrix : cuba |
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see: barriletes workshop bogota 2001 with kitemakers from santiago AND sumpango. |
Barriletes Gigante|
all photos © Rafael Coyote Tum y Marco Antonio Coyote Olcot "Algunas fotos de los barriletes Gigantes de Santiago Sacatepéquez Guatemala Centro América" 2004 - 2005 |
a kite travel to guatemala - a letter from Don Roberts. In late fall we took a three week
trip to Guatemala. One of the highlights of the trip was the flying
of kites in Santiago Sacatapequez
on All Saints Day. We had a day's trip to Santiago
from Antigua. We signed up for the outing, departing in a school bus
(standard mode of transport in Guatemala) at about 9 in the morning.
We arrived, to walk down a street jammed with people and with food
and gift vendors on either side. This led to the cemetery. And The cemetery was a great setting. The graves had been lovingly spruced up and brightly decorated with marigold petals (In Guatemala the marigold is called flor de muerto). What a splash of color! In the background were huge kites (non-flying, I believe). The ones that we saw flown were big, colorful kites up to about 12 to 15 feet in diameter. The activity involved in getting
them in the air was really intense, with flyers racing through the
cemetery, trying to keep the kites aloft when they started to lose
air. Their failures were as much fun as their successes. All this was a great family day,
with folks out with their kids, ice cream vendors rolling their carts
among the graves. What a joyous way of celebrating the "life"
of the dead. - http://www.travelsinparadise.com/guatemala/kites/
- [slow server] Kite flying is a popular pastime with the young boys of Guatemala and you see them flying kites everywhere. The standard Guatemalan kite is an octagonal affair. The ones at the festival are just huge versions of this basic octagonal design. Kids will fly anything; I even saw a couple trying to get a plastic bag airborne. Most kites that they fly are from about 10 to 15 inches in diameter, but some are only about five inches or so. It's fun to watch them flying their kites. They work hard at it and have a good time. Well, other than this one-day activity,
we went to the Mayan ruins at Tikal, had a couple days in the capital,
spent about a week in Antigua, and the rest of the time we were at
Panajachel on Lake Atitlan, broken by a two-day trip to Quetzaltenango
and environs and a one day trip to the market in Chichicastenango.
We found Panajachel a really comfortable place -- wonderful climate,
beautiful setting, and just touristic enough to have a variety of
eating and lodging choices. I took a week's Spanish classes there:
one on one. This was pretty interesting in that I not only had an
opportunity to brush up on my Spanish, but I had first hand discussions
with a Guatemalan -- a 26-year-old school teacher earning some extra
quetzales Well, this is all the communication
for now. .. Don
back to matrix : guatemala |
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photos by Manolo
back to matrix : mexico |
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a thesis: ancient kites at nazca ? Were the Nazcans capable of flight? "First, paintings on pottery found in the area show images of what may have been balloons or kites. Second, wide, circular 'burn-pits' containing blackened rocks have been found at the end of many of the lines, which may have been launch sites for hot-air balloons." - [ or kites. ] - Erdzeichen von Peru - Zeugnisse einer prähistorischen Luftfahrt? - - "It was not for another 2000 years
after the Incas uses balloons at Nasca that the use of balloons were
rediscovered by a Jesuit priest from Brazil named father Bartolomeu
de Gusmao. He demonstrated his hot air balloon to the Portuguese
court at Lisbon in 1709 possibly
he was inspired by the legends of the ancient south American cultures."
- "where did Bartholomeu
tried his balloon first - in Brazil or in Portugal?" - - soon: link to project " sacrificial kites " - |
