Tuesday 18th August 2011

First moves in the footsteps of GCC and photographer Muybridge Today we hired a pick-up with an excellent driver, with the aim of attempting to locate some of the localities associated with my great grandfather, as well as with the famous photographer Eadweard Muybridge. We started with a short but steep drive up to a forested hill overlooking the town of Antigua, the Cerro de la Cruz. Muybridge had taken a series of shots of the town from here in 1875, and it was remarkable how little had changed – I was able to recreate his view with some degree of precision, although sadly the Volcán de Agua, towering in the background in Muybridge’s photograph, was obscured by cloud today. The same churches, especially La Merced, were prominent, and there is still not a modern building to be seen in the town.

From here we drove to Ciudad Vieja, the original capital of Guatemala, but which was completely lost beneath a mudslide in 1541, after which the administrative centre became Antigua, where it remained until 1773. GCC visited here on several occasions, but we were unable to find precisely where he stayed, although a number of buildings from the period when he visited still survive. Our next destination was the nearby small town of San Miguel Dueñas, where with the aid of copies of the paintings by Caroline Salvin, wife of GCC’s employer Osbert Salvin, we hunted for the buildings in which she and her husband had stayed in in 1873, and where GCC had also lodged in 1879/1880. There was no sign of the views Caroline Salvin had painted, but as the house appeared to be more like a farmhouse, we started investigating fincas on the outskirts, each time making sure that the twin peaks of the Volcán de Fuego and the Volcán Acatenango were in the same position in the background as they were in Caroline Salvin’s painting.

The most promising looking candidate we found was the Finca Santiago, but this property was heavily barricaded and gated, and the security guard at the gate, although interested in our quest, was unable to allow us in. He indicated also that he thought the picture looked more like the Finca Tempixque, to which we drove with some optimism, and where the security guard, fascinated by our story, made several calls in order to request permission for us to enter. This was soon granted and we were unexpectedly treated to a private tour of this magnificent property, now operating as a coffee plantation and centre for the cultivation of orchids and other tropical plants. We were shown around the beautifully maintained hothouses by the Director of Operations Ing. Jorge Luis Gomez and the Greenhouse Director Juan Antonio Garcia, and we spent a while admiring the many varieties of orchids grown here. But sadly, there was no sign of GCC’s lodgings and neither of our two hosts recognised the picture. The search will continue. Our next, more distant destination was the Lago de Amatitlán, situated in a deep basin to the south of the modern capital, Guatemala City. The drive took us over a high ridge, down through the now rundown satellite towns of Bárcenas and Villa Nueva, bringing us finally to the shores of the picturesque but grossly polluted lake. Although unable to say precisely where GCC had stayed, we took a boat ride out across the lake, and admired its still beautiful situation, wishing only that some steps could be taken to clear the endless pieces of plastic rubbish floating in the algae-laden green waters.

From here we returned to Antigua, impressed by the landscapes and the still heavily forested hills so close to the capital, and ready to continue our search in the coming days.