What do La Antigua Guatemala and Tenerife have in common, apart from our respective Daily Photo Blogs? It's a Saint! Hermano Pedro, the "first Guatemalan and Tenerifean saint", who was born in Tenerife and died in Antigua Guatemala.
His tomb is in the San Francisco Church, in Antigua Guatemala.
It is said that Hermano Pedro introduced carpet making - to commemorate Corpus Christi - into Guatemala, which, from there, spread to many other parts of America. I'm not sure that sounds at all likely, since the carpet making tradition was not popularized in Tenerife until 19th Century, but so much is lost in myth and legend that it is almost impossible to be absolutely sure.
What we do know is that a distant relative of the Sainted Brother, Fray Luis de San José de Betancur, went to Guatemala with the Count of la Gomera in 1633 and, it was from this relative that Pedro had first heard of those far off lands.
The palace pictured, also known as the Casa de la Piedra (Stone House), is situated opposite Plaza de la Libertad, in Garachico, Tenerife. Building started at the end of the 16th century and was finished in the second half of the 17th century. The original owners were members of the Ponte family and later, it came into the hands of the Counts of La Gomera, by marriage.
The Plaza de la Libertad is where the statue to South American liberator, Simón Bolívar, stands (whose Ponte family ancestors were born in Garachico).
It was on that pavement running between the two that a sand carpet was made during the events that had commemorated the 300th Anniversary of the eruption which had destroyed the town's port. During that event, Orotava mayor, Isaac Valencia, had made much of his own recent visit to the Americas - to San Antonio, Texas, which had been founded by Canary Islanders - for their 275th Birthday.
Loosely apt for America's birthday, we think.
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