Guatemala on West 25th

To-day there was a public celebration of a panoramic mural of Guatemala on Cleveland's near west side. I learned about its creation from a teevee story on WEWS-5. I went there five times to see the continuing progress, and i was repeatedly pleasantly surprised by new additions. To-day, i asked a fellow when did the jaguar, and the monkey show up. He said they flew in last night.

July 26th.  More of the mural extends to either side, here is the large middle. It was clear that the quetzal bird was the centerpiece. He is the national bird. The money there is in quetzals, stamps had quetzals. There are some six species. The one painted here is the resplendent quetzal, at first it was the only one called quetzal. The Nahuatl word means "large brilliant tail feather". After the male bird becomes an adult, it takes three years for the tail feathers to grow out. One grade school teacher taught us that Aztec emperors had capes made from these feathers. Once i saw a 1948 Buick Roadmaster drive by, it was painted in Aztec green; i had to check the foto, i had misremembered it as a Pontiac, General Motors could have used the same color for a different make too. [click, one of these fotos shows the bird did not yet cover the door]

August 3rd. Corn grew on the far right side.

August 3rd. The door is painted over, and the mountain is a volcano.

August 10th. Dragonflies

August 10th. Froggy

August 10th. Iguana

August 12th. Quetzal has his feathers further detailed. I thought, the painting was practically done. I was wrong.

August 20th. Here's a howler monkey. There are many species of howler monkeys, not just the loud fake blonde con man howler monkey type we have in the States.

Alex was one of the seven painters on the project. He had been a tae-kwon-do champion and Olympian in his youth. He remembered driving a '48 Buick to Cedar Point. That is why i had to check whether my foto was of a Pontiac, or not [click].