Office life can be difficult, especially for those first entering it. Too used to their parental rules or fresh from university and independence, it is true neutral ground with a new master.

So we're priming OsUsKus from an early start to fit into office life, even if it turns out that office is in his own home.

What dashing young executive goes without a tie? Although wearing it around your shoulder is a look very few can carry off. The latest in one piece navy jumpsuits, this 18-month old is at the height of fashion.

For those wondering what our little officer worker was saying when the photo was taken, isn't it clear? "Sell, sell, sell!" Of course!

The voyage of discovery continues in Guatemala with whatever this, found hanging from trees in our eldest's school.

I've posted examples of coffee plants before and these look similar but not quite. 

Of course as they're in a school, one hopes that an alumni doesn't get any bright ideas about sampling some of the local delicacies!

Any ideas out there from horticulturists or arboriculturalists out there know what this is?

I am a noctural being, for some it is natural, for others it is the conditioning from a love of a sporting culture that did not fit into regular sleep patterns.

Local festivals tend to bring out the worst in neighbours, especially their parking hence the huge grua. I love that it has so many extra lights added to it and yet one of the headlamps is fractured.

In the background there's a guy in cholo gear, which is strange because very few people in Guatemala dress like this.

The park squares tend to be village, town and city's heartbeat. They will always attract problems because of the amount of people that go there. We're lucky that at least for me, walking around at night is not as dangerous as people make it out to be.

In a country where visual pollution constantly bombards your eyes, good advertising has a tendency to stand out.

Mono Loco hit across a superb brand in the little monkey, the name works well too and it's one of those few businesses that is firmly entrenched in Antigua. By firmly entrenched I mean one that has managed to survive the ups and downs of variable tourism and still flourished,

Personally I find the wanted poster the better billboard advert but this works too, it's in Santa Lucia Milpas Altas, just as you're beginning your descent into Antigua.

With the restoration of Zona 1 in the city in full swing, I wonder if Mono Loco continues the trend of provincial bars and restaurants opening in the capital? In the immortal words of the big yellow fellah, "Mmmmm nachos!"

For the past eight years of my life, as I think back, where we've lived has been surrounded by bananas.

Tenerife is well known for its bananas, on the way down into Puerto de la Cruz you would see fields of them, in the same manner as all the coffee farms you see in Antigua.

Of course bananas grow in Guatemala, in 2008 Americans bought $375 million worth of bananas. That's a pretty large amount, split between three major companies - Chiquita (the former United Fruit Company of Jacobo Arbenz infamy), Del Monte and Dole.

We even have our very own banana expert in Kara. I wonder what she'd think of this tree?

The theatre of security is a fascinating indictment of the human psyche. How does one measure how much safer they were today as opposed to yesterday?

In Guatemala the government made it easy for us, one day the police and Provial - think California Highway Patrol kept us safe on the roads. The next it was the army.

Time to take some credit, on the way back home from the Rios Montt hearing in January I mused that it wouldn't be a surprise if military checkpoints returned. Twenty minutes later and at the turn-off for Antigua and lo and behold, there was a military checkpoint.

Guatemala has had a number of high profile arrests in the first few months of Otto Pérez Molina's administration. Whether we are safer or not because of them is a matter for the individual. Kids who grew up in the 80s with checkpoints see history repeating itself, the kids of now grow used to it.

When you live in a city which is hundreds of years old, you'd like to think that being surrounded by ruins isn't the only evidence of days gone by enveloping you.

Sure, there's natural landmarks that have been here centuries but aside Fuego firing up this week, only a city destroying quake might get people's attention.

In the rush to annoint Antigua as real estate development number x in Central America, we have lost the ability to treasure artifacts of a bygone age.

Take this water feature, it's almost as if someone has tried too hard to make it look old. Fake fault lines do not add the authenticity the buyer is looking for. Please try again.

Was one of my favourite cartoon characters, ranking alongside Marvin the Martian and Wile E. Coyote as Looney Tunes baddies.

He's also pretty popular on large trucks in Guatemala to warn people of the dangers of driving too close to them. Given that nobody drives well in the rain, they're usefulness is moot but at least they looked incredibly clean.

I've showcased graffiti here before but I was lucky enough to driveby a superb effort on El Periferico.

As the smallest big man might say himself, "You're a darned galoot if you don't find this talented." And just like Sam, I have a feeling that there's a load of drivers out there shouting, "Woah, woah," in an effort to brake.

As intrepid as I've been bringing photos from around Guatemala, sadly the camera is coming to the end of its natural life.

And here is something we can partly blame, I'm not sure what it is and any entomologists out there are welcome to write in and tell us.

I doubt it is lethal but imagine my surprise just as I was going to take a photo of it, that it moved. Not just moved but managed a vertical take off with a noise like a New Year's Eve firework.

Sadly I was unable to catch up with the rapidly spinning camera and it landed right on its battery cover slot. Masking tape currently holds it together but carrying it around in the car could lead to some interesting explanations!

The first 100 days of the new administration passed last week with the usual mixed bag of successes and failures.

So how is mano dura in Antigua? At the heart of the city's problems lies tourism struggling against a global financial meltdown whose repercussions are still being felt and in the case of Europe, continue to spread.

Perhaps it is this frustration that caused the mayor to be denounced for attacking a journalist last year. Add in the usual corruptions charges - overcharging for work, fake addresses being used on deeds and it's business as normal.

It would be the height of folly to blame the mayor for this, it's institutional. A fixed four-five year term in office wouldn't solve all local political problems but it would stop the carousel of popular politicians switching parties every election.