The New Colonialism of Antigua

I bet you don’t know where this picture was taken. It’s a restaurant in the heart of La Antigua, Guatemala, Central America’s amazingly restored colonial showcase. Antigua was once the capital of Spain’s Viceroyalty in this part of the New World, and the Spanish quickly forced the local Mayan populace to convert this valley into a government center worthy of admiration. The city was abandoned, however, after a massive earthquake in 1773 left much of Antigua in ruin, forcing governors to move the capital to Guatemala City. Over the last 35 years, Antigua has enjoyed a resurgence and, after being declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1979, the Guatemalan government has invested heavily in the city’s restoration, reconstruction and security.

Today, there is no other place like it in the region, not Granada in Nicaragua, nor San Cristobal de las Casas en Chiapas (Mexico), nor Panama City’s Casco Antiguo. Municipal regulations regarding construction are very strict, in order to preserve the architectural continuity in this city of adobe walls, cobblestone streets and bursting bougainvilleas. So ingrained is the style, in fact, that this fast-food franchise located just off the main square has masked their red-headed spirit of joyful eating so much that, if it weren’t for the telltale beeps, sizzles and smells coming from behind the counter, I would have no idea that I had entered the most famous restaurant chain in the world.

Critical travelers might complain that Antigua has, unlike the other destinations I mentioned above, transformed from a working Guatemalan city into a tourist trap servicing only the well-heeled international set. This is a valid argument. In the very central business district surrounding the Parque Central, you will not find anything catering to the locals. No hardware store, no school supply shops, no barber shops. Instead, there are jewelery shops specializing in hand-crafted, high-priced silver and jade pieces. Restaurants sell beer for three times of what a local joint would consider decent. Peddlers park outside of curio shops and tour agencies, hawking cheap wares to unsuspecting gringos. Gaggles of camera-toting tourists in tank tops and bemused grins snap digital souvenirs of their brief encounter with Guatemala. Meanwhile, much of Guatemala is mired in abject poverty and ethnic conflict. Antigua looks like a polished playground for tourists, an alternate reality in Guatemala.

I have felt this way before. But now, during my third venture into this city over the last nine years, I have come to see Antigua in a different light. While the previously paragraph is certainly a valid interpretation, one can also view the glass as half full. Antigua’s relatively vibrant economic environment allows local designers, artisans, entrepreneurs and creative types to explore their arts. There are some truly unique boutique stores here that simply do not exist anywhere else in the country that one might call more “authentic.”

Additionally, just outside of the main historic heart, Antigua becomes markedly Guatemalan. Businesses cater to a local crowd; the sprawling municipal market teems with vendors, offering a colorful display of locally directed commerce; schools vibrate with the energy of Guatemalan youth.

The governent’s efforts to preserve the city have indeed produced some interesting fruits. Many of the colorful cultural traits that you find throughout Latin America are absent in Antigua: cars here do not honk their horns; loudspeakers mounted on pickup trucks are silent; architectural aberrations and poorly planned parking lots do not exist; sidewalks and streets are uniform, clean and well-maintained; and the city center is safe to walk, day and night.

My new-found enjoyment of this level of services is perhaps due to having lived in this part of the world for nearly a decade. That’s ten years of glorious chaos and haphazard planning. Antigua shows me that, with a few regulations and a little enforcement, a more pleasant (to me, at least) urban environment can be achieved, with relatively little sacrifice.

Yes, English is widely spoken. Prices downtown are out of reach for the average Guatemalan, and foreign influence is palpable. This is nothing new for Antigua, built with Mayan labor at the behest of Spanish conquistadors. Today, even though McDonald’s has joined the party, Antigua feels more Guatemalan than ever. Spanish and indigenous languages are much more prevalent than anything else, and bars and restaurants have mainly local patrons. Antigua is very much a part of Latin America’s history, and a visit here would be quite instructive as to how that history has developed through today, a reflection of Guatemala past, present and future. It’s a living monument, one that will evolve as the country grows and changes. Today, at least, I do not lament those changes. I embrace them, in the way one might accept a sports stadium in one’s neighborhood. It’s not necessarily good or bad. It just is what it is.

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