The Other Face of Guatemala
27 March 2009 | La Antigua de Guatemala
Sunny, 72F, wind W@10
Dos Gringos de La Antigua de Guatemala
John (Sam the Skull) and Bruce (Seabird) proudly displaying their new hats.
We were up at the Fronteras bus station on Monday at 7:30 am waiting to board the bus for Guatemala City. With tickets in hand, we boarded the bus, taking our assigned seats in row 1, just behind the bullet-proof screen. We wondered if that made us target No 1 in the event of a hijacking. We chose this bus as it was reputed to be owned by the local mafia and was hijack-proof. Whether or not this was true, we filed on past the armed guard, but were surprised to see him not board with us. Instead, three guys in company shirts, obviously not armed, jumped in beside the driver. It turned out that one was a ticket-taker (he checked our tickets 5 times on the route), another the baggage loader/unloader and the third's job was to signal trucks we were passing. The road wound up into the mountains and was heavily trafficked with gravel and cattle trucks. With no passing lanes, the bus driver just seemed to pass at will, and if something surprised him from the opposite direction so that he couldn't get past, this guy lowered the window and waved madly at the truck we were passing to signal him to slow down. Somehow it seemed to work, and after an entertaining six hours (with a mid-morning lunch stop), we were in the chaos of the bus station in Guatemala City. Here we switched to a mini-bus for the remaining 40 km to La Antigua de Guatemala. Again we headed up into the mountains leaving Guatemala City and its slums behind.
A city of 3.5 million, Guatemala City has just two classes... the very rich and the very poor, with no middle class. In Guatemala, 95% of the land is owned by 3% of the people. The poor are also divided, into working poor and beggars. And the city is likewise divided with beautiful tree-shaded avenues in the business district, and slums clinging to the steep mountainside for miles around. I don't know how they keep from sliding down the steep cliffs into the gorges below.
But we left all this behind as we entered another world in Guatemala, La Antigua de Guatemala. La Antigua was established in 1580 to replace the previous capital that was only a few miles away. The previous capital, Ciudad de los Caballeros de Santiago de Guatemala, or "City of the Knights of St. James of Guatemala"was built on the slope of a dormant volcano and was swept away when the lake in the volcano's cone poured over the edge, drowning the town in a sea of mud. It took with it Beatriz de la Cueva, 'sin surete" or "without luck". Guatemala's first and only female governor, she had been Governor for only 36 hours when she was burried in a sea of mud.
La Antigua is nestled between three volcanos. Perhaps that should have been a signal, but if it was, it was ignored. The town prospered as the Spanish rulers built elegant homes, a beautiful administration building and churches... churches everywhere. The town's crowning glory was La Cathedral de San Paulo on the east side of the central plaza between the government and municipal administration buildings. It was finished in 1680 after 11 years of construction and 8,000 workers, mostly imported from Spain for the purpose. From front door to Altar it measured 200 metres, the largest in Central America. But it was far from the only church. We lost count of them, but for a town of about 40,000, there was certainly room for all.
All went well until 1776 when a devastating earthquake struck, destroying many of the churches, including 95% of the cathedral as well as the Government administration center.
With that, Guatemala got its fourth capital, Guatemala City, and La Antigua slid into decline. In retrospect, that was probably a good thing as time stood still in La Antigua. In 1976, the UNESCO declared it a World Heritage Site and its restoration and recovery began, so that today it has been restored to its condition just after the earthquake. Some of the churches were restored and others built to replace those lost. But most buildings are original with the remains of many of the buildings destroyed still standing where they fell over two centuries ago.
Our guide book describes Antigua as "what Guatemala would be like if the Scandinavians ran the place... by-laws adhered to, no garbage, no crime, underground wiring, and stray dogs mysteriously disappear in the night." And its true.
So we spent three days here exploring the town and its ruins. We toured the re-built cathedral, and the ruins of the original, including the catacombs beneath it. It is now only about 20% of the original size and incorporates the one surviving corner. All that remains of the government administration building is the street façade, making it look like a movie scene. Behind the façade is the rubble from 230 years ago.
We toured the area around the town, including a coffee plantation and a Mayan Crafts center.
But all around the town are Mayan women selling beautiful weaving and jade jewelry. Prices varied greatly, as did quality, and we bought some at both ends of the range. It was fun to bargain for prices, and we finally learned that the final price was about 25% to 40% of their initial offering price, depending on the time of day. Prices are high in the morning, but in the late afternoon they drop, either because sales have been slow, or to avoid carrying all that stuff back home. We're not sure. It was amusing to watch as they caught sight of you and swooped in for the sale (or kill).
One night at dinner in our restaurant, overlooking the courtyard in this old Spanish villa, I looked up as someone called me by name, to see Tim Curtis looking at me. I worked with Tim a few years ago at FortisOntario. What a shock to run into someone you know deep in the mountains of Guatemala! But then, I guess no greater than running in to someone from PEI in Fronteras last week, who, strangely enough, neither Jeannie nor I knew!
But it was time to go, so on Thursday night we packed for an early bus shuttle into Guatemala City's airport. Heading out at 5:00 am on Friday morning made me a bit uneasy, but I said nothing. Guatemala is a country with a violent history, and it continues today. While we were in La Antigua, the drug gangs had stepped up violence in an effort to get the government to back off their recent anti-drug campaign. The gangs have focused on, of all things, bus drivers, in an apparent threat to the country's transportation system, and had been murdering one bus driver a day. But on Thursday, they murdered four simultaneously. Sadly this is not new to the country which has seen for much of its history a succession of brutal dictators or civil war. And for the violence of the 1970's and 80's the US can take much of the credit. In fact President Bill Clinton apologized to the Guatemalan people for the country's role in the past.
It is a real shame, as the poor are the obvious losers with illiteracy high among the poor. But in spite of it all, Guatemalans are very friendly and we enjoyed our visit.
From here its back to Canada for a week, then back to the boat and beginning the trip north.
We took lots of pictures of this beautiful place. They are in a sub-album of the Guatemala album.