Colonial Williamsburg Wrapped in a Pupusa

 Of all the places I have been in Latin America, one on my short list for most captivating is Antigua, Guatemala.  Antigua is like a lot of places I have been: cobblestone streets, original Spanish colonial layout and architecture, etc., but what makes it unique is the way the residents have transformed natural and historical attributes into a place that excites the tastes and imaginations of foreign tourists.  On a recent evening trip there for dinner and coffee, I was on the one hand marveling as one of those foreign tourists at the romantic mystique of the place and on the other at the business savvy and perceptiveness of these Guatemalan entrepreneurs for understanding their market with such precision.

 

 

As I say, my first impression of Antigua was that it reminded me of a lot of places I have been to in Latin America, especially in the Andes.  For instance, in the Andes there are loads of well-preserved cities with colonial architecture and cobblestone streets, such as Quito, Riobamba, Ayacucho, or Cusco.  A subset of these are very appealing to tourists both because of the pleasant colonial surroundings, but also because they serve as a great place jumping off point for other destinations.  This is the case of Quito, with short distances to mountain climbing, Indian markets, and jungle trips, and Cusco, with el Valle Sagrado, Machu Picchu and rafting nearby.  A third attribute of cities popular with tourists is that they are great cities to hang out in: the climate is fantastic and there is a café culture and nightlife.  In sum, these four characteristics make a place very appealing to large numbers of foreign tourists: 

• colonial architecture and colonial (pedestrian) layout;
• great climate;
• café culture and nightlife; and
• jumping off point for adventure and cultural travel

 

Lots of cities have some of these characteristics in various combinations.  Riobamba, for instance, has wonderful architecture but is chilly and dead as a doornail after 7:00 pm.  Not really a stomping ground for foreign tourists.  A place like Baños in Ecuador, does not have colonial architecture but has a great climate, something of a critical mass of tourists for the café culture, and is a definite jumping off point for the jungle and mountain climbing.  Or Otavalo in Ecuador is known for its beautiful and friendly Indians and the great Indian market, but does not have very notable architecture and is only an OK jumping off point; people tend to stay only a night or two.  The very best of them, and this includes Antigua, combine all four qualities.

 

 

So, to some extent there is an element of endowments involved here—say the colonial heritage, climate and the proximity to natural or historical wonders.  But a large part of success in attracting large number of foreign tourists is man-made as well.  This has to do with how a place understands its target market and then, collectively, as a city of entrepreneurs, responds so that the whole is much greater than the sum of its parts.  Part of this is well-coordinated real estate development, but it goes well beyond this to the city’s tourist brochures, business councils, and organizations shaping a joint effort to build a reputation.  It is in this respect that Antigua appeared to me to be without peer.

 

 

In my short stay in Antigua, I traveled with some American and Guatemalan colleagues to eat dinner.  As we strolled the streets, we saw wonderful ruins lit up with great artistry as if this were Berlin or Paris.  The cobblestone streets were lit only with low lighting, accentuating and making more inviting the lit up interiors of the different stores, many of which were not just tourist traps but one-of-a-kind places.   

 

As we walked, I could see that there were a variety of interesting places to eat, but we came to one that was especially inviting—a converted colonial house with the tables seated around the interior courtyard which had been turned into a herb garden and display for colonial antiques.  In the courtyard a stone griddle over a wood fire was being operated by a local woman in traditional dress making pupusas or Guatemalan tortillas. 

 

 

Traditional dancers came through as we finished our meal, which reminded one of the mysterious and unique surroundings.  After leaving the restaurant we drove slowly through the streets.  The air was about 65 degrees and one of those nights where you had no desire to go back to your room.  We bumped slowly over the cobblestone streets in our vehicle checking out the scene.  You could see into tavern after tavern lit by candle, through stone arches, people chatting and laughing over drinks, and into colonial alleyways that led back into more enticing locales.

 

 

We finally arrived at what I would call the epitome of Antigua sophistication and best example of how this place understands its market.  The ruins of a monastery have been turned into an extensive, but understated, hotel, restaurant, and convention center.  To give you an indication of what we are dealing with here, picture a several level underground garage in the middle of this very small city, indicating the owners’ highly developed understanding of the economics of location.  After parking you hear the classic Gregorian chants that are being piped into the underground garage.  You walk through a tunnel to reception and are flanked by antiques, including suits of armor.  In reception you smell—is that incense and is that bellhop dressed as an altar boy?!

 

 

The ruin is at the center of the large complex’s interior courtyard, lit at night with striking effect.  You follow the torches and candles to the restaurant where they have just put out a copper kettle filled with fragrant wood coals in the middle of the stone floor to ward off just a slight chill.  You drink what is perhaps some of the best coffee you have ever tasted—without exaggerating, Guatemalan coffee is some of the best I’ve had.  The overall effect borders on being too much, but you are really too mesmerized to care.  After all, this may be theatre, but this is indeed a colonial Spanish ruin, the climate is perfect, the coffee excellent and none of that is an illusion.  Besides, its more fun to play along than to peek behind the curtain.

 

Antigua begs the question: how do they pull it off?  In a variety of ways, Antigua’s success is uncommon in Latin America and ought to be looked at closely.  Take for instance the uniformity of the real estate in a consistently colonial, historical style.  For a variety of reasons, urban planning in Latin America is carried out in an environment with de facto strong property rights.  This is a bit of euphemism to say that, despite there being a lot of regulations on the books, owners tend to do what they like with their property.  The reasons for this are the same reasons that informality exists in many spheres in Latin America life: complicated regulations, corruption, poor enforcement and few consequences for ignoring zoning and ordinances.  This is to say that, although master plans, zoning codes and ordinances regulating use, and planning and development standards exist on the books in Latin American cities, they frequently are unenforced, if not ignored.

 

The typical result of this style of urban development might be Baños, Ecuador.  Baños is charming in its way, but certainly exhibits the randomness one would expect from such an unregulated system.  Literally, 10 story concrete hotels sit next to private houses, which sit next to empty lots, which set next to small informal taffy factories.  This is a typical result in an unregulated system.  Even in ritzy neighborhoods in Lima it is common for private residents to rent out their homes as wedding reception locales each and every weekend of the year—what would typically be called an incompatible use due to the parking requirements and noise and be prohibited by zoning regulations.  Nevertheless, even in these most developed sections of a large, sophisticated metropolis, such basic regulations go unheeded.  Thus for Antigua to create an environment as thoroughly historically consistent as colonial Williamsburg while maintaining a system of diverse private ownership is something of a remarkable accomplishment.

 

Without knowing the reasons behind this wonderful anomaly, I can guess at what they might be.  There is a strong tradition in Latin America of what urban planners call “agglomeration economies” (also known recently in an international development context as “clusters”).  In the U.S., an easy example of an agglomeration economy is where you see all of the car dealerships located near each other in the same part of town.  In Latin America, you see similar phenomena all the time: Latin Americans will tell you, if you want the best pork chicharron, go to this town, and within a long block there you will see fifty vendors, all lined up trying to get you to sample their product.  If you want wood carvings, go to this other town, for leather goods, this other town is the place and for dulce de leche you have to buy it here.  Agglomeration economies work in sellers favor, obviously, because by gaining a reputation as “the place to go,” even though you are surrounded by competition, in the end you have lots and lots of customers arriving, interested in what you are selling. 

 

I think this venerable tradition in Latin America may go a long way to explaining Antigua’s success.  If the product to be sold is a certain kind of historical theatre and colorful local culture, then the place to get that is Antigua.  Latin America vendors and businesspeople instinctively understand the power of the agglomeration effect: don’t try to sell wood carvings, if you’re in the town for leather work and don’t open a tacky resort, if you’re in Antigua.  Although this is only based on a very brief impression of the place, my quick take was that the Guatemalans in these businesses were fairly regular folks—not well traveled or highly educated.  Nevertheless, their sense of what to a foreign tourist would be considered “good taste” was flawless.  I think the answer is partially explained by the power of this agglomeration effect: vendors notice that lots of candles and antiques sells, so that is what gets repeated in locale after locale.

 

In the end, this explanation is only partially satisfactory in explaining Antigua.  If it was only this common instinct for agglomeration economies, there would be more towns like Antigua out there.  There must be many other things that this place is doing right in order to be so successful;  that story is for sure a fascinating one and can provide lessons for a variety of similar places across Latin America that are interested in attracting high spending foreign tourists to their businesses.

 

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