THE ANTHROPOLOGY OF TOURISM IN SANTA CATARINA PALOPÓ
Ryan
Donnelly
Warren
Wilson College
In a world dominated by a capitalistic mode of
production mindset, we as consumers now find ourselves inextricably connected
with and tied into, not just a few, but a vast series of major international
corporate enterprises by whom we purchase and import the diverse abundance of
goods and services that we have all come to luxuriate in. I think that it is odd that while the United
States spends millions of dollars on oil and gas to heat the homes of its
families, and imports vehicles from the other side of the world so that we may
have “adequate” transportation, those same families and individuals remain
blind to the origins of such products.
Rarely, if ever, do we look beyond the facade of a products face value,
and so we cannot be made to realize, if even we care at all, that products
homeland and origin. Nor do we
encounter their manufacturers, or enter into any kind of meaningful first-hand
relationship with them by which these transactions might be justified. I consider it gravely unfortunate that these
providers are largely invisible and unknown to us, and likewise believe that
sincere efforts must be put forth to quell the tides of ignorance, thereby
clarifying these blurred boundaries of commerce.
Between the polar ends of the producing and consuming spectrum,
there is an increasing gap wherein lies a sea of middlemen. These middlemen vie for dominant control
over the regulations and strategies, by which the goods and services we receive
are brought to us, to the end of acquiring personal power, prestige, and
monetary wealth. And oftentimes, as
U.S. History will show, these middlemen give little thought to the severe
social, economic, and political repercussions that are subsequent to the buying
of labor forces, which metamorphoses workmen and women into commodities
themselves. Here it has become
necessary to credit Marx, by whom I have borrowed the tools and terminology for
the purposes of my study, for these very middlemen of which I speak are the
Bourgeoisie of which he spoke. Only
their powers were not diminished via the Proletariat working class, as he
predicted, but have expanded and networked across the globe at an exponential
rate with the coming of the Second World War and the Industrial
Revolution. With new, state-of-the-art
technological advances in the field of transportation and communication, such
as jets which accelerate their hosts, in mass numbers, to their destinations
around the world at on-average velocities of half the speed of sound, and the
relatively more recent inventions such as laptop computers, beepers and cell
phones, fax machines and the Internet, the rapid rate of “progress” is unlike anything
Marx could have ever dreamt.
The question is, then, are we so
like children that we completely surrender ourselves to the path of least
resistance when it comes time to go and collect the resources that are
essential to the maintenance of what we consider a satisfactory lifestyle? We are invited to play the role of a child
by these global corporations. We are,
to an enormous degree, fed by and clothed by them, and transported and
delivered by their vehicles. We heat
our homes with fossil fuels from their backyards. Is all this necessary?
Must we exploit our neighbors for their raw materials and labor and in
effect steal our happiness? Are we
really that dependent? Must
multi-million dollar corporations continue to strengthen their monopolization
over the resources of production, holding our hands and guiding our feet every
step that we take? The answer, I think,
is no.
But bringing about the solutions to
these problems is by no means an easy process, as we have become for too
emerged in our habits of consumption for any expedient out; we have
internalized the capitalistic mode of productions to the point where these
patterns of consumption have become quite commonplace and, indeed, they have
become the “norm.” One needs an
adequate and pragmatic place to begin to undertake the explication of such a
phenomenal, global recurrence that is the relationship between supplier and
consumer. In finding such a place, one
must approach the situation at a micro-level perspective, and work inductively
rather than deductively, which is to say that one must work with what one has;
the issue at hand must be tackled from the ground up, micro-perceptively, and
not the other way around, to ensure that the job is done correctly,
holistically, and beneficially to all involved parties. To guarantee these characteristics,
explications of such circumstances can in no way rely on deductive, lofty
philosophies, but, rather, must serve to pinpoint the exact propensities and
motivations that led such a phenomena to arise. More concretely, one must try the endeavor, and succeed, in
isolating a particular one of the industries in question, which are those
international, global enterprises who supply and manufacture the largess of the
goods and services we enjoy though our personal relationship with those original
suppliers in virtually nil, and critically analyze its intentions as well as
its methods for achieving those intentions.
But, again, undertakings of this nature are not
easily accomplished. Indeed, teams of
anthropological ethnographers would be needed on either end of the spectrum of
the producer/consumer relationship, as well as in the middle itself, to even
have a chance at all at holistically and accurately creating such an
analysis. But if the history of
Anthropology has taught us anything, it is that ideas, aspirations, and
holistic explications arise not through any singular work, but by a compilation
and critiquing of many. And so let this
work be what it is, a beginning and a reference point whose purpose is to
smooth over the rough edges of that somehow manifest themselves between people
who would consider themselves “guest” and “host.”
The tourism industry is where I would like to draw
my beginning, as it, unlike other industries, has to potential to bridge the
gap between producer and consumer, and bring them together, face to face,
invisible to each other no longer. When
we buy foreign cars, we will not be able to shake the engineer’s hand, and when
we buy coffee and sugar at our local supermarket, we will never know just who
cultivated, harvested, and refined those products, but:
“… When we tour, it is much more difficult to avoid
the confluence of places and the people that inhabit them. Even the most specialized styles of tourism,
such as ski vacations and weekends at the beach, invariably evoke encounters
between visitors and their local “hosts.”
No other industry has anywhere near the potential to bring consumers and
producers and their “products” into such close contact. Few other occasions of human encounter
provide for so many vital moments of exchange between people of strikingly
different backgrounds.” (Chambers,
Native Tours, pg. 2)
Herein lies the key to cutting out the
middleman. Herein lies the chance to
experience authentic producer/consumer interactions first-hand. And herein lies the chance to recapture our
lost control over our own modes of consumption, and how what we choose to
consume is produced.
Anthropologists, though, have only
very recently begun to take on the challenge of explicating tourism, and have
been somewhat slow to cultivate their interests in why people tour, and what
happens when they do. Erve Chambers, in
his work, Native Tours: The Anthropology of Travel and Tourism, cites
two examples as to why the issue has been neglected for as long as it has. 1.
That the “phenomenal growth of the tourism industry” in recent years has
made it a subject increasingly harder to ignore. 2. “Changes and
transformations in the discipline of anthropology have altered the way
anthropologists practice ethnography as a major vehicle for discovering
cultural processes.” Giving an example
of this example, Chambers goes on to say that “tourism could rarely be viewed
as more than an unwelcome intrusion upon the neat categories and orderly
distinctions witch anthropologists were wrestling.” (Chambers, pg. 2-3) And so anthropological literature concerning
such matter as the implications and consequences of tourism is very sparse.
“Similarly, much of the history of Western travel
has been derived from written travel accounts, and as such is reflective only
of the travel conventions of a “leisured” and literate class who were closely
connected to the centers of political and economic power of their time. Many of the travels on which these accounts
are based were sponsored by European geographical societies and business
interests that had a strong interest in the resources and potential markets of
these distant places. To the extent that
we let ourselves be dependent on such accounts in our search for the origins of
modern tourism, we are sure to inherit a bias toward asserting that the quest
for economic advantage served as the primary motivation for early travel
adventures. In the West, the advent of
modern tourism required both organized means of mass travel and new or
re-rationalized reasons for travel. It
arose in close association with industrial capitalism, was furthered by
entrepreneurs such as Thomas Cook, and also developed as a subsidiary
enterprise by the rapidly expanding transportation industry.” (Chambers, Native Tours, pg. 6,17)
This is precisely the reason why this research has
every relevance. I represent no
enterprise seeking to capitalize off the natural beauty of exotic places and
people, nor does this work in any way yield to the mandates of any political or
economic power. Rather, this research
endeavors to provide a means by which guests and hosts alike can cooperate,
share experiences, and enjoy, when the time comes, each others company. Tourism, as anthropologists have been
somewhat slow to realize, doesn’t necessarily have to consist of a leisured
class of elite capitalists ogling what they consider primitive savages in a
“backwards” culture. And this term,
“backwards,” should and could be done away with altogether if tourists would
only stop negatively stereotyping comparisons between the culture visited and
that of their own. The term “backward,”
which arises from the differences in cultural norms and values that one will
notice when in visiting homelands other than his own, carries with it negative,
disrespectful connotations that are likely to get one into trouble when
touring.
Here it becomes necessary to furnish an outline as
to exactly what this research consists of.
I recently completed a six-week field study program out of North
Carolina State University, wherein I had been living with a family of
Cakchiquel Maya Indians in Santa Catarina Palopo, at Lake Atitlán,
Guatemala. The objectives of this field
school were, in addition to providing myself (a student still, currently working
on a B.A. in Anthropology/Sociology out of Warren Wilson College, a small
private school nestled in a valley of the Swannanoa mountains of western North
Carolina), with practical training and experience in socio-cultural
anthropology fieldwork (participant observation methods, interviewing
techniques, research design, sampling, coding, data analysis and ethics) in a
practical context of tourism, to write a final report summarizing the
significance of the data I collected. I
resolved, after a time, to collect this data on Santa Catarina, the town I was
living in around the lake, and whose community I have been a part of for those
six weeks. I wanted to explicate the
town from a holistic, infrastructural perspective, as well as locate any and
all possible potentials for tourism development.
However, given the latter quotation from Chambers
work, I decided to add a little something extra. The purpose of this research is not to add one more “attraction”
or “exhibit” to the itinerary of gawking tourists, but, quite the contrary, to
supply the visitor (“visitor,” in my view, is a much better word than
“tourist”) a realistic perception of a previously marginalized and oppressed
Maya people and their town. Rather than
breathe emic, or outside perspectives that, as far as tourism is concerned,
have arisen chiefly from specificities that Western scholars have made to
categorize certain aspects of tourism, life into this work, I have endeavored
instead to construct an etic standpoint by which the members of this particular
community have a voice as well, as there has been only very limited research on
communities on the receiving end of tourism.
Here I would like to introduce a term I collected
from Chambers work that I find extremely pragmatic in its utilization, and that
is “hospitality.”
“Why do we call our subject tourism rather than calling it hospitality? Is it not true that tourism and hospitality
are the two sides of the same coin?
There is a preference toward viewing hospitality as a stable condition
upon which the dynamic of tourism somehow acts. Accordingly, there is a tendency to regard modern tourism as
increasingly dictating the terms of hospitality.” (Chambers, Native Tours, pg. 10)
The places we visit and the people and cultures we
encounter when we tour are not exhibits in a museum, nor are they there only to
suit our desire to indulge in otherworldliness. And so let this paper serve as a viable alternative to the
mainstream, exploitative nature of travel brochures. Included below are pictures that I myself have taken of the town
of Santa Catarina during my stay. These
visuals include different angles of the town itself, some of the townspeople,
the hotels (which are the Villa Santa Catarina and the five-star Casa Palopo),
and, of course, the lake and volcanoes.
Theme
The issue at hand is that Santa Catarina Palopo,
being so close to Panajachel (8 kilometers east), perhaps the most obvious and
primary tourist destination around Lake Atitlán (the locals have nicknamed it
Gringotenango), and being in itself rich source of traditional Maya culture, is
ripe in its opportunity to become a prime tourist destination as well. As I found through numerous interviews and
surveys, there is a significant percentage of the community that depends upon
tourism as the their sole source of income.
I found as well that the notion to increase the rate of tourism was
unanimous throughout the village.
Seeing first hand both the positive benefits and negative consequences
of tourism tipped the scales for me, and I chose to explicate just how the
people of Santa Catarina are tying their lives into the rapidly growing tourist
industry, which by now has influenced the entire countryside of Guatemala
tremendously.
With such alluring fascinations as a collapsed
volcanic crater lake, accommodating lakeside restaurants, hotels, quiet piers
and hot springs, and with recent efforts by the town municipality to build a
better system of roads, install two mass septic tanks for use of the locals (as
many Indians have no such facilities as of yet), and with future efforts to
move the town dump and create a local Travel Agency, Santa Catarina is well on
its way towards this type of development.
Hence, the following pages will serve to inform the reader of past,
present, and future projects and potentials for tourism, and well as give an
overview of the town itself.
Methodology
I wanted to have as much history of the town as I
could gather, which turned out to be fairly substantial. Among my sources are the field notes of Sol
Tax, an ethnographer who underwent extensive field research around the Lake
Atitlán beginning in 1935. By him I was
able to gather sketches of what houses looked like, a map, methodologies the
Indians used to fish, as well as some general information such as geography and
descriptions of the town fiesta on November (?) (As I was not living at the
lake during this month, I am not able to give a first-hand account). Also, I
would research past and possible sources of funds, as well as what would be
necessary for the development of an education system capable of instilling the
local population with the essential skills relevant to tourism, like hiking and
tour guides, mountain climbing and scuba diving instructors, etc. In addition, I would conduct interviews with
hotel and restaurant managers, listing the accommodations that their
establishments had to offer. I
interviewed tourists to get a sense on what they would like to see improved,
and took a survey of their opinions to find out such things as how long and
where they were planning on staying, if they enjoyed their stay so far or if
they had any complaints, and to collect possible opinions of improvements and
other suggestions or comments they might have.
Also, I interviewed and surveyed the Catarinecos(as) find out what they
desire be done with the town, to see if what they said tied into tourism, and
to find out their feelings and possible apprehensions about a rise in the
tourism industry. Of these, I tried to
keep a healthy balance of both those who benefited from tourism and those who
didn’t, such as the agriculturists. I
wanted, as an emphasis of this research, to know how they felt about foreigners
walking about in their neighborhood. I
included in the survey relevant questions to find out if people would be
willing to come and pay for the type of services that could possibly be
provided. I found out local fiesta
dates and when and why the people of Santa Catarina perform their traditional
celebrations and rituals. Then, I
interviewed the Mayor, Mariano Lopez, to see if these requests were reasonable
and feasible, as well as general information on any and all past, present, and future town development
projects. I also endeavored to locate
and explicate everything a tourist can possibly do here. I explored the town, and drew a map listing
all stores and hotels and include their respective accommodations.
Expectations about the Research
I expected that, through the course of my research I
would find and identify all impediments of the development of tourism in Santa
Catarina, as well as any and all promising prospects. I wanted to locate all possible providers of funds, find out what
kind of budget Santa Catarina is working with, town development issues,
security and safety issues. In short,
find out what is good and what is bad for tourism development, as well as what
might be done to improve both. I wanted
as well go take a census in regards to how tourists were being received by the
locals, as well as how the locals felt about the tourists.
Problems
I was fearful that there is not
enough tourism potential in Santa Catarina to complete a report of this nature. Also,
I found myself pondering what kind of development could possibly be
manifested without the proper funds, because there are none available, and the
Mayor said that when he presents town projects to opportunity providers, such
as Inguat and other such suppliers of possible funds, they do not respond
favorably.
Limitations
The duration of my stay in Santa Catarina was a mere
six weeks, and this, I think, is hardly enough time to grasp and identify the
exact and complete goings on. In
addition, my period of stay was during the rainy season, which, coincidentally,
is the off-season for tourists. This
summer rainy season, in my opinion, is a ridiculous time to study tourism, as
there are few tourists in comparison to other months.
My short stay only enabled me to interview so many
tourists and locals, and so the sample surveys I took of them both may not
completely reflect the feelings and apprehensions of the vast majority. I do believe however, that the answers I
received were consistent enough to be valid.
“The name Maya evokes images of ancient cities, long
abandoned and overgrown by jungle. Yet
today there are 7.5 million Maya living in Guatemala, southern Mexico, and
Belize, as well as in a growing diaspora across North America. Comprised of nearly thirty distinct language
groups, the Maya together represent the second largest indigenous population in
the Americas. They have also faced
some of the worst conditions of poverty and exploitation in the
hemisphere. Yet the Maya have
demonstrated tremendous tenacity in the face of encroachment and repeated
cycles of conquest that continue to this day.
They also maintain strong cultural cohesion despite considerable linguistic
heterogeneity. Their close connection
to the land, shared subsistence base, and deeply ingrained and encompassing worldview
help explain the remarkable endurance of the Maya.
About 60% of Guatemala’s eleven million inhabitants
are Maya. Most are concentrated in the
western highlands, a mountainous region that has been inhabited for several
thousand years. Corn (maize) and other
subsistence crops domesticated in the Mesoamerican region continue to be
cultivated using centuries-old technologies and indigenous knowledge. Many Maya also engage in a variety of
non-agricultural activities and wage labor, and today increasing numbers have
migrated to cities and north to the United States.
Whereas the lowlands were the epic setting for the
classic Maya civilization, most of the contemporary Maya population is found in
the highlands. Extending from Chiapas,
Mexico, to present-day Guatemala City, this mountainous region contains
hundreds of settlements ranging from tiny dispersed hamlets to concentrated
villages and towns linked by a network of trails and roads, mostly
unpaved. Often there are only a few
non-indigenous residents, mostly teachers and government personnel. Fertile volcanic soils cover some of the
area. And natural vegetation is mainly oak-pine forest and chaparral. However, virtually all arable land has been
converted to subsistence and export crops, and steep terrain and overuse of
land has led to serious environmental degradation. Combined with varied timing and levels of precipitation, conditions
for most of the highland Maya today are characterized by uncertainty and
periodic scarcity.
Intermediate between the Pacific coastal plain and
higher elevation lies an ancient volcanic basin holding magnificent Lake
Atitlán. Ringed by volcanoes and one
mile in elevation, the lake has long been a major tourist destination. Promoted as a “land of eternal springtime,”
the Atitlán region has moderate temperatures throughout the year. Cycles of life are governed primarily by
cyclical rainy and dry seasons. As
throughout the highlands, vertical ecology and microgeographic diversity
results in a wide spectrum of economic and cultural variation in a relatively
small area. The lake itself is a
principal source of water for irrigation, fishing, and transport by small
launches and canoes to other lakeside communities as well as highways
connecting the lake to larger towns and cities.” (James Louky, The Tz’utujil Maya: Changing Identities, Enduring Struggle)
“When the delta of the Panajachel River ends at the
East, the high cliff comes down precipitously to the edge of the lake, so that
the footpath has to rise from the level of the lake. It doesn’t descend again until it reaches the town of Santa
Catarina. Here there is a slight bay in
the lake, and here also the cliff is broken into an easier slope with something
of a level beach.
The Municipio of Santa Catarina consists chiefly of
the territory comprised by the high upward slope on top of which it meets the
Municipio of San Andres Semetabaj. Only
the small part that I have mentioned, and extending a little south towards San
Antonio, is at all level; a small stream falls to the lake at the southeastern
edge of the bay and cuts off the town at this extremity. The Municipio itself, seen from the lake,
extends only a short distance to the northwest, where it meets Panajachel, but
a much longer distance (about four miles) to a point near the town of San Antonio. It is very small in area, and now hasn’t more than four hundred
people in all; it produces nothing that no other village does, although it
brings more fish, crabs, and tul mats to market than does any other town.
Although there is a stream on the edge of town, the
water is used very little ; a few women take drinking water from it, and a few
wash their clothes in it. But the chief
source of water for all purposes is the lake shore; here women may be seen at
almost any time of the day—drawing water, washing clothes, washing their hair
and faces; and here men may be seen getting in or out of their canoes or
working on enclosures in which to trap fish, or (if they are young men)
swimming. The lake is rarely used for
transportation, but very extensively for fishing. @There are canoes, made in Atitlán or San Pedro, all or a small
variety to hold at most two men; these canoes are owned by local Indians, and
if one does not own a canoe himself, he
can rent one from another for five cents a day. The size of the canoes (in contrast to those in Atitlán and San
Pedro) alone indicates that they are
not used for getting around, since it hardly pays for one or two men
alone to make a long trip by water if it can be done by land. But actually land routes from Santa Catarina
to where-they-want-to-go are quicker than water. The local Indians need to go to Panajachel (thence to Sololá) and
to Tecpan. To the latter there is no
water route; to Panajachel there is an easy one-hour path. The Indians almost always use this
path. Women, as it happens, rarely ever
use canoes, and of course they go to market—perhaps as often as men—in
Panajachel and Sololá; since they occasionally go with their husbands, that may
be an added reason for walking. To San
Lucas the water route is much shorter than the land route, and although the
Indians from here rarely go, they go by water when they do; I think, on the whole, that the simple
explanation of ease suffices for the more usual land route.
The Catarinecos, for all their fishing, are
primarily agricultural; but they have comparatively little milpa-land. This is because (1) the available land in
the Municipio is steep, irregular, and rocky, and (2) ladinos (especially from
San Andres) have bought up considerable parts of it. Nevertheless, practically all families own at least a few cords
of milpa, and one of the chief means of earning a living is by working on the
milpas of the ladinos. Horticulture is
not practiced—not because conditions along the shore are not favorable (since a
Panajacheleno rents some shore-land from a local Indian and grows vegetables)
but because Catarinecos do not go in for it.
Fishing, crabbing, and mat-making assume the
proportions of industries in Santa Catarina; most but not all men in town “know
how” to fish, crab, and make mats; more “know how” to do two out of the three,
and still more at least one. There are
several varieties of fishing: a hook
and line, with bait, a cone-shaped basket on a pole with bait tied to the mouth
of the basket, “hot-water” fishing with a very large cone-shaped basket, and
shore fishing. Very few men do the
hot-waters fishing, and still fewer the shore fishing, since shoreline must be
owned to do it. All of the tools for
fishing are make here in Santa Catarina by the fishermen themselves. Crabbing requires a vine ten to fifteen
yards long, with bait attached at intervals, the whole kept coiled and let out
in the water. The crabbers themselves
go back into the hills to get the vines that grow on certain trees.
“Knowing how” to fish or crab implies “knowing how”
to use a canoe, knowing where to fish, and usually knowing how to make the
necessary tools. There are people in
most towns on the lake who “know” these things, but the percentage is much
greater in Santa Catarina. In recent
years a tax of a dollar a month has been imposed as a fishing license, and this
effectively keeps most of those who “know” off the lake; but not in Santa Catarina, for the license
is not required of Catarinecos—and exemption purportedly allowed because
fishing is so necessary to the livelihood of the people.
Mat making requires no tools, but
considerable skill; a lesser number of Catarinecos know how to make mates, and
a correspondingly lesser number in other towns. Up until the lake rose three years ago, mat making was a great
industry; there is now very little tul, however, along the shore, and
correspondingly few mats made. Tul is a
long weed that grows in the water; when they are cut to the same lengths and
dried a bit and flattened, a thick mat can be woven of them; the actual weaving
takes one man about tow hours and brings as much as 30 cents (in a far market such
as Tecpan)—so that the scarcity of tul now really works an economic
hardship.
The fish that are caught are usually no more than an
inch and a half long; they are strung on thin sticks—about four of five to a
stick, and toasted before bringing to
market. Crabs are sold in bunches of
four usually; the prices of those varies with the competition and the market,
but a set of four crabs sells for 2 to 3 cents.”
To concur and confirm what Sol Tax noted about the
Catarinecos and their town, as well as to note possible changes through time, I
came to manifest the life history of one of the townspeople. For this study I wanted to interview my host
father, Louis Lopez Ordonez, for a number of reasons. One, he owns and operates the largest tourist tienda in Santa
Catarina, which relates directly to my research topic. Two, he is older that most of the other
Indians I have met and became acquainted with here in town (51), and so, in his
telling me the story of his life, I thought that he might be able to provide me
with interesting details concerning the history of the towns development, which
indeed he did. And three, his entity
has forbearance for my lack of Spanish speaking abilities. These three reasons convinced me that Louis
would be ideal for this particular assignment.
These propensities for my motivation proved correct, as he supplied me
with not only his own history, but also the history of his people and their
town, Santa Catarina.
The interview took place in the dining room of his
home, upstairs from his shop, where the family and I took our meals. The interview itself was semi-structured, as
I presented him with a series of questions and wrote down answers in my
notebook, but had casual overtones with typical small talk in between answers
and questions. To break the ice I
brought to the interview table some pieces of sweet candy, which he
appreciated, and commenced with an open-ended question, which was meant for him
to answer with relative ease, so to partially tranquilize any and all anxieties
he might have about the interview or the questions that were going to be
asked. This technique seemed to work
well as, throughout the interview, he cracked many jokes. This seemed to lighten the atmosphere of the
encounter, and I dubbed the ensuing moments suitable for more specific
questions.
Louis Lopez Ordonez is 51 years of age. He was born in 1951, in the town of Santa
Catarina, where he has lived his entire life.
His father was an agriculturist, and dealt primarily with corn, beans,
and onions. His mother wove the
traditional ropas tipicas, even back then.
Although his mother died some years back, his father is still alive and
well at the tender age of 87.
Historically, he said, Catarinecos where known for
their advanced fishing, crabbing, and canoeing skills; there has never been a
fishing license imposed upon them either.
And, indeed, Louis and his two brothers, Miguel and Vitalino, all fished
and crabbed for many years. Louis
himself was a fisherman for 12 years, before he earned enough money to buy the
house he currently lives in and the downstairs business he runs. The house he inhabits is currently 12 years
in existence, and he has been a businessman for a little more than fifteen
years now.
When I asked him the population of Santa Catarina,
en aquel entonces, when he was a boy, he appeared uncertain. But, after a moment or two he replied that
his estimation was 500-600 indigenous Indians.
The population of the town, to date, numbers just over 2,000
inhabitants. So, by Louis, the town has
tripled in size over the course of approximately 4 and ½ decades (In reading
the ethnographic field notes of Sol Tax, an anthropologist who conducted
research on the lakeside communities of Atitlán in the 1940’s, the population
of Santa Catarina, had been decimated by various epidemics of disease and
infections).
He also gave me a brief description of the general
layout of the town back then. He said
that about thirty years ago many Chaleteros began to move into town. Chaleteros are those that purchase tracts of
land, lakeside of possible, and construct elegant chalets, creating a
tremendous contrast between the types of households (from luxurious mansions
with majestically landscaped perimeters to rusty tin houses wrapped with barbed
wire. He said that he didn’t like the
Chaleteros because, even though they provide a few jobs for people, they take
up too much lakeside property, which hinders tourism.
His oldest brother, Miguel, has worked under one
Chaletero for 18 years now. His
generation of men were all fishermen and crabbers, but, in later years they
found better paying jobs. Louis has his
business and Miguel tends to the Chalet and landscapes the property.
He told me as well that in his youth there were no
houses down by the lake, and that is was formerly a grassy area before it got
developed. He said that people started
to build their houses down on this lakeshore region only around ten years
ago.
When Louis was around the age of 24 or 25, he
married the Catarineca Juana Sajvin. By
their union they created a baby girl, their only child, Catarina Lopez Sajvin,
now 25. Catarina has two children by
two different men. The oldest, Wilson
Heradado, is six years old and is currently attending the primary school
located just off Santa Catarina’s main square.
The other boy, Louis Miguel Tax, is two years old, and still spends his
days under the watchful eye of his mother.
Perhaps the most interesting aspect of this
interview was, by Louis’s life story, the correspondences and confirmations,
that came to me as a kind of bonus, of what I have heard from other sources of
the town’s historical development and history.
By him and his recollections one can almost imagine what Santa Catarina
was like in years past. A small fishing
and agricultural community with not near as many houses as there are now. No roads, but only dirty mud paths where
pigs used to roam freely and children used to play.
Life is very simple in the household Ordonez, and
consists primarily of the maintenance of the individuals in the family, which
is a very close-knit organization of kinsmen and women, and maintenance of the
house itself. Time is utilized in
effective manners conducive to upholding the well being of the family centers
as well as allocating and utilizing resources in traditional senses in
accordance with Maya history.
I came to
choose a critical analysis of life in the household Ordonez, and explicate the
roles and activities of those who live within, through multiple pragmatic
motivations that I believe will yield to the reader an increasingly holistic
and well-rounded view of how contemporary Maya existence is carried out on a
micro-level, day-to-day basis. Although
this is by no means a complete summation of the entirety of life in Santa
Catarina, it will allow its imaginer accurate depictions of day to day
activities and circumstances.
First, who better to analyze than the family with
whom I have been living for the past month?
We are very comfortable with each others presence now, members are more
than willing to answer any questions I might have along the way, and the chance
that I could develop a stronger rapport with another Maya family than with the
people I live with, see and converse with extensively each day is, is hard to
imagine. I wanted to take a holistic
approach, and explicate the lifestyle of a complete household, therefore
gaining, instead of a single-actors activity in the community for a
infinitesimal amount of time, a prime knowledge of the exact doings and
circumstances into an entire household with whom I had the chance to observe
for over a month. In addition, the
solitary actor, the relationship between us being “acquaintance” at best,
“stranger” at least, would more than likely be uncomfortable with my requesting
to follow them around for the day and see what they do, and his or her
activities observed would run the risk of being influenced or biased by my
“shadow” presence. What’s more is that
my observations will go largely if not completely unnoticed in the household
Ordonez as the extent of my methodology here is to “just stay home today.” Of course, there will be questions that come
along throughout this sampling maneuver, but these will seem commonplace as
people who live together are entitled, in degrees, to inquire into each others
lifestyles, and will not conjure up apprehension, anxieties, defense
mechanisms, suspicion, or lies.
In addition to these first and primary reasons,
there is another. This next ties the
household Ordonez into the subject matter of this paper. I believe, by this, that the reader will
gain comprehensive and practical, in-depth insights into the typical Cakchiquel
Maya household and business, as Louis, my host father, is not only the
patriarch of his immediate, nuclear family, he is also the sole proprietor of a
retail business whose many wares make-up, qualitatively, the entire spectrum of
wares one can find here in the pueblo of Santa Catarina Palopo.
Quantitatively, I would be so bold as to say Louis
has some of the finer made garments, masks, paintings and pictures in town, and
that he is one of the most talented painters as well. He does good business here (this assertion is of course a comparative
analysis, and warrants further specificity).
I say “good business” because, by my observations, he typically sells
more that the other galleries in town, at least two or three items on any given
day, which is more than can be said for his competitors.
His business is located on the first story of his
house, and/or, his house is located on the second story of his business. This first floor consists of three
individual, directly adjacent rooms. The first and leftmost contains the ropas
tipicas; the hand embroidered pants, shirts, scarves, dresses, belts, etc. The second and middlemost has within it
multiple blankets/tapestries, more ropas tipicas (dresses mainly), embroidered
purses and pouches hanging from the ceiling, and his desk and drawers where he
conducts transactions. The right most
has the paintings, the masks, and some ceramics. All this combined dubs Louis Lopez Ordonez the owner of the
single largest indigenous business operations in town, at least three times
larger than the other galleries and ropas tipicas stores. Therefore I consider the opportunity ripe to
observe some of the indigenous marketing strategies, as well as see first hand
the micro level economics of the tourist/Indian relationship.
Hence: I
awoke at six am this morning so as to catalog an entire day in the Ordonez
household. I chose this time because
that is the time when the others awake (these others, to whom I have
impersonally referred, are Louis Lopez Ordonez, age 51, patriarch of the
household; Catarina, age 25, Louis’s daughter; Wilson, age six, Louis’s
grandson and Catarina’s oldest boy; Louis Miguel Tax, Catarina’s youngest boy
and also Louis’s grandson). Upon first
awakening Louis watered the various plants out on the balcony that overlooks
the main road, as he does every morning.
But not too much he tells me, as the afternoon rain will undoubtedly
quench their thirst later on. Then he
went downstairs to unlock the doors to his shop, and to hang various garments
and paintings out on the porch so that passers by would see them. The children awoke with Catarina, as they
stay in her room and sleep in her bed.
As the children began to play with the few, small, unidentifiable plastic
toys they have, Catarina began to form fresh tortillas from the bag of
corn-meal in the kitchen so that we could eat them for lunch, and the sounds of
two hands clapping them together could be heard for the next half hour.
After talking in his native language to some other
Indians that lingered in front of the store for awhile, Louis came back
upstairs, got out his broom from the storage room, and began to sweep out the
dining room area, as portions and parcels of past meals had accumulated, for
breakfast. Then he went down stairs and
did the same with his shop and outside porch, so that passers by could behold
the dust free glory of his dark blue gallery of art. When you first walk down the cobblestone street towards the
Gallery Ordonez, a sign, hanging on a red metal pole, whose words are brightly
painted red, green, yellow, and blue, welcomes you in English. The building itself, which has two stories,
is painted yellow and a dark sky blue, and has stone inlay around the maroon
bars that shield the clean glass windows and the green, hollow metal doors from
unlawful entry. Hanging from atop
wooden beams, which frame sections of the outside ceiling, or the bottom of the
balcony floor, are a series of traditional Tz’utujil Mayan garments. These are
mostly vests of different colorful designs which the lady of the house,
Catarina, weaves with her small home made loom during the day, when she’s not
out selling them to visiting tourists down by the lake. They are beautiful. The traditional traje of Santa Catarina
Palopo is widely esteemed to be among the most beautiful to behold, and are of
a purple and blue backdrop persuasion, with different animals and patterns of
color delicately embroidered. On
average, it will take a woman two and one half to three months to make a single
huipil, which can be sold on the market at prices ranging from anywhere between
100 to 700 quetzales (quetzales typically sell 7.8 per U.S. dollar, which means
that 780 quetzales is equivalent to 100 dollars). These garments are situated on the left side and middle of the
balcony’s bottom. Hanging on the right
side of the balcony’s underbelly are eight hand painted pictures depicting
various angles of Lake Atitlán and the surrounding volcanoes at different times
of the day. Roosters nearby crow
incessantly as people both native and foreign stroll by from either direction,
sometimes pausing to gaze awhile at the artwork before walking on. There are three doorways allowing entrance
to the bottom floor; one to the extreme right, another in the middle, and the
other on the extreme right. Upon
ascending the two steps that lead to each of the doors, you will notice many
more garments and paintings inside, everywhere.
As
Catarina warming up some black beans,
the children began to take an interest in my doings, and so curiously stared at
me awhile, touching and grabbing at the things on the dining room table I had
brought outside on the balcony so that I could sit and work in the fresh
air. They do this quite
often-everyday. This particular time
Louis came upstairs and scolded them for bothering me. When he had run them off, he told me he was
going to the market in Sololá after breakfast to buy groceries. I asked him why he was going all the way out
to Sololá, as he usually goes to market in Panajachel, as it is much closer. He then told me he was going to see the
dentist to have four missing teeth replaced, and that a little later on he was
going to see his brother Miguel, as he did not have enough money for the visit,
and was going to take out a small loan.
When I went back into the kitchen I saw Catarina
preparing some eggs. Omelets, my favorite! Breakfast was almost ready so I carried the
table and chairs back into the dining room.
Louis and I talked for a couple of minutes about the work I was doing. He already knew that I was making a map of
the town, and I requested that he show me where the town’s two Cofradias were
located. He said that he would take me
after lunch this afternoon.
I knew breakfast was ready when I heard Catarina
call Wilson into the kitchen. A minute
later, Wilson reemerged carrying a cup of coffee, which he carried to the
dining room table. He then repeated
this process, and then again with tortillas, and then finally mine and Louis’s
plates, which contained the black beans and eggs I had seen cooking earlier.
Louis and I sat down to eat. A few
minutes later Louis Miguel brought in his and his brothers food, and they too
began to eat. Soon after, Catarina came
in with her plate, and a single cup of coffee for the three of them to
share. As the children fought over the
coffee mug, Louis and I began to chat, and he said that in
addition to showing me the Cofradias this afternoon, he would show me the house
he had purchased a few months before that was up on the hill. When we had all finished eating, Louis said
he was going to see his brother, and took off up the road. Catarina cleaned up all of the dishes, and
Wilson helped her carry them into the kitchen, where they put them all in a
basin of water to soak awhile. The
youngest child Louis Miguel was still busy smearing his beans onto his
forehead, where they invariably journeyed first, then to the floor, and
eventually into his mouth where some actually managed to stay awhile before
being swallowed or spit back out to be played with further.
I went out to the balcony to take a look around and
saw Louis and Miguel talking a ways on up the road. Catarina was still in the kitchen, Wilson and Louis began to toss
around a small, dirty stuffed bunny.
Louis came into the house when he heard the collectivos, so named
because they collect people in the backs of their Toyota pick-up trucks and
ride them out to Panajachel for 1 and ½ Q, calling people out with their
various honks and whistles that they can issue via some crazy apparatus of
terrible din. He quickly brought his goods
inside and locked the doors, and said something to Catarina in his native
tongue, said adios to me, and was out the door wearing his heavily embroidered
blue backdrop Catarineco pants, a Tasmanian devil T-shirt, and his shiny silver
modern Outer Zone backpack that he purchased at a previous market, which was
slung over his shoulder. A moment later
I saw him go by in the back of Diego’s Toyota pick-up truck as they drove down
the road, and finally out of view. Catarina
then came out of the kitchen with a rag and began to clean up the filthy mess
that was her youngest child. By
accident, Wilson had tossed the dirty bunny over the edge of the balcony. He didn’t seem to care after about five
seconds, when he too was subsumed by his mother’s wet rag. It was 7:30 am, and sky told of a comfortable
day at Lake Atitlán, Guatemala, June 25, 2002.
The subsequent hours saw Catarina bring out her
loom, tie on end to some protruding rebar in the stucco, and begin to weave
delicate animal patterns onto the belt she was undertaking. Wilson went off to school at 8:00am. The only things that distracted her from her
work was the sound of a glass breaking in the kitchen that Louis had dropped,
and other like engagements in mischief the he found his way into. She would call out to him periodically, and
if there was no answer and began the search.
She also scolded him whenever he came around my table or went into my
room and began playing my guitar, or pestering me for whatever food that
happened to be lying around. This was
much appreciated.
Around 9:00am, a large truck drove into town
carrying at least two chords of firewood, which were being sold in
bundles. Catarina got up from her loom,
went downstairs and outside to buy two bundles, which I brought inside for
her. About fifteen minutes later she told
me that she was going down to the lake to do laundry, and asked me if I had any
clothes that needed to be washed. As I
was giving her my load, I asked her if I may accompany her, but I think she thought I was joking as
she just laughed. She took the children
with her.
I took this off time to write up the notes I had
written. As I did so, I wondered if I
had blundered as I was alone in the house, with no one to observe. Fortunately, Louis showed up at the house at
9:47 am, he had with him a bag of tomatoes, a couple heads of broccoli, and 4
brand new teeth, which he showed to me with pride. I asked him what else he did in Sololá, and what he saw there
today, but he did not have much to say.
He just said that he wanted to get back soon and re-open his shop. As soon as I told him that the firewood had
come, he retrieved his ax from storage and began to split it into smaller
pieces. He brought these pieces
upstairs, to the kitchen, where the wood stove is. While he was doing this I noticed some tourists that had walked
up to Louis’s shop and were looking at the wares. As he came outside to give me three unusual looking fruits, which
I later found out were peach derivatives, I motioned to the below tourists, letting
him know they were there. He
immediately ran downstairs, excitedly, hoping to make a sale. But they didn’t buy anything.
Come 10:30am, Catarina came back
from the lake with Louis to cook lunch, and fired up the woodstove. She began boiling some meat and preparing
some kind of tomato sauce. As business
was slow just then, Louis decided to lay down in his room and watch television
for a while before lunch. I played with
Louis, and waited for lunch to arrive.
When Catarina had finished, she
brought out the plates and cups of coffee, and we all sat down. The meat I had seen earlier turned out to be
pig elbows, which I had to decline. I
just soaked up the sauce with a few tortillas.
Everyone else enjoyed the pig elbows tremendously, and I listened as
they ripped the meat off and sucked the bones.
We finished around eleven o clock am, and immediately afterwards Louis
said he was going to take me to his house up in the hills. I put on my shoes and we were out the
door. He asked me for help carrying
some planks of wood up to the site, and so I picked one up, and he the
other. Although I didn’t know the way,
I walked ahead as he directed me.
Louis, at 51, had a very hard time ascending the hillside, and had to
take numerous breaks. We finally made
it to the spot, and Louis showed me where pile the planks. There were two men whom he had hired
rebuilding the foundation wall. The
house was quite a wreck, and had gaping holes in it and piles of gravel inside. He told me it would be ready sometime next
year, and that he was going to sell it for 15,000 quetzales, which is about
$200. I then asked him where the
Cofradias were, and he pointed further up the mountain. He said he was not going to take me, and
disregarded the agreement we had made.
He apparently was too tired and did not want to walk anymore. Mas tarde, said he, these two men will take
you for one or two quetzales, but I did not have any money. After showing me, with much pride, the
septic tank that was just installed, and jabbering some things to the men who
were working there, we descended the hill.
On the way back we stopped at one of his friends ceramic shops and he
told me to go inside with him. Once
inside, I naturally started to look around.
The two of them hounded me to buy something, but I was persistent in my
refusals.
When we got back to the house, which
was at about 12:30pm, I saw Wilson and greeted him. He gets off school at noon.
Louis had fallen fast asleep as he was watching television in Louis’s
room. Catarina was working on her belt
again, and Louis went downstairs and sat at his desk, punching numbers into his
calculator.
Places to Stay in Santa Catarina
“La Casa Palopo”
Now, in Santa Catarina, there are a range of hotels
that tourists, be they king or commoner, would find more that adequately accommodating. There is a wealth of indigenous hospedajes
that are reasonably comfortable available at around 20Q per night (or $2.25 a
night), although many are not likely to supply hot water showers, as well as a
five star hotel, the Casa Palopo, that was rated among the 10 best in the world
by (some) magazine, located just outside the town limits by perhaps a half
mile.
I walked the road to the Casa Palopo. It is some way by foot, but well worth the
journey as it, hands down, is the fanciest and most expensive hotel I have seen
in my day (although there are plenty I haven’t seen). Rooms range in price from 120 American dollars to 150 dollars
each night. There is many an antique
relic and furniture piece in its main lobby, with historical information,
architecture, and local pleasantries of the Maya people. Their menus and the prices of food are all
in English. Waiters cater acquiescently
to their guests in very clean white jackets.
And I emphasize the cleanliness because I could never keep a shirt like
as it should be. Pure as the driven
snow. The prices there are just under
what one would expect to find on the menu of a decent restaurant back in the
states. They have a myriad of expensive
liquors and beers, and an extensive entree list including filet mignon and bass
filet. Most of these main dishes are
around 100 quetzales, some over. But
they also have the less expensive ham sandwiches and the like for 4.50$ or
so. They indeed have a very handsome
set up.
I inquired into the whereabouts of the head manager
to one of the waiters, who said that he would go and retrieve him. When he came, I requested a few minutes of
his time so that I could ask him a few questions about the hotel. He agreed and we began to talk. He told me that prior to the Casa becoming a
hotel, it was, indeed, una casa. The
house was built 6 years ago, and was only converted into a hotel one and one
half years ago. The Casa Palopo is a
extremely small hotel, by far the smallest I have ever seen at only six
rooms. Again, here as at the Villa
Santa Catarina, there are two Jr. Suites in addition to the four standard
rooms. These standards run for 125
dollars plus tax, which is 22%, and the suites are 150 dollars each night, plus
tax of course.
The busy season for the Casa Palopo occurs in the
months of February, March and April, skips May and June, and goes on through
June, August, and December. The short
respite of guests in the summer months, as I have been informed now by numerous
sources, is due to the rainy season. And
indeed, as this rainy season has spanned the entire length of my time in
Guatemala studying abroad, I am an eyewitness and can testify to the fact that
it rains everyday at the lake during these months, almost without fail.
He said that he couldn’t remember exactly, but he
thought that 18 were a good approximate of the number of employees they had
working for them. Of these, he said,
three were from Panajachel, and the rest were from Santa Catarina.
I then told him that I had heard that the Casa Palopo
was expanding with a large addition. He
said that this rumor was false and that the Palopo was quite settled and
established as is, and that there was a consensus that everything is as it
should be. He didn’t even have any idea
what I was talking about, even though a gargantuan construction site was the
Palopo’s immediately adjacent neighbor.
He divined that what I was referring to was a chalet being built, but in
actuality gave no concrete information.
At first, I believed him this building to be had nothing to do with the
Casa, but when he told me that he wasn’t even aware that there was a huge
construction site right next store, that made me suspicious. He said that he wasn’t at liberty to tell me
the names of the owners, as the hotel “is an anonymous society.”
Next, I informed him that I was aware that the Casa
Palopo had been ranked, by some prestigious magazines, one of 10 best hotels in
the world, a five-star organization. He
said that he was aware of this as well, and told me that he could not remember
the exact name of the magazine either, but that he did have some copies of some
other magazines that had reported on the Casa in a similar fashion, which he
went and got for me upon request. Sure
enough, there in the magazines, I was looking at, which were the CondeNast
Traveler and Audrey, was the hotel were I was sitting. The photographers took some excellent
pictures of the place. One can easily
find articles of the Casa online with the help of any search engine, since I
imagine it would be somewhat difficult to find those specific magazine
issues. I then concluded the interview
with a handshake and a thank you, took my pictures, and was out the door.
“La Villa de Santa Catarina”
I went down to the Villa Santa Catarina hotel to
have an interview with the head manager, who was born and raised in
Panajachel. He was very obliging and
gentile. We sat in the dining area of
restaurant, and he ordered some coffee for us.
He offered to show me the rooms, and even supplied copies of the menus.
It turns out that the place has been in business for
14 years, opening day December 28, 1988.
They have a total of 36 rooms, 34 being standard, and the other two Jr.
Suites. The standards have a set rate
of 56 dollars plus tax each night, and the suites 70 dollars plus tax. They have 28 employees altogether, not
including him, the only manager. Five
of these employees are from different towns around the lake, and the other 23
live in Santa Catarina. All of the male
Indians here wear their original and traditional embroidered pantalones in
addition to their white, long sleeve button-up hotel employee shirts. The women, who run the front desk and clean
the rooms, are completely decked out in the more expensive and elaborate
traje.
When I asked him who lived in the house around back,
he said that the owner, Rafael Sagastume, stays in Guatemala managing another
hotel, and actually own a change of five different hotels, stay their on
occasion when they come to visit, and see how things are going. These other hotels are located in
Chichicastenango, Antigua, Tikal, and Flores, are collectively referred to as
the Villas De Guatemala.
When I asked him to list the accommodations that the
hotel has to offer, he replied that, aside from the obvious (the lake,
volcanoes, and Maya culture) that they have large rooms, the bar and
restaurant, the pool, and a lounge witch has a pool and ping-pong table. He also had some ideas for the future, and
says that the owners are thinking of installing an Internet Café as well as a
small tienda selling chocolates, pastries, magazines, and small souvenirs. The approximate date for the completion of
these additions is sometime in November, “a little before Christmas.”
There is inadequacy as far as teaching the locals
proper techniques in tourism are concerned.
This education is entirely due to a lack in funds. Santa Catarina only has within it a single
primary school for children. There is a
high school in Panajachel, but Indians cannot attend for the cost, and the fact
that they do not have the time, as at this age they take on the manual labors
like fishing and agriculture to help supply their households with money enough
to buy food and proper clothing. And so
there is little capacity for tourism education, as the municipality does not
have money enough to hire an adequate supply of teachers. And so there are no people here qualified as
tour guides, or scuba diver instructors, or first-aid medics, etc. Most of the Indians do not ever supplement
their education with high school.
Basically the extent of their education entails learning the basics of
reading and writing. Mathematics is not
emphasized. What is emphasized is the
learning the secondary language of Spanish.
This skill is considered to be valuable because no one else in the world
speaks the Kaqchiquel language of Santa Catarina, and so if a Catarineco wishes
to gain employment, he must learn the language of his employers and their
customers.
“Travel
Agency”
The travel agencies do not advertise Santa Catarina,
as they are looking out for themselves and there is no money to be made in
escorting tourists the 8 kilometers to town from Panajachel, the main tourist
destination around the lake. These
agencies would rather advertise far off destinations such as Antigua, Tikal,
and Coban. That is how they make their
money, with long distance excursions.
Mariano, though, is working on a possible solution to this problem, and
says that the town hopes to have its own travel agency established by October
of this year. Again, the problem with
this is education. Bringing in more
outsiders would be fruitless, as they would be the sole reapers of the
benefits.
“Security”
Security, says Mariano, is not of much concern. There are police that patrol the streets
between Panajachel and San Antonio, and crime has indeed been hindered by the
development of this force. The problem,
he says, with the bandits and muggers, is due to irresponsible tourism. They go out at night and take secluded walks
by themselves. This problem will always
be recurring, he says, so long as robbers know that tourists have money, and so
long as these tourists continue to place themselves carelessly in harms
way.
“Installation of Septic Tanks”
As a vast majority of the population do not have
indoor plumbing, or proper sewage facilities. This is not conducive to
tourism. So, one project currently
underway is the construction to two mass septic tanks that people can connect
their toilets to. This will drastically
cut down on the amount of feces and urine running off into the lake, where
people still bathe and wash their clothes.
A few of the financially better off Mayan families have something
resembling septic tanks, but are in actuality mere holes in the ground.
“Further Questioning”
When I asked the Mayor what he would do if he
actually had some money with which to work, he replied that this septic tank
project would be his first order of business.
Second, he says he would move the dump to a location where the tourists
would not have to see it, thus getting rid of what is perhaps the towns biggest
eye and nose sore. (Coincidentally, San
Antonio just recently moved their dump, which was also the very beginning of
town.) However, the town does not have
town does not have the necessary funds to move the dump as the 10% of the lakeside
taxes the municipality receives is currently being spent of road construction
and repair. These roads, which were foremost
on the Mayors list for improvement, has exponentially increased the amount of
tourists that come into town on a daily basis.
The main road, constructed about five years ago, made of cobblestone,
runs smack dead through the middle of town, and then on to San Antonio. There is also a secondary, smaller road the
breaks of at 90 degrees from the main road at the square, and runs down to the
lake where the tourist restaurant and hotel are located. This is where the local women come to sell
their garments to tourists. Not too
many cars travel down that way, as most choose to park their vehicles near the
church and walk to the lake. This
ensures the cleanliness of their fabrics, as not too much dust is kicked up due
to the lack of cars. This is where many
of the Catarinecas spend their entire day, selling, and weaving in the
meantime.
The next order of affairs, says Mariano, is to clean
up the lake. Tourists, since they come
to see the lake, like to see it at its prime, and not covered in garbage. But, as stated above, the town does not have
the funds to complete such projects.
And there is little hope for investors, as the Mayor says that they are
scared and weary of investing until these preliminaries are taken care of.
Summation of Tourist Survey
Many of the tourists I interviewed hear about Santa
Catarina by word of mouth. They don’t
typically come to Lake Atitlán to see this town but, rather, they find out
about it during their excursions in Panajachel, and take a day or an afternoon
to come see how the indigenous population “really lives”, and have lunch at the
restaurant by the lake. As there is
little to no nightlife in Santa Catarina, people don’t generally come to spend
the night, with one exception. The
Ladino boy I interviewed was part of a large group that was here for
educational purposes. It was some kind of private school field trip out of
Guatemala City.
All the tourists I talked to agree
that the town was dirty, and when I asked what they disliked most, this was
always the first thing that came to their minds. None of them liked to see the garbage that was strewn about the
lakeshore. I talked to the Mayor the
other day, and this was foremost on his mind as well. He wants to move the dump and hire people to clean up around the
tourist parts of town (at least), but lacks funds.
Most tourists wanted to see further
development of the shoreline, and the mayor was aware of this as well. He said that he presented a project to an
organization Inguat to install a “board walk,” but they didn’t even take him
seriously. Many people I talked to made
this same suggestion. As the primary
attraction at the lake is the lake, people want to see it clean and healthy
when they arrive, without garbage washing up on shore.
Transportation, too, was an issue for a lot of
people. I spoke with some people that were upset that they were having such a
hard time trying to get to San Antonio. The sad fact is that pick-ups will not
go to San Antonio unless there is an ample amount of people to make the trip
worthwhile. And so it’s virtually
impossible for one or two tourists to get to San Antonio without paying 30 Quetzales for a private taxi.
Some of the people I talked to said that they missed
the bars and clubs, as there are neither in Santa Catarina. I’m not sure that this is the type of
tourism the people here are looking for however and, in my opinion, they are
better off for the time being without one.
There is a general consensus, though, among the tourists, that they are
completely content and satisfied with Santa Catarina as is. They enjoy being able to see a entire town
in the matter of an hour or two. Many
go on to San Antonio for the second part of the day, and so are able to
sightsee the entirety of two towns.
This is a great appeal and, headquartered in Pana, many tourists cannot
resist a day’s expedition to soak up the culture of these tinier side towns. “It is rather close after all”, one
Englishman said to me, “and well worth the excursion.”
The Hotels
Throughout my conversations and interviews with the
townsfolk of Santa Catarina, I found that they had nothing but good comments
and favoritism for the hotels, even though they were franchises taking up
lakeshore property and owned by “extranjeros.”
They felt that the hotels were an excellent source of work for the
people, and that the town benefited from the publicity that they provided. As many here in Santa Catarina depend on
tourism for all their income, they thoroughly respect and appreciate these
establishments.
In stark contrast to the hotels, barely any Indians
appreciate the presence of these compounds.
Because of the facts that they bring no tourists, crowd lakeside
property, and create very little work and revenue for the Indians, many are
displeased with their presence entirely.
The only Catarinecos who had any kind words at all for the chaleteros
were those who were directly employed by them.
But these are few and far between, for a single chalet compound supports
only approximately one household, and even then income must be supplemented,
most often by selling textiles.
The Tourists
When in talking to the Catarinecos about their
visitors, I found that feelings were mixed.
The Catarinecos want to sell their textiles to visitors, and are very
pleased when they close a sale. But
often times, they tell me, they are disturbed at the number of visitors who
come and regard the town as if it was a giant hotel in and of itself. These people, they say, are highly impersonal
when they come into town, get into everything and start snapping photos like
mad men, and then proceed to vacate the town without having purchased anything
and therefore creating no sense of reciprocity. The Catarinecos want to see and have more tourism in their town,
but would rather not have those impersonal tourists that have come to take
pictures of them as if they were animals in some zoo. On the whole, though, everyone, in the end, consented that the
tourists were indeed beneficial to the well being of the town and the people.
By way of asking questions, taking interviews and
surveys, I found that visitors are more than welcome to stray off the main
tourist road and go walking in the residential neighborhood. This, I thought though, was an odd finding
because, during my walks and hikes into the residential parts of town, where
tourists typically do not dwell, I noticed a look in people’s eyes that implied
that I was not welcome. However, these
looks, I found, were dispelled after a friendly greeting. It seems that they are suspicious at first,
and they wonder just what it is you are doing, coming to call on them in such a
personal way. Having since then asked many
Indians how they felt about visitors walking around the hills and asking
questions, and in fact interviewed some concerning the matter, I would have to
qualms in recommending a stroll through this part of town. I would stress however that the
above-mentioned category of impersonal mad man photo snapper stay out of the
residential areas. One must keep in
mind at all times that, when in journeying to this part of town, you are a
guest in someone’s home or backyard. It
would be wise to exchange greetings first, and perhaps have a bit of
conversation before a request for pictures are asked, as opposed to gawking at
them and taking their picture as if they were an exhibit. This is especially critical when one wishes
to take pictures of young children. I
recall hearing a story one time of a lynching of a tourist, which resulted in
his death, that came about because there was suspicion of the kidnapping and
selling of Guatemala babies to overseas families, pictures taken being
something of an advertisement. I would
be so bold as to say the circumstances would not be to the tourists appeal if
he of she were to be suspected of these intentions, and would recommend that
they take caution when in photographing young children at all.
Before Tourism
I have no personal experience with Santa Catarina
before it was affected by tourism, and if one were truly interested in life
there before these influences, I would recommend the fieldnotes of Sol Tax, who
did extensive research there in the 1930’s and 1940’s. However, I can tell of some changes, having
read these fieldnotes myself, as well as having heard testimony from Indians
who have lived in town through these changes.
I can say
for sure that the town was much smaller and poorer before the arrival of the
tourism industry. There was no road
going through the center of town prior to people wanting to come and
visit. But now, with the necessary
demand from tourists, a main street, as well a secondary road going down to the
lake and restaurants, has been cobblestoned.
In addition to these, the municipality is now putting effort forth to
cement over the previously dirt footpaths that wind in labyrinths within and
without of the residential parts of town.
Nor were there the numerous streetlights that now
light the pedestrians’ way at night along the roads and paths to their
homes. Tourism activity is virtually
nil come dusk, but the locals are out and about a while longer, and this is
largely due to their being able to see where it is they are going.
Nor were there the hotels and tourist restaurants
that are there now, that are in existence solely to cater to the tourist
visitors. In addition, the adolescents
of the town tell me that there was no money to buy the soccer field that is
there now, or the public restrooms down by the lake.
Many tourist businesses have also popped up along the
main road so as to sell their wares to visitors for additional income, and so
more work has come about with tourism.
Tourism is, more and more, becoming a major theme in
the lives of the people in Santa
Catarina Palopo. It is becoming an
integral part of the community and, indeed, it would not be a stretch of the
truth to state that people in Santa Catarina, as well as the numerous other
lakeside towns, have internalized and accepted the industry of tourism to the
extent that it has become an influential and major factor in their lifestyle
and day to day existence. As a
substantial number are totally dependent on visitors for their entire income,
the desire and, indeed, need for the revenue that tourists provide while
touring. These revenues are put forth
to further much needed infrastructure development plans that serve to amend the
general quality of life. Be those developments
the construction of an adequate system of roads, proper sanitation facilities,
or the hiring of teachers to provide a higher degree of education for children,
they are developments that are much needed.
And so tourists and visitors from all around the world are welcome
around the lake, creating a mutual relationship between host and guest wherein
both parties partake of and reap the benefits either side has to offer. Not only this, but, in a broader sense, when
one takes into consideration their own culture and the culture of the lakeside
communities, be they from the United States, Canada, Europe, Asia, or Australia,
something extraordinary comes into light; there is something highly substantial
to be learned in this comparison. In a
day and age, where we (and not wishing to put words in mouths, I speak here of
those of us who reside in the United States, although I suspect that this holds
true in any and all of the above mentioned continents), as a people and a
society, are, to a large degree, spoiled in our decision to prize convenience
over responsibility, and would surrender our own self-reliance to those who seek
to capitalize off our ignorance, namely those franchises and enterprises whom
are the middlemen I spoke of at the beginning of this work, those global
corporate organizations who somehow have succeeded in their coercion and
manipulations, and have made us forfeit our access to the modes of production
as well as how resources are regulated and dispersed into our midst, I believe
that we can indeed learn a thing or two from those who live more “simple”
lifestyles than we. And what we have to
learn is precisely this: that our lost
modes over the resources of production are not gone forever, but are only
temporarily lost, and can be regained if we so wish. And the remarkable part is that this recapturing of our
self-reliance is so simple that all to many times the solution is completely
overlooked. To pinpoint this overlooked
solution, one has only to travel and to see firsthand how people lived before
monopolies over resources were manifested.
It is indeed refreshing, in my opinion, to see the pragmatic way of life
of the Indians with whom I was a guest for those few enlightening weeks. They have not the conveniences we possess,
not by any stretch or long shot, and yet they wear happier and more contented
faces than many I have seen back home in the States who have infinitely
more. And so these final words: I would have you, the tourist, rethink just
what it means to tour and to visit, to understand that, although you may think
the contrary, that the people of developing countries and communities do not
exist only for or pleasure. They are
not exhibits on display, nor are they for to suit your gawking pleasures. They are people, and as such deserve to be
treated accordingly.