SUSTAINED AUTHENTICITY: HOW SOLOLA HAS
MAINTAINED ITS CHARACTER
CHRISTOPER DEYOUNG
AMERICAN UNIVERSITY
The Town Square in Sololá is
typically alive with activity, and serves as the center of commerce,
transportation, and local governmental activity. There is a large indoor market located adjacent to the town
square; on market days the vendors spill out onto the surrounding streets
occupying almost every available inch of real estate. The variety and volume of goods for sale is staggering, and the
setting provides a sensory overload that is incredible to observe. The sights, smells, sounds, and environment
provide a beautiful example of a large regional market that has for the most
part, been untouched by direct tourism.
Most of the buyers and sellers are indigenous peoples from a large
variety of communities; I have spoken with merchants from as far away as
Guatemala City and Antigua, as well as locals from Sololá, Pujujil, and the
villages around Lake Atitlán. The
market days are Tuesday and Friday, yet throughout the week vendors and
merchants can be found selling a variety of products indoors as well as on the
streets surrounding the Central Park.
The Town Square also functions as the primary hub of transportation. Buses, trucks, and mini-vans arrive and
depart for Guatemala City, Los Encuentros, Quiché, Panajachel,
Chichicastenango, and more than a dozen other locations. Buses full of tourists
and tourist money also pass through the center of Sololá on a daily basis,
destined for the tourist communities of Lake Atitlán, which lie only a few
kilometers to the South. A majority of
the tourist buses do not stop in Sololá, although some vacationers transfer
buses in the market square. During my
stay in Sololá, it quickly became apparent that very few tourists come to visit
or explore the town; and even fewer come to spend money.
As I began to become familiar with Sololá, I became interested in understanding why the town has remained so isolated from the tourist economy that flows through the city every day. I started my research by looking into the potential for tourism development in Sololá. My desire was to learn about the local interest level for tourism development, what infrastructure was in place for accommodating tourists, and what options (‘destinations’) Sololá could provide for those who came to visit. In the process of learning what Sololá had to offer in the way of tourist destinations, I learned that perhaps I was asking the wrong question. From the interviews I conducted with community members, business owners, and local governmental officials, it soon became apparent what my question should be. In a subtle way, my informants were describing to me how and why Sololá has remained so isolated from the hordes of tourists that vacation only a few kilometers away in Panajachel. My approach shifted from looking at the potential for tourism, to trying to understand the social, cultural and economic variables that are responsible for the absence of tourism. There are several degrees of expressed ambivalence toward tourism, based on the discussions I have had with people in Sololá. From a business and governmental position, the primary deterrent for developing tourism in Sololá has been expressed as a lack of organization. The opinions and information that I have learned from some of the poorer members of the community is a general ambivalence toward tourism development, and a questioning of both the benefits it offers and who receives those benefits. My discussion with community members leads me to believe that there are issues of power that underlie the various attitudes toward tourism, stated as a hopeless venture by some, and indifference by others. The focus of this paper will be to describe the local sentiments toward tourism in Sololá, to understand the development focus of the municipality, and to consider the implications that class and power have on the ability for the local government to make unilateral decisions for Sololá’s future. From the data I have obtained, I would suggest that Sololá is economically stable enough to provide adequate work (particularly low paying jobs) for the people that live here. Jobs that do not necessitate working in the tourist industry, which for some people, is seen as an alternative low paying job that primarily benefits someone else.
Working
on this research project has been a valuable experience for helping me
understand my own biases, as well as learning how to allow the data to reveal
the subject matter. The initial
question I was asking was one that I was genuinely curious about, but it was
not relevant for this city. Over the
last decade, the international development community has come to view tourism
as a panacea; an ideal opportunity for economic development, without many of
the negative side effects associated with other forms of economic growth. Central America has seen a particularly
large jump in the number of national and international tourist destinations.
International tourism is expected
to grow from 612 million travelers to over 1.6 billion annual travelers over
the next 20 years. According to the World Tourism Organization, the same 20
year period will experience an increase in tourist expenditures rising from
$443 billion to over $2 trillion annually (ENN 1999). These predictions for the dramatic increase in tourism have led
to an explosion in the industry, with rapid growth in the number of tourist
destinations, touring agencies, and travel organizations. The control of resources and planning by
governmental and international organizations can determine the direction of the
growth of tourism, and who benefits from that growth. Lake Atitlán is a region
where the Mayan culture is being exploited for tourist income; little of which
is going to support the Mayan community in the form of better jobs or improved
living conditions. Control of the
commodification of culture is often not in the hands of the local participants,
or even in the hands of a representative of that culture (Mowforth & Munt,
1998: pp237-240). Control of the use of
resources often lies in the hands of NGO’s, governmental agencies, or wealthy
locals who have access to the resources that are necessary for promoting
development.
BACKGROUND[1]
Population Statistics:
Sololá
is the department capital, and lies approximately 600 meters above Lake
Atitlán, and 10 kilometers North of Panajachel. There are roughly 48,000 people living in the city of Sololá;
42,528 are indigenous Maya (Kaqchikel 88.6%), and 5,568 are ladino (Castilion 11.6%). The statistics for the urban area of Sololá[2]
(where the market is located) lists a population of 6,436 people; 4,119
indigenous (64%), and 2,317 ladinos
(36%). I think it is relevant to
understand the differences in the populations of the rural and urban areas of
Sololá. The urban center is home to 42% of Sololá’s ladino population and less than 1% of the indigenous
population.
Religion:
The statistics for religious affiliation
in Sololá list 40% of the population as Catholic, 40% Evangelical, 10% Mayan
spirituality, and 10% other (Jehovah’s Witness, Mormon, etc…). No break down between racial or ethnic
groups was given (Sololá, 2001).
Job Statistics for the Urban Sector:
240 Agricultural Workers
11 Craftspeople
405
Merchants
60
Managers/
Entrepreneurs
650
Laborers
(Day laborers and Minimum Wage)
12
Industrial
Workers
654 Professionals
I spoke with an official from the
municipality about how complete the information on the job numbers is. It was reported that they are somewhat
incomplete and non-specific, because of the difficulty in getting accurate
information about ‘census’ type data. I
was also told that much more information is known about the ladino population than the indigenous
residents. This is partly due to
accessibility and size of the population, he said that many ladinos work in the urban area, and the
population is much smaller than the indigenous population. He also told me that more ladinos hold permanent jobs that are
easier to track, while many indigenous people work a variety of jobs that
fluctuate from time to time. I cannot
confirm the validity of these statements, but it is important to at least
understand this opinion. Therefore I am
confident that these numbers reflect a somewhat skewed representation of the
working population in Sololá. I include
it in the study to give some idea as to the variety of jobs listed by the
municipality, and to illustrate some of the difficulties I had in obtaining
reliable economic/job information.
SETTING
Description of Urban Sololá:
The streets of Sololá are made of
paving stones that are rather uneven in many places. Avenues run north and south, while streets run east and west;
establishing a grid which resembles many large cities. Fanning out from the Market Square,
businesses line both sides of the streets; behind the businesses in the center
of the blocks are where most of the urban dwellings are located. From a high vantage point in the city, you
can make out the variety of ways (often haphazard looking) that the blocks are
cut up into dwellings, but otherwise there is no way to fully comprehend what
lies beyond the walls of the streets.
Several times while walking through town I have caught glimpses through
doorways of what lies beyond; occasionally a cement courtyard, other times a
lush green garden. I mention this because
of the contrast that often exists between the city streets, and the homes that
lie behind them. The streets themselves
contain a good deal trash; newspapers, plastic bags, cans, food wrappers, and
food remains. There is also a
considerable amount of dust and dirt, which is lifted up into the air by the
large, swift moving trucks that pass through the middle of town on a regular
basis. The narrow streets are lined by
tall walls on either side, and during heavy traffic (buses, trucks, and cars)
the air is thick with exhaust, dust, and particulates.
The
newly opened ‘Parque Centroamerica’ is located at the center of the city, and
serves as the focal point for the indoor and outdoor markets as well as the
transportation system. The park is approximately 80 square yards of
crisscrossing sidewalks with enclosed patches of grass between them. There are an abundance of seats, with
outdoor speakers and lampposts spread evenly throughout the park. Trash cans and flowers are spaced along the
sidewalks and at the center of the park is a large, beautiful gazebo that
functions as the stage for official functions (such as the grand opening). The commencement of the park has changed the
activity of the downtown area, and a large number of people can be seen talking,
playing, or simply sitting in the park.
The park functions as a place for people to relax as well as a place
where they can rest before or after work, while waiting for a bus, or as a
respite from the intensity of the market. It is surrounded by such an
overwhelming amount of activity that it serves as a soothing contrast to the
commotion surrounding the streets below.
Located
around the streets of the square, where the park is centered, are many
important buildings that serve the city and the population. The ladino
and indigenous municipalities are located in the square, as well as the Sololá
police station. A large modern Catholic
Church fills most of the block opposite one side of the park, and located next
to the ladino municipality is ‘El
Torre,’ a recently constructed clock tower that rises four stories above the
street. In addition to the public
offices, there are numerous groceries, butcher shops, barbershops, candle
shops, eateries, and a post-office located around the square. One street adjacent to the park serves as
the loading zone for the buses waiting to head out of town towards Los
Encuentros, Quiché, and other destinations.
There are normally at least four to seven buses lining this street on
non-market days (on Tuesdays and Fridays the buses heading out of town to the
North are rerouted to accommodate the vendors). On another street running along
side the park there is a line of 4-6 buses waiting to take passengers to
Panajachel. This area is very active,
and vendors are selling newspapers, ice cream, and a variety of other items to
the large volume of people (mostly locals or people from the surrounding
communities) boarding the buses to Lake Atitlán.
Pictured
above is a layout of the Town Square, which is itself full of activity and
commerce. Hundreds to thousands of
people pass through or stay to engage in an activity here every day, and a
majority of them are indigenous. The
indoor market is located across the street from the Catholic Church, and the
number of vendors that are open for business depends on which day of the week
it is. The official municipal listings
for the indoor market occupants include 40 small stores and groceries, 10 eateries,
30 butcher shops, 18 shoe stores, and 68 sellers of clothing, traditional
merchandise, vegetables, gift shops, and toy stores (Sololá, 2001). The figures seem to overestimate the actual
number of stores inside, and may include the stores surrounding the Market
Square; yet there is a considerable variety of products for sale. On Tuesdays and Fridays, the market pours
out into the streets surrounding the park, often totaling five to six blocks
worth of merchandise. During the Friday market, the aisles between the vendors
weave around, appearing to have absolutely no rhyme or rhythm to their layout,
except to provide some way for people and goods to move about. Some walking aisles have dead ends, and
others join together with 4-5 other corridors forming pedestrian traffic jams
resembling the ‘mixing bowl’ outside of Washington DC at 7:00 a.m. [a snarled
conglomeration of highways that merge at one point just south of the
city]. The aisles and stands are three
to five deep in certain places, and generally no two adjacent vendors are
selling the same products. The stands
come in a variety of shapes and sizes, some having metal or wooden frames,
while others are simply goods spread out on blankets, or on the street itself. Crisscrossing the stands, vendors and
walkways, is a complex web of rope, twine, chain, and tarps. The height of these covers and the ropes
supporting them varies from around 4 feet to 7 feet off the ground. During the smaller market days, the process
of hanging tarps is often only accompanied by rainfall, while on the larger
market days, the tarps are hung preventatively to avoid the sheer chaos that
would be involved in an attempt to raise them quickly during a rain event. During wet weather, the tarps collect
rainfall, and periodically dump gallons of water on unsuspecting people; caused
either by shifting weight or a passer by who unbalances the collected
water. The aisles are narrow (perhaps
2-5 feet wide), and people periodically stop in the walkways to look at
merchandise, or simply to rest.
The
market resembles a county fair or flea market from the United States; with the
array of merchandise compacted into a much smaller area (and with a much larger
variety of goods for sale). You can
find poultry (dead or alive), dried fish, vegetables, fruit, clothing, furniture,
music, pans, pottery, toiletries, and almost anything else imaginable. A majority of the buyers and sellers are
dressed in traditional clothes, and the myriad of colors and commerce is
astonishing.
METHODOLOGY:
I used a variety of methods to
obtain the information for this paper.
In the initial phase, I relied heavily on observation and data
collection (pamphlets, literature, and historical documents). I also spent a great deal of time in the
town square (and at the market) observing the variety of activities taking
place, and also keeping track of the numbers of tourists visiting the market
(and Sololá). I used this time to
familiarize myself with the community, how it is structured, and the types of
potential tourist destinations.
In
the second phase, I focused on obtaining the initial information that I needed
for my project. I began setting up
formal and informal interviews (24) with business owners (hotels, restaurants,
and a few other businesses in the downtown area), government officials, and
tour agencies. I used this stage of my
project to obtain an understanding of how much tourism exists in Sololá, as
well as the interest level of some of the local business owners towards
increasing tourism. I spoke with a
representative of the municipality to learn about the government’s local
development objectives (and whether the plans included tourism). I visited tour agencies in Panajachel (and
contacted one from Guatemala City) to learn about the publicity that exists for
tourism in Sololá, why there is such a limited tourist market in the community,
and what they feel could be done to draw more tourists to the town. There are an abundance of tour companies
in Panajachel, offering a variety of trips to various points throughout
Guatemala, as well as excursions around Lake Atitlán. I interviewed three travel agents with a set of questions aimed
at learning more about the numbers of tourists that travel to Sololá, what
packages are offered to Sololá, and what limitations exist that inhibit the number
of travelers to the community. I also
conducted interviews at another 10 travel agencies to obtain a shorter set of
responses about tourism in Sololá, and also to get a broader sample of tour
agent responses.
There
are five hotels located within four blocks of the Market Square. I interviewed the owners/managers of four
hotels, and I conducted follow up interviews with two of those four. I was able to learn more about the history
of tourism in Sololá (from the hotel owners) than I had from any other source,
and I received invaluable information about the types of travelers that come to
Sololá, and about the hotel owners themselves.
The
last phase of my research included the bulk of my interviews, which have been
informal (casual), semi-structured interviews lasting between 5 and 20
minutes. The final interviews that I
conducted were with 28 indigenous men from Sololá, all of which took place
either in the Park or in the surrounding market (20 of the interviewees
identified themselves as ‘day laborers,’ another 5 identified themselves
farmers, and another 3 did not wish to say what kind of work they did). I tried to include indigenous women in the
interviews, but I found that there was a reluctance to participate. Unfortunately this excludes a very important
part of the population in Sololá, but with time constraints and information yet
to gather I had to move forward with my project. I also conducted several
follow-up interviews during this time, one with a representative from the
municipality and two others with hotel/restaurant owners.
Problems:
My primary problem has been my
inability to communicate strongly in Spanish.
I was able to work with a translator for most of the formal and
semi-formal interviews (during the second phase). This was very helpful for obtaining large amounts of general (and
in some cases specific) information that would have been difficult to learn
otherwise. It was also problematic in
that the person was not merely serving as a translator, but had research
interests of their own (that paralleled mine in some ways). My initial questioning of the ‘second phase’
group was also somewhat biased towards looking at the potential for tourism
development, while ignoring the underlying structures that have shaped the
economic development in Sololá. This was the primary reason that I conducted
follow up interviews with some of the informants from the second phase of my
research project. It helped me to
understand how I had biased some of the answers (with questions that were too
narrow or leading), and helped me get information that had a greater impact on
my research focus.
DATA
Hotel/Restaurant Owners:
My initial interviews were with the hotel
owners in Sololá that are located near the Market Square. I felt that by beginning my interviews with
service industry businesses I would get a better perspective on tourism,
tourism interest, and the history of tourism in Sololá. The hotel/restaurant owners also proved to
be good informants for gaining some insight into some of the business attitudes
of the town.
Three
of the four hotel owners expressed an interest in attracting tourists to
Sololá, but they also voiced their deep skepticism of that actually
occurring. One owner told me that ‘some
of the difficulty in attracting tourists to the area is the issue of trash,
which is a cultural problem, [they] have a different perception of
cleanliness. The municipality is
supposed to keep the market area clean, but they do not.’ I was also told that the idea of initiating
a tourism board or hotel association was a good idea in theory, but each of the
hotel owners maintained that it would not accomplish anything, and there would
be very little agreement on what needs to be done. The owners expressed to me that they are content to draw the
local travelers and salesman that are their current clientele, and that they do
not believe that tourism will take shape in Sololá (because of the
organizational and cultural problems).
Another hotel owner stated that he
was interested in attracting tourists, but later confirmed to me that he is
more interested in increasing the number of local patrons to his
restaurant. During a second interview,
he told me that when first asked if he wanted to attract tourists, he simply
agreed, although realistically he simply wants to expand his restaurant
business (attract more local customers).
During the second interview, he also conveyed that he is only interested
in making more money, and covering the costs of running a business. He feels that the only viable way for him to
increase his income is to draw more local clientele to his restaurant. He said that drawing tourists to Sololá is
unlikely to happen, and that what he wants to do is to expand his clientele
from the people that live in Sololá and travel here for business.
The third hotel owner told me some
information about the history of tourism in Sololá. She stated that ‘10 years ago there were quite a few tourists
that stayed in town. Panajachel then
began to develop an abundance of rooms to let, and they [Sololá] completely
lost any ties to Panajachel tourism that they had once held. At one time they received the overflow of
tourists from the Lake, now that only occurs during the height of tourist
season (Semana Santa), and even then there are very few tourists staying here
[in Sololá]’.
Something that all of the hotels had
in common were the types of clientele they attracted, consisting primarily of
businessmen and regional travelers; who typically stay for one or two
nights. The hotel owners could not
envision Sololá developing a market for tourism, each citing organizational
problems (between businesses, municipality, and local peoples) within the
community as the primary cause. Other
reasons cited were the issues of trash, apathy toward tourism, and the
proximity to Lake Atitlán (and all of the tourist options that are there).
From the interviews with the
hotel/restaurant owners, I learned that there is a deep skepticism of community
and business organization. Several
people suggested to me that some of the problems that exist with coordinating
social efforts (organization) are the divisions within Sololá society. There are racial, ethnic, and religious
differences; as well as some level of distrust that might endure between the indigenous
population and the government. The data
on religious affiliation in Sololá[3]
backs up the possibility for divisions based on faith, but I have not been able
to confirm this with any substantial data gathering or in-depth interviews on
the subject.
The interviews I had with the
business owners in the market area revealed very similar information. A woman in one of the groceries stated that
she ‘sees tourists walking around in the market sometimes, but they generally
walk through, and get back on the bus.
There isn’t much to offer tourists in Sololá. Once in a while someone [a tourist] will stop in her store and
buy something, but it does not add up to much, and is isn’t needed since there
is plenty of local business.’
This set of interviews demonstrated
that there is not a need for expanded tourist business in Sololá. There was an expressed interest in expanding
profit (as any business has), yet overall they stated that their business was
steady and provided them with a margin of profit that enabled them to be
successful. They saw no need to develop
tourism as a means of expanding their income, and some viewed tourism as
necessitating too many changes in the way they conduct their business. They feel that the town would need to become
more ‘tourist friendly’ in order to attract outside business; in their opinion
this included changes in marketing, appearance, and services being offered.
Municipality:
The municipality is a very busy
place, particularly on market days when large numbers of people from the
community travel to town to conduct their business. I spoke briefly with a man who was waiting in one of the many
lines that form in the hallways. I
asked him why the municipality was always so busy on market days, he simply
said to me that it was easier to make one trip to town than two. I also spoke with a man that works at the
municipality, and he said that ‘people from outside the urban area generally
wait until the market days to come and take care of business at the
municipality, it just makes more sense.’
I
later spoke with one of the heads of the municipality and he began by talking
about the issue of trash in the town (particularly near the outdoor
market). He stated that trash is a
cultural problem that is difficult to deal with and that Sololá is simply a
tourist passing through point on the way to the lake. He then said that there had been an effort to clean up the area
(to improve the town for tourism) that had been going on for 1-2 years. The city was paying street cleaners to clean
the area surrounding the market, and the town had also undertaken the projects
of building (re-building) the tower and the park. He added that the city was considering the possibility of hiring
someone to publicize or promote tourism in Sololá.
I
was not comfortable with how this interview at the municipality went, so I
returned a few weeks later with a new list of questions. In the second meeting
with the municipality representative, I was told that Sololá’s priority
development plans are education, expansion of electrical service, sewage, and
health services (which echoed what I had read in the municipality documents)
(Sololá 2001). He also said that the reasons for these goals are the needs of
the community, both the ladino and
indigenous citizens want to improve the city.
That includes beautification (the park, tower, cleaner streets) and
community pride. They are also currently building a new market facility on the
north side of town (approximately one kilometer away from the Town Square) that
will provide more space for the vendors, and function as the new bus
terminal. This will help to relieve the
traffic congestion and pollution in the urban area, by relocating the staging
area for the buses closer to the main highway, and farther away from
houses. I asked if these plans were
aimed at tourism development, and he replied ‘that there aren’t any specific
plans [for tourism], unless they parallel the community development
objectives.’ He also explained some of the different ways that the community
already benefits from tourism. For
example, the income generated from transportation (and all the sales associated
with that), workers that travel to the lake for jobs, and the sale of items
produced locally for the tourist markets, all currently contribute to the local
economy of Sololá.
The
plans for moving the market can be viewed as having multiple motives. It could be seen as an effort to better the
city for the citizens by improving the market facility, and reducing pollution
and trash inside the city limits. It can also be viewed as an effort to improve
the market and beautify the city to accommodate tourists. The only people that addressed the issues of
trash, pollution, and beautification were the hotel owners, the local
governmental representative, and others who had a stake in drawing tourism to
Sololá; none of the lower class workers voiced a concern over the current
system of transportation or the market facilities.
Travel Agencies:
The typical response I received when
I asked if there were tours of Sololá being offered to tourists was, ‘Why
Sololá?’ Of the thirteen travel
agencies, four of them only offered tours of the villages and towns surrounding
Lake Atitlán. The other nine travel
companies offered trips to a variety of locations in Guatemala (Peten, Antigua,
Tikal, Río Dulce, Copán, etc…). Several
provided literature on travel around Lake Atitlán that included trips to
Sololá, while most of the agencies said that if someone inquired, they would
offer shuttle service to Sololá (but it rarely happened). The typical tour was roundtrip
transportation between Panajachel and Sololá, and a list of sights in the town
(market, cathedral, and waterfall), all for a fee of 12 U.S. dollars. They conveyed to me that very few people inquire
about the trip to Sololá, and they try to dissuade the ones that do. One agent told me that if people want to go
to a market, they want to go to a tourist friendly market, where there are
things to do. Sololá also does not
offer very much in the way of hotels and restaurants, and he said that tourists
walk through the market for thirty minutes and run out of things to do. The issue of organization also came up, and
one travel agent told me that he knew of no organized effort to attract tourism
in Sololá. He showed me several
brochures and said that this [the brochures] is the type of effort it takes to
draw tourists to a location. One
particular brochure he pulled out contained a map of a town, and listed the
restaurants, hotels, and ‘attractions’ that the city offered.
On a follow up interview with one of
the agents, I was told that there are cultural reasons for tourism not
developing in Sololá (he stated work ethic, cleanliness, and trash), and if
there is an unwillingness to address that, then tourists will continue to avoid
the town. He stated that tourists visit
Sololá and see the trash, breathe the pollution, and find very little in the
market that is of interest to buy. His
statement suggests that without an effort to entice tourists to a community,
there will be no tourism. This is
exactly what Sololá has managed to do for over a decade, by choosing not to
pursue the ‘tourism potential.’
The market in Sololá does not offer
much in the way of ‘tourist merchandise,’ and instead serves the community by
providing a location for the buying and selling of a broad range of products
for local consumers and producers. The
statements made by the tour agents interested me in that the tourist concerns
appear to parallel the concerns of the local governmental development
plans. These interviews helped to
demonstrate that Sololá’s isolation from tourism could result from several
factors; one of which is that Sololá is ‘not on the map’ so to speak. To this point there has not been a strong
local, national, or international effort to develop tourism in the
community. This has allowed the
population of Sololá to have the opportunity to learn from the growth of
tourism at Lake Atitlán, and to form opinions about the costs and benefits that
tourism offers a community. There are
economic advantages that are associated with tourism; yet many people in Sololá
have seen those economic advantages serve foreign nationals and local wealthy
merchants who have the resources needed to seize the opportunities. The economic benefits offered to a majority
of the local indigenous population are low paying seasonal jobs that are too
inconsistent and competitive to provide steady income. The negative attitude held by locals toward
tourism is also a factor that influences the introduction of foreign businesses
to Sololá. I spoke with two (American)
business owners in Panajachel that told me that the primary reason they had not
opened a business in Sololá was the local attitude toward foreigners and the
lack of organization in the community.
Both of the business owners told me that they had looked into expanding
or relocating to Sololá (because of the lack of competition), where they
encountered some local resistance to their plans. They cited organizational problems as the final criteria for
deciding not to relocate, but they also told me that they felt the locals would
not make good workers. The resistance of a community to the introduction of a
tourist business was interpreted by the foreign nationals as cultural problems,
laziness and a lack of motivation. My
understanding of the situation is that it involves many of the issues that I
was made aware of during my conversations with local Mayan men. I was interested to learn first hand of the
direct resistance to tourism that took place in Sololá; and I was also
interested to hear the familiar cultural biases that I have repeatedly heard
associated with the resistance (in Sololá) to tourism development and foreign
business.
INGUAT:
At an interview with a representative
from the local INGUAT[4]
office, I learned that certain locations are specifically targeted for tourism
development; Lake Atitlán, Antigua, and Chichicastenango were the examples he
listed. Lake Atitlán represents
cultural heritage and geographic beauty, Antigua is a pristine colonial city,
while Chichicastenango is touted for its large indigenous market. He said that
Sololá is not organized for tourism, and they do not have anything that can
compete with Lake Atitlán, which is what the tourists come to see.
The INGUAT travel brochures and
literature follow very closely with what the representative told me. There are tourist routes with specific
destinations mapped out for the reader.
The map includes only a few specific towns, and does not list or show
the names of neighboring communities, only the tour destinations that lie along
the designated route. This brings up a
conversation that I had with one of the travel agents, who told me that most of
the non-Guatemalan tourists have one of several guide books that they use to
decide where to go. Many of the
guidebooks do not offer much information about Sololá; some even offer negative
reviews of the town.
This
is absolutely true, I have a guidebook myself, and every time I’m in Panajachel
I notice foreigners walking around with their eyes glued to their travel
planner. I also spoke with someone in
Panajachel who had just gotten off the bus for the first time in this new town,
and followed the guidebooks instructions to a restaurant that she had read about
on the bus ride down the mountain. This
raises again the issue of power in the tourism industry, who decides the
success or failure of ‘tourist destinations,’ and what level of control do
communities have in deciding whether they become a tourist destination.
Conversations in the Park:
The interviews that took place in
the park and in the market were aimed at getting information from indigenous
people, and more specifically lower class workers. I inquired about the availability of jobs, the type of work they
do, and also their feelings about tourists and increased tourism in
Sololá. My general impression from
these discussions was that there is plenty of work in the community,
particularly low paying jobs in Sololá.
Panajachel provides some form of income to the families of many of the
men with whom I spoke (through indirect tourism labor of a family member). Overall, tourism is viewed by a majority of
these men as an alternative source of income (particularly for producing items
for the tourist market indirectly), but not one that provides a better
alternative to the work that is available in Sololá. One man commented that he ‘didn’t think that tourism offered much
[good] work, low paying jobs is all that we [indigenous people] can generally
get.’ I asked him who gets the better
jobs, to which he replied ‘other people.’
This was by far the strongest opinion that I had gotten from the
interviews and it helped me to realize that issues of class are very important
to this subject. Most of the men seemed
quite ambivalent about tourism, and most also said that they chose to do other
kinds of work. They also stated a
measure of distaste for the town [Panajachel], in that it was not a local
community but a tourist community. It
was not the type of development or labor that they desired for Sololá. They had no interest in bringing tourists to
Sololá and enjoyed having the option of working or not working for the tourism
industry. They all expressed some level
of satisfaction that the market did not attract tourists and that instead it
served the local population as it has for many years. These men represented the majority group in Sololá, and all of
them were thankful for the distance that they had between them and the tourist
activity at Lake Atitlán.
ANALYSIS
Class
issues surfaced as the primary variable in how people responded to the general
questions of why there is very little tourism in Sololá, what problems exist
for the development of tourism in Sololá, and whether or not they are interested
in bringing tourism to Sololá. Race and
ethnicity did not appear to be a primary variable, but most of the interviewees
I spoke with were Mayan. Three of the four-hotel/restaurant owners I
interviewed with were indigenous, yet they still blamed the inability to draw
tourists to Sololá on the ‘cultural problems’ of ‘that group.’ I understood this to be a reflection of
values that are based on class status within Sololá, as they were much
wealthier than the other indigenous community members that I interviewed.
The
conversations that I had with people in the park were vital for gaining an
appreciation of the lower class sentiments towards tourism. The opinions expressed ranged from
ambivalence to distrust to anger toward the potential for tourism to improve
the types of jobs available (and the money earned from those jobs). There were also some very negative opinions
about the type of community that tourism creates, particularly in reference to
the tourism saturated town of Panajachel.
They understood the possibilities that were associated with the
introduction tourism, and they also understood that for them the costs far
outweighed the benefits. This was the
primary reason that the men that I spoke with chose not to work for the tourism
industry, and why they were opposed to any attempt to introduce tourism to
Sololá. Those who did gain income from
tourism did so primarily by producing and selling products to intermediaries
who then sold the items to tourists.
In
my observations of the market, I was struck by the sheer contrast that exists
between Sololá and some of the neighboring towns at Lake Atitlán. Panajachel, only a few kilometers away, is
an example of the commodification of culture.
Traditional weaving has been applied to water bottle holders, Western
dresses, and cell phone holders; being sold by men, women and children dressed
in the local traje. The environment of Panajachel, however, is
anything but traditional; discotechs, internet café’s, and travel agencies, all
share real estate with the merchants of ‘traditional wares’ (Chambers, 2000:
pp94-97). Sololá is a city where people
live, work, and conduct their business; as it happens there are tens of
thousands of Mayan people here, many of whom wear clothing that is identified
as ‘traditional.’ The market caters to
both ladino and Mayan people who
travel here from distant places in the region or from close by within the
community. There are many items for
sale in the market, but very few that are specifically targeted for tourists; and
as long as there is not a shift in the local production and marketing toward
catering to tourism, Sololá will not become progressively more economically
dependent on that source of income.
Sololá
has remained isolated from tourism for a variety of reasons, one of which stems
from Sololá’s absence from travel literature and national tourist development
schemes. The power of travel guides to
determine the destination of travelers cannot be underestimated, and likewise
the power of those guides to determine where people do not visit is equally as
powerful. Sololá’s isolation from
tourism is also due to the fact that it is a large town that continues to
maintain strong ties to traditional living.
The community is not isolated from the outside world or from
technological changes, and indeed several of the ‘lower class indigenous men’
that I spoke with carried cellular phones that they used frequently (based on
the number of calls received during our conversations). It seems that certain changes are being embraced,
and I do not see traditionalism as being an unwillingness to change. Rather, it is their ability to determine (as
a community and as individuals), the types of changes that will be accepted or
refused which gives them the power to maintain their character, their way of
life, and to determine their own path of ‘development.’
CONCLUSION
My original plan to explore the
tourism potential of Sololá led me to examine the question of why there is so
little tourism in the ‘Gateway of Lake Atitlán.’ It has proved to be a question whose answer is beyond the scope
of the time and resources that are presently at my disposal. I feel that I have progressed in
understanding some of the dynamics of the community in a way that has given me
insight into the question that I am seeking to understand. On several occasions I thought that someone
might come forward and tell me that there is a simple explanation to my
inquiry, and that I was looking in all the wrong places. This has not occurred, but I have learned that
the cultural landscape of Sololá is very complicated. Several groups of people have conveyed to me their ideas about
the absence of tourism in Sololá, yet these ideas have often taken the form of
stereotypical explanations and justifications.
Vital to any future attempt at gaining a deeper understanding of tourism
in Sololá, is an understanding of the socio-economic structures and
governmental politics of the city. I
met some resistance in my attempts to learn more about the political structure
in Sololá, partly because of my inability to communicate well in Spanish,
partly because I’m an outsider, and partly I think because of the very private
nature of political hierarchy in the area.
Understanding these social structures would help to better understand
the basis of the sentiments toward tourism.
It would also help to discern the base of support for the local
government, in order to determine who the local development plans are aimed at
benefiting. Tourism can facilitate the
development of infrastructure; through the expansion of electric, water,
sewage, and other services. I question,
however, whether there is a great demand for those services among the
indigenous people with whom I spoke.
When I inquired about the plans to expand services to other areas of
Sololá, all of the respondents were very doubtful about it occurring and did
not view the changes as a priority. The
changes may be desired by some, but not if they are carried out only as a
result of tourism expansion; again reflecting the idea that the costs may
outweigh the benefits.
There are many layers of political
and social power at work behind tourism development. There are the governmental and international entities that have
committed themselves to the promotion of particular tourist destinations, with
a specific tourism agenda. Then there
is the expression of power at the local level in Sololá, which I would suggest
is a very complicated issue. For some,
tourism in Sololá is unlikely because of the attitude or cultural behavior of
another group. For others, tourism in
Sololá is unlikely because there is no apparent economic benefit. The overall expression of this situation is
one of apathy and distrust: apathy about the potential for success of tourism
in Sololá (which is desired by some), and distrust about the potential benefit
from tourism, or rather who stands to benefit.
From
what I have learned, the attitude toward tourism in Sololá has not changed
dramatically over the last decade. The
citizens of Sololá have become educated about the consequences of tourism the
development they have witnessed in the towns surrounding the lake; and this has
most likely influenced their opinions about the ‘tourism potential.’ The ability of the community to remain
isolated from tourism is supported by the economic opportunities that already
exist in Sololá. The availability of
jobs is part of the reason that most of the people I spoke with choose not to
pursue employment that involved tourism; and the ones that do work in the
tourist industry use the money to subsidize their main source of income. The implication of Sololá’s resistance to
tourism is important in understanding what role tourism should have in the
development of communities. Tourism is
often believed to be a positive alternative to other economic development
methods; but Sololá demonstrates that it is not always a desired form of
growth. Control of development is also
an issue among the people I spoke with in Sololá; particularly the control of
business ownership and types of jobs that are available to them in the tourist
industry. A resolution for this problem
could either be a continuation of the absence of tourism, or an effort to
develop local business ownership through an organized grant or loan
program. There should be an effort to
reconcile the needs of a community that is faced with tourism development. The economic and infrastructure benefits can
be lost on the population that they are intended to aid, while at the same time
forever changing the nature of the local society (culturally, economically,
politically).
Future Suggestions for Research
To expand on the information that I
have gathered, I would initially look at the economic impact of shifting the
market to the edge of town. Who is most
affected by the move (both positively and negatively); businesses in the town
square, merchants, ladinos,
indigenous? Another important aspect to
consider is who initiated the idea and support for moving the market to its new
location.
Any
future look at tourism in Sololá would also be facilitated by gaining a better
understanding of the social and economic structure of the town, and by learning
more about the role of the governmental institutions, and what part the
indigenous and ladino municipalities
play in the town. This would help in
understanding whether the community is resisting tourism, or whether tourism is
simply overlooking the town. It would
also help in understanding what the source of resistance is; an organized
effort or simply a shared sentiment among community members. I was very interested in learning what
people think about the types of jobs that tourism provides; and what role the
availability of other work has on their views for and against increased tourism. The information that I gathered in the park
while speaking with Mayan men was by far the most impassioned. The people I met had strong feelings of
attachment to Sololá that was reflected in their attitudes toward the
encroachment of tourism into their community.
A proper sample of Sololá citizens, drawing from the various classes of ladino and Mayan citizens would provide
a much more structured information base, making it easier to demonstrate
demographic patterns.
REFERENCES CITED
Chambers,
Erve
2000 Native Tours: The Anthropology of Travel and
Tourism. Illinois: Waveland Press,
Inc.
ENN (Environmental News Network)
1999 “U.N.
Talks Encourage Tourism Industry Changes”.
Electronic Document,
http://enn.com/news/enn-stories/1999/05/050599/ tourism_3013.asp, accessed
February 20th 2002.
Mowforth, Martin
and Ian Munt
1998 Tourism
and Sustainablity: New Tourism in the Third World.
London: Routledge.
Municipality of
Sololá, in Cooperation with Española
2001 Community
Development Plan (2002-2010)
Websites
World Tourism
Organization (WTO)
- http://www.world-tourism.org/
Ecumenical
Coalition on Third World Tourism (ECTWT)