Plaza Santo Domingo, in Cartagena, is beautiful.
On
some of its red brick cobbles you can still
read the word "Glasgow", from where they were
brought over as ships' ballast. The mediaeval
square is steeped in history, most of it well
known. But a lot of its recent history is just
as interesting. In 1983 there was absolutely
nothing in Santo Domingo in the way of bars
and restaurants. Most of the buildings were
run down or totally abandoned. But a gamble
and hard work by an American called Paco and
his British associate Nick Beeson changed everything,
and started a renaissance that has propelled
the Plaza to be Colombia's premier tourist attraction.
Nick
was born in Italy to British parents who worked
for the UN. After spending time wandering the
globe in places as far flung as Alaska, the
Congo and Singapore, he applied for a job as
a Spanish-speaking engineer's assistant in New
York, bluffing his interviewer with Italian
to get the job. The job was in Cartagena, where
he arrived as a 20 year old. After the engineering
job finished he worked for Paco as a barman
in a place called Paco's Seafood. Things went
so well Paco planned to open another restaurant
called Restaurante Paco's, and offered Nick
a half share.
Around
400 years ago, Paco's was a colonial mansion,
its second floor, with its very low ceiling,
housed slaves. In the early 1980's, reminisced
Nick,Santo Domingo was a poor residential district,
few people owned cars, and the Plaza, (which
used to be several yards wider before the Edificio
Cuesta was built 50 years ago), saw action as
a soccer field on Sundays. Nick, who rented
the building when it was a corner store in 1983,
said the locals laughed when Paco's opened for
business. "Those gringo's are crazy. No-one
will stay in that plaza at night" they scoffed,
"its too dead for tourists". Business tottered
on the brink for two or three years, while a
lot of historic buildings in Centro were renovated
and the area gradually became fashionable. Locals
were booking the former upstairs slave's room
for parties and weddings. Around this time Paco
sold his half to Nick and Nick's wife Mercedes,
and returned to the US.
Paco's clientel slowly grew and they started
getting mentioned in international magazines
from as far away as Japan. Their big break came
when Paco's Restaurant and Tavern was featured
with a full-page photograph in the National
Geographic Magazine. Nick installed air-conditioning
and hired a group of local musicians - Los
Veteranos del Ritmo - who played live Cuban
music to ever more enthusiastic customers. "We
pre-dated Ry Cooder's Buena Vista Social Club
by some years" says Nick. Paco himself was deeply
involved in the now-defunct Caribbean Music
Festival. Nick says it was in Paco's where Cartagena's
first Caipirinha was poured.
People like Fernando Botero started dropping
in. That was the beginning of the good times.
"Over the years we've had the Kennedy children,
Robert de
Niro, Madeline Stowe and Latin American presidents
galore come in for a meal or drink" said Nick,
who recalled one President, who shall remain
nameless, wandering off towards the Wall with
a pretty TV presenter cuddling up to him while
his bodyguards were drunkenly competing in karaoke.
People started driving to Paco's and other bars
opened. Plaza Santo Domingo became a parking
lot. With space inside Pacos now scarce, Nick
successfully applied to the Municipality to
be allowed to put tables and chairs in the plaza.
Imitation is best form of flattery, they say,
and now there is not a single shopfront facing
the plaza that isn't a bar or restaurant, and
the whole plaza is given over to tables and
chairs. Recently Nick recieved even more recognition
for his hard work in Santo Domingo: a group
of journalists voted him "Tourism Personality
of the Year", an accolade he shared along with
the city's Doctor, Lawyer and Architect of the
Year.
Nick has kept the menu simple yet different
in order to retain his regular customers: seafood,
pasta, salads and a set lunch all served on
hand-made terra cotta plates. And although some
of the members of the Veteranos del Ritmo have
died of old age, you can still hear some of
the original musicians playing such Caribbean
classics as Guillermo Portables' El Carretero.
Paco's is open weekdays 12 midday to 2pm (or
later!), Saturdays Sundays and Holidays from
6pm til 2pm. Bookings can be made on 664 4294.
|
