One of the most attractive features of country tourism is, in marketing terms, the fact that something “authentic” and “traditional” is sold. Facing the usual unpersonal and standarized treatment of the hotels, country estates sell another form of relation with tourists, based in a larger interaction with the environment and farm work, besides the access to “typical” plates -in the argentinean case, the asado- and local people.

Even so, there are different types of offerings in the rural tourism. In one side, we have the establishments far away from urban centers, where tourists spend several days aknowledging farm work, talking and interacting with the owner of the country and his employees. In the other side, there are rural establishments closer to the big urban centers, particularly Buenos Aires, where visitors are guided into one or two days tours, and where waiters sing zamas, chacareras, chamamés and other ‘folk’ music genres -in a truly irritating mix to the followers of the historic evolution of these musical traditions- and then they serve the famous asado.

The most emphatic supporters of rural tourism usually punish this last variant, considering it a low quality proposal, that actually damages the entire sector.

According to what Manuel Espil states in his work “An approximation to value of the authentic in rural tourism” -a paper made to approve my communication and travel seminar at the University-, only in Argentina, there are 900 establishments that provide services related to rural tourism. For many country estate owners, this new activity has been a good alternative to diversify income, given the low rentability of agricutlural and stock breeding activities. As I already stated in a previous entry, tourism has grown substantially in Argentina, more as a response to the crisis of traditional forms of production than as a part of a planning process of an economic activity related to services. At least, that’s my hypothesis.

A note by Brecha magazine deals with the topic of the growing night life of Ciudad Vieja, the district where Montevideo was born, long ago. I have already talked about this in this blog around march 2004 (spanish only), in an entry where I stated my surprise for the vitality of a zone that seems to deteriorate every time more. Keeping the magazine’s tone, a traditional representative of a good sector of Uruguay’s left sector, the note emphasizes on the initiatives of the authorities and vendors of the zone, who want to increase the security and eliminate those “small beggars” that go around asking for money. This is not new; as long as the zone becomes popular and even gains touristic status, the topic of “security” starts growing more and more. But the topic goes beyond simple thefts and goes to other many common topics in Rio de la Plata. Items such as “car watchers” -people who demand tip in exchange of keeping an eye on your car, absolutely informal, and who will probably damage it if you don’t give them anything- fit into this problem.

As time goes by, it seems more clear that Ciudad Vieja, a zone that for many decades has been one of the poorests of Montevideo, acquires certain particular characteristics of enclave. But, as in La Boca in Buenos Aires, the work here is complex for the “touristificators”: they have to make the zone attractive and safe, and for this they have to put a limit to poverty, which is right there, across the street. Obviously, the proposed solution is usually repression and control. About social policies to improve the zone, we better not even talk about…

And while the growth of the life in Ciudad Vieja has caused more than one security problem, Montevideo is still much safer than most of the big latin american cities. While I haven’t been there since june of 2004, I always loved walking around its streets, even in Ciudad Vieja, late at night.

The note can be found at Brecha (spanish only). Benito from Fuck You, Tiger gives his native, montevidean opinion on the subject (spanish only too).

In a previous entry, I took the text by Renato Rosaldo -“After the objectivism”- to analyze the problem of relations between representation and ethnography. In particular, the use of the notion of “ritual” as a way of taking distance from the other, to see all of his practices as social conventions unprovided of any possibility of emotion and improvisation.

One of the main problems of excessively focus on representations is forgetting that these are important when materialized into significative practices, or put into strategies that legitimate certain manners of organising the world. Racism is not only a representation that sees the world as populated by human beings with different rights and duties; it’s also a body of practices that legitimates and allows this representation of the world to perdure.

Anyways, the distance between the analyst and the analysed group remains there, even when we discuss the best way to “represent” the other. On one side, I share with Rosaldo the dissappointment for the complete elimination of emotions from any ethnographic description. But, on the other side, I understand why sometimes the “ethnographed” is not happy at all with the ethnography analysis. At the end, as analyst we don’t use the tribe’s words to describe them. We rather focus on their practices and we see them for another point of view. For example, we relate them to a different structure of signification, we cross them with other observations, we see relevant things where natives simply don’t consider anything too interesting. By not taking this quotidianity as “something of everyday”, we accomplish to see the elaborate process by which common sense processes are naturalized, as ethnometodologist analyzed
long ago.

Almost in another topic, we find the discussion of why are almost always the same ones -in a very schematic way, western whites- who have had -and have- the authority to represent the others, seen, of course, as “ethnic groups”. A category that usually doesn’t reach the dominant group.

Anyways, one knows that not always taking distance means a good thing. Once we ran into an american tourist who was convinced that Buenos Aires buses had different colors to allow illiterate people to distinguish them. If we take into consideration that alphabetization rates in Argentina are above 96%, we can see that in fact this “representation” of the world hid deeper meanings. Of course, in the United States urban bus lines usually have the same colors, but it is so because they belong to the county or state. In Argentina, they have different colors because they belong to differente private companies, that paint them the color of their choice. And no, it’s not a sign for the illiterate…

Sometimes, between so much analytical and theoric concern, something is missing: we forget the fundamental, our passion for travel. Trapped by words, we lose sight of that continous moving, the jumping between buses, the passing through people and the new surroundings, what deep down fascinates us. The passion for the travel that makes us forget the bad things, that make us tell as a trivial thing the moments of sickness along the route, fleas and bugs bites, the rides in old ramshackle vehicles. We are used to the strange look on people’s faces as we tell these stories, to listening to phrases like “do you travel to suffer?” or things like that.

To think about travel, theorize about it, its motivations and its impact on social environmet in which we move, is necessary. In fact, this blog always intended to do so. But this sedentary effort -deep down, the relational thought comes when we take the time to separate from the continuum of experiences- is only worth it when we combine it with our passion for movement.

We can see our city with tourist’s eyes. But we do it because we’ve trained in other places into that form of seeing the new, the strange, the not quotidian. We know, deep down, that we have to hit the road again, eventually.

Does travelling give us access to a more human form of knowledge? We’ve long discussed in this blog the topic of the relation between tourists and natives, and the difficulties of this relation. But, what happens with the knowledge we obtain from this relation with other tourists? Going away from home implies taking certain risks. Not only a change in food and routines, but many times living long hours with people we barely know or we’ve never seen before. There are those for whom this contact results shocking. Unable to get used to sharing a room, use unknown bathrooms, carry heavy backpacks. During a trip, there are not many options. Either you get used to new routines and stop being so delicate or you’re bound to spend horrible days in route.

The downers on the route can be worse when we travel cheap, using tents, using bar’s or gas stations bathrooms, having irregular access to a shower or any other method of hygiene. Many people not only have a hard time tolerating dirt, but they become obsessive with other things.

For example, the weight of the backpack. I’ve seen people on the roadside with a nervous breakdown, going through their belongings, giving them away to anyone who happens to be around, emptying their luggage in such a way that it becomes lighter than a Coke can.

Not to mention the stress related to hitchhiking. When you travel in a group, there always those who try to travel before everyone else. Much worse is the competition between groups when, for example, they pass right through your group to get ahead and stop first the upcoming vehicles.

If backpacking culture many times can be identified with solidarity, at least in this topic it’s not a good example. And if someone wants to see this topic in action, go spend a summer in the lakes area of the argentinean Patagonia.

Is that contact with the others, their manias, their frenzies, make us more human, more understanding? It’s hard to tell, since generalization, in such personal topics, usually doesn’t give the best results. But I’ve always believed that physical journeys are complemented with other forms of travelling -what we could call “inner travelling”- that goes inside ourselves.

“To travel is to learn” might sound too marketing-like but, sometimes, it sounds interesting. And reminds us why we love to be in movements, tolerate the dirt when we’re on the road, and put up with those unconfortable seats in buses and airplanes

A couple of months ago I wrote a few entries about Cuzco and the peruvian state policy of converting this place into a less massified and more exclusive tourism center. The idea is to combine a policy that protects the environment with a raise in prices which allows to maintain profitability despite the less afluence of tourists. Such policy priviledges higher income people, and provides a discouraging scenerey for latin americans who want to visit Machu Picchu. Now, I find interesting to make a brief review of the declarations made by Peru’s Economics Minister, Pedro Pablo Kuczynsky, to the Lima newspaper El Comercio. I cite:

Journalist: You are of those people who take time to travel around the country with their family. Is there any proposal for tourism?
Kuczynsky: Yes. I’ve always thought Peru, has a unique culture and environment system, shouldn’t have massive tourism. It has to be selective, for people who is interested in the environment, in history. They will be less, but they pay more.

J: Selective ?
K: Because they leave more. But we still have to encourage backpackers because they are tomorrow’s businessmen and opinion leaders. We’ve all been 20. When I was young I didn’t have a penny and I made it through college with the help of scholarships. That’s why I think we have to be tolerant. But the strategy of tourism development to open Kuelap or preserve Machu Picchu should be selective.

Kuczinsky declarations reaffirm what I wrote in a previous entry about Cuzco, a few months ago, which is that it has a clear direction: to favor international tourism with the highest spending capacity. I always had a critical look (spanish only) against common senses that believe that first class travelers always spend more than backpackers. Several studies show that in fact tourists that spend more leave most of their money in their home countries and not the nation they visit, a phenomenom known as leakage. The only way, in fact, to make first class tourism favor the country is by making them use airlines, hotels and services of the country they visit; in this case, of peruvian flag. In Cuzco this is half-way accomplished: the government’s regulations have stimulated a demand for tour guides, carriers, etc. At the same time, city hotels are usually of national capital. The point is, that it will be of little help to make Cuzco transformate into an “ecxclusive city” if foreign visitors buy tours and airplane tickets in their hometowns.

On the other side, I wonder if the peruvian government counts with statistics that allow to analyze the impact of backpackers on the economy of Cuzco. It’s known that this kind of travelers usually have a higher consumption of local services, while first class tourists usually demand many imported or “world class” goods. If the peruvian minister of economics is only based in the size of tips, I don’t think it’s too serious. There have been previous attempts to create “first class” destinations in some other places. For example, Bali. But the government’s attempts hit a point: the local inhabitants also begun to offer lodging services for those who couldn’t afford the five stars hotels. Don’t they think that something like this might happen in Peru? I admit there’s a big difference: in Cuzco, the state has a great capacity to regulate the market, in good part because to get to Machu Picchu one has to use the monopolic transportation services, where they can charge you whatever they want for a mediocre service. But this disadvantage dissappears in destinations like the forest.

This a passionate topic to discuss. And if you’re thinking about visiting Cuzco in the future, get your wallet ready.

Anne Galloway comments on a note published by BBC News, which states that british people spend more in their mobile phones than in electricity and gas bills. It’s interesting how the famous “mobility” attract us, but at the same time creates a series of high expenses in relation to other items. Even more in latin american countries, where connection and hardware costs are higher in comparison to our income.

Or, as Anne says: “It is useful to remind ourselves, to say out loud, that many people cannot afford the privilege of mobility. Ubiquity is still concentrated in certain countries and use is mostly local. Anywhere, anytime does not extend to everyone; decentralisation is not the same as equal distributionâ€?.

Phototravels is a site, obviously, about travel pictures. For now, it doesn’t have a collection as big as Worldisround does, but little by little it’s adding more destinations. Up to now, you can find images from Japan, Czech Republic, New York, Namibia, Paris, Scotland, among others. Too bad the pictures are a little too small, sometimes.

And since we’re talking about photography, another great page is Scott Mutter’s, who dedicates to make truly excellent photomounting. Beyond, the tecnical work, the ideas and images he shows are amazing. Almost surreal.

Through Globalivity, I found out about the beta version of TravelPost, a new site to publish travel diaries. In the beginning, it has all the obligatory things: a personal diary, photoalbums, maps, etc. The interesting thing is that is constructed with a more defined criteria of community than other similar initiatives. It’s possible to establish all the cities and countries we’ve visited and assotiate texts with them, observe what other users of the service have written about these locations, create schedules, among other things. As we add cities and countries, it shows us what proportion of the world we have visited. The site is american and that shows in a detail: we can also observe in how many american states we have set foot.

What’s missing: to begin with, tags. It grabs my attention how many of the newest sites don’t realize how relevant this form of classification is. It doesn’t have RSS syndication formats; another mistake. More flaws: the description of the countries, in the main page of each one of them, reminds us of the worst articles of newspaper’s travel supplements. Look at the one for Argentina: “Argentina is the land of Gauchos, Asado, Mate, Pampas, Tango, and Dulce de leche. The name immediately conjures up the image of big steaks, passionate men and women and long night of eating the best meat of the world and sipping mate, afterwards”. Did anyone mention “exotism” around? I’m not asking them to read Edward Said, only not to repeat the same common places. Besides, I can’t help to think about those “long night of eating the best meat”… wouldn’t a beer fit better?

Despite some weak points, TravelPost is a very useful site for those who are interested in creating their own travel diary. For now, it’s only available in english. Despite I searched, I couldn’t find indications on how much space every account has, for example, to upload photos.

We all know that Flickr is almost an endless source of pictures and resources. But I never thought of reviewing groups of users who have tourism and travel related themes. Obviously, there’s a lot, so I selected what I liked the most. Here they are:

Globetrekkers: with more that 120 members, they have over 400 pictures from all over the world.

Road Trip America: road pictures in the USA.

Passport Stamps and Visas: I loved this one. It’s, simply, about pictures of passport’s and visa stamps collected when travelling around different countries. Frankly, in some cases, the number of stamps are impressive. Obviously, you’re going to get envy when looking at these passports.

Trains and Trolleys: the title speaks for itself.

Travellers and landmarks: photos of travel. Most general group.

Aeroplane in flight: pictures taken from the sky, during a flight. I’m sure we all have one of these.

Route 66: The Mother Road, the most famous road in the USA.

Motels: potentially, an interesting project, but for now it has very few pictures, only 14. Hopefully, it’ll grow.

There are almost 65 groups listed under the Travel tag and 7 under Tourism (in this last case, with few members and pictures). I suppose with the growth of Flickr, in no long we will have many more pictures published. By the way, we have very few spanish-speaking representatives; both groups under the Viajes tag barely reunite 3 members (and I’m one of them, by the way).