Calling Poverty Tourism by its True Name

With the popularity of Slumdog Millionaire, we began to see more and more articles about poverty or slum tourism.  Since it left a bad taste in our mouth, we did a little research (also known as sitting on our arse and websurfing) here and there but couldn’t bring ourselves to write a post about it… until now.

Hannah Rubenstein’s blog on poverty tourism (or “poorism,” yuck) raises many interesting and important questions.  Hannah lived in Nicaragua recently and at one point was asked to take a group of American tourists to a nearby village, show them one of the typical houses, while introducing the large family that shared the one-room house to the tourist group.  It sounds like it was an awkward few minutes for several reasons, including no “pre-education” for the tourists, very little in the way of integration of the local family into the “tour,” and no preparation for Hannah herself.  It sounded almost like a zoo experience, the last thing anyone involved needs to associate this type of experience with.

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A Tourist’s Role in Archaeological Ethics

Remember the destruction of the Bamiyan Buddhas in Afghanistan?  This was in spring of 2001, before most people had heard of the Taliban.  We remember it well and were horrified watching video of these incredibly amazing and larger-than-life sculptures that had stood for centuries being blown up by tanks and anti-aircraft weapons.  This is an extreme example of the unethical treatment of archaeological artifacts that are important pieces of our collective human history and culture. 

There are less severe but still serious activities related to antiquities and artifacts that every mindful tourist should be aware of, namely looting and selling. 

We know about this first-hand

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Playa del Carmen’s Alternative Alltournative

Tubing in a Cenote

While Cancun is more associated with the spring break, beer-swigging crowd (a Ft. Lauderdale south of the border, if you will), its neighboring city of Playa del Carmen is more low-key and offers some unexpected ecotourism and socially conscious tourism experiences.

When we went to Playa in 2000, the company Alltournative was only a year old.  Even so, we had a great time on our tour, combining lunching at a traditional Mayan village, swimming in a cenote (an underground, fresh water cave), ziplining, and visiting the ruins of Cobá, home of the tallest pyramid in the state.  We also did a little shopping, canoeing, rapelling, and rope-ladder climbing.  It was a full day!  (And let’s just say that climbing a rope-ladder looks a lot easier than it is.)  While their offerings have changed slightly, Alltournative has only gotten better over the years.  We know this because our friend Levana took a tour with them in December and it sounded just as juicy as ours. 

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World’s Largest Pool – Just What We Needed

As Borat would say: ……… Not.

Come on, Algarrobo, (one of our most favorite places in Chile, coincidentally) is this the best you can do?  I mean, yeah, it looks cool, but this level of consumption is a little beyond the pale, no?

Of course, this seaside Chilean resort is about to be bested by the Egyptian resort of Sharm El Sheikh which is currently building an even bigger pool.

Who said Americans have the market cornered on All Things Bigger and Better?

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How to Own Your Own Costa Rican Cabin Retreat

“Name ten things you would like to do if money and time were no object? Ask your partner the same question, write down your answers separately and compare your lists.”

According to Steve and Debbie Legg, this is how the volcano cabin retreat of Leaves and Lizards was born.  They write about their experience in this piece entitled “Thinking About Moving to Costa Rica?  How We Dreamed It, Planned It, and Did It!”

We know this is the real thing because we stayed at Leaves and Lizards a little over a year ago.  It was a genuine treat.  We hiked through a primary rainforest, saw the elusive toucan, and toured an organic farm where we made cheese, ate our own freshly-caught fish, and bonded enough with the farmer that he took us to an authentic Costa Rican rodeo later that night.  It was an experience we will never forget. 

We had the chance to interview Debbie and Steve about their Leaves and Lizards journey.  After our interview are excerpts from their article.

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Socially Conscious Travel in Zihuatanejo, Mexico

While doing some online poking around to prepare for our upcoming trip to Zihuatanejo, Mexico, I happily “bumped into” ZihuaBill and his story as told by blog.  Bill is a retiree from Oregon who now lives half of his year in Zihuatanejo, a small town on Mexico’s Pacific coast. 

Zihua (as many call it) has long been a haven for Americans wanting a Mexican vacation but a respite from big resort cities like Acupulco or Mazatlan.  From what it sounds like, Zihua has kept much of its Mexican culture and fishing village charm while welcoming tourists and expats into its community.

But back to Bill. He has found his true calling in Zihua.  In 2007, Bill started getting involved with local schools.  Since then, he has helped create a lunch program and has solicited funds from friends to buy needed books and supplies for the children.  He goes to the schools regularly, becoming a true fixture in the lives of the children and their teachers.

A few excerpts and photos from Bill’s blog:

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Best of BT March

At The Mindful Tourist corporate headquarters (i.e., the cardboard box under the subway bridge), we receive several travel magazines.  Our current favorite is Budget Travel.  While the name seems to be a bit of a misnomer (we don’t think what they report on is especially frugal), the fact is their writers do a very good job finding interesting locales – both domestic and abroad.  So, our newest monthly feature is The Best of BT.  Click through to see the best of March.

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