A small town in the depths of the Amazon has declared itself off-limits to tourists. Why? Locals complain of tourists behaving badly and the fact that little of their spending actually benefits the indigenous people. —JCL
The Guardian
The small Amazonian town of Nazareth is a traveller’s dream. Wildlife prowls the surrounding jungles and indigenous inhabitants practise ceremonies that long predate the arrival of the Spanish conquistadores.
But it may be advisable for tourists to give the place a wide berth. Locals have declared their town off-limits to travellers, even though this stretch of the Amazon river is playing host to more visitors than ever. Their main complaint: tourists’ behaviour, and that only a fraction of the money they spend trickles down to the indigenous.
“What we earn here is very little. Tourists come here, they buy a few things, a few artisan goods, and they go. It is the travel agencies that make the good money,” said Juvencio Pereira, an Indigenous Guard, Nazareth’s unofficial volunteer police force.
The town of 800 people, a 20-minute boat ride from the tourist hub of Leticia, takes its ban seriously. At the entrance, Pereira and other guards stand armed with their traditional sticks to deter unwelcome visitors. Nazareth resident Grimaldo Ramos feels that some tourists can’t distinguish between the wildlife and the Amazon’s residents, snapping photos of indigenous families as if they were another animal. “Tourists come and shove a camera in our faces,” he said. “Imagine if you were sitting in your home and strangers came in and started taking photos of you. You wouldn’t like it.”
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By reality1, May 21, 2011 at 6:32 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
Thanks, rico, for the classic example of “blame the victim” game. First, the
Report thismonetary colonialists (here, “ecotourists”) go in, trash the place and then turn
around and blame the parties they trash. Here, rico spits out a derogatory “it’s all
crap, so what do you expect?” When we scrape away the surface, we are asking
others to function in the world the way we want them to, then get angry when
they refuse to do so. Capitalism is not a healthy foundation from which to conduct
relationships, nor does it support the practice of respect for other’s wishes or
desires.
By zonth_zonth, March 29, 2011 at 10:28 am Link to this comment
Some sort of bizarre new wave ecotourism. Do they stay inside spear proof glass boat so that the natives they are treating like circus freaks dont murder their asses?
In Neitzche’s terms Its one thing to cross the footbridge and meet someone halfway across in a mutual effort of curiosity and goodwill.
Its a completely different matter strictly observing from a distance taking pictures, throwing some wooden nickels on their dirt floors in compensation for undermining their humanity. How embarassing.
Report thisBy moonraven, March 27, 2011 at 8:57 pm Link to this comment
rico: Take some of your own advice. Give all your money away and live in the street under a newspaper.
This indigenous person will dance on top of that paper to teach you to have some respect.
You have been smearing your toxic excrement around here too damn long.
Report thisBy Leefeller, March 27, 2011 at 1:55 pm Link to this comment
Maybe the good people of Nazareth (interesting name) are following Tao Walkers advice?
Report thisBy rico, suave, March 27, 2011 at 9:56 am Link to this comment
kerryrose:
Show me any post of mine anywhere where I support “fiscal greed”, whatever that is, and corporate selfishness.
And yes, it is an article of faith among progressives that part of the definition of “indigenous people” (read- exploited) is that their innate nobility always places them above money. Those among them who have been seduced by filthy lucre should be ready to understand that the marketplace only rewards winners.
Report thisBy kerryrose, March 26, 2011 at 8:43 pm Link to this comment
Yaaa rico
This is the first time I’ve heard you get down on someone who cares about money. Seems to me that you support fiscal greed and selfishness when it applies to corporate America. Do you belive indigenous people should be ‘above money’ or that they ‘sell crap’ so don’t deserve to be compensated?
Report thisBy rico, suave, March 26, 2011 at 1:08 pm Link to this comment
Money, money, money. It’s all anybody cares about. “Where’s my money?” The trinkets they sell are obviously crap, so what do they expect?
Report thisBy TDoff, March 25, 2011 at 3:07 pm Link to this comment
Sign of the times: Nazareth has become a gated community.
Report this