Guatemala 2009

Throughout Latin American there exists a push for development that is sweeping across countries driven primarily by neoliberal ideas coming from the more norther and more capitalistic countries. This push which often comes too hard or in the wrong form can lead to divisions within the society. Dr. Thomas Klak mentioned two different countries with mirrored problems; in Oaxaca Mexico and Guatemala there exist social conflicts of land holdings between the government and the indigenous people. The class and race divisions of both these areas have divided the job opportunities and divided communities so that development is seen as a dividing factor rather than a means to improve quality of life which in some situations it can be.

But how does this affect how we spend our time in Latin America? The capitalist tendencies that are seperating these small countries stem from ideas of travel where people come to an area and want to receive top service and facilities without caring how it is done, using up everything they need without worrying how the product got in their hotel room or how wasteful the are being. We as tourists and explorers of our world can make a difference by changing the ways that we travel, by encorporating: ecological integrity, economic viability, and social justice to our travels or; sustainable tourism.

By focusing the money spent while traveling into local communities the local people will benefit. This will create more local jobs and preserve local traditions such as food production and in some cases an indigenous peoples way of life. Dr. Klak did warn though that tourism can be misplaced by being pro-poor, or romanticizing the old ways. This sort of travel will never advance a local area because it promotes a need for aid and a need for pitty rather than encouraging development.

To many Latin American countries who are so vulnerable to a fruit harvest for their national income, tourism is often the largest economic sector for a country so it is important that the money put in goes to a positive combination of job creating and funding of locals.