Tuesday, October 23, 2007

The incurious tourist

My brother, Mitch, visited me from September 28 to October 11, his first visit to South America. It was an odd experience in many ways, at times fun but also many episodes of stress or tedium. Because he had never been to Buenos Aires before, I assumed he would be eager to see and do everything, something akin to the travel agency tours of Europe where one visits 14 countries in 7 days but it's such a rush that nothing is remembered or even enjoyed. This vacation was decidely the opposite of that.

Vacations are supposed to be relaxing so almost every evening we parted with the plan that he would phone me when he was awake, fed, and nearly ready to start the day's activities. Most days that meant we didn't even meet until at least 1:00 PM and often not until after 3:00 PM. Upon meeting, there might be an errand or two to do, the need to stop for a coffee, pastry, or ice cream every hour or two, plus transportation time to get where we were going. Ergo, we seldom had more than a couple of hours per day for any actual sightseeing.

Buenos Aires certainly has some indoor attractions but most of the great touristy stuff is meant to be seen from outside during the daylight. With only two hours average per day, I wasn't able to show him but a fraction of what Buenos Aires has to offer. What I did show him didn't seem to interest him very much.

The famous Recoleta cemetery with Evita's tomb and incredible works of art decorating thousands of mausoleums? We blew through it in about 20 minutes. A walk through historic San Telmo, flavored with cobblestone streets, colonial architecture and scores of antique shops? He hardly glancced at it and expressed interest only in finding a shop that sells (illegal in the U.S.) Cuban cigars. The cultural center where BA's best and brightest artists display their works? We could hardly get out of there fast enough. Plaza Italia and the Botanical Garden? Too much sun, too may cats, just a bunch of trees and plants. What about a tour of downtown with its incredible architecture, beautiful plazas, and historic monuments? The presidential palace and the Plaza de Mayo, where to this day the mothers and grandmothers of the desaparecidos (disappeared people) march to demand justice? Even that was met with diffidence, sort of "OK, so that's the Casa Rosada and some old ladies march there because...let's go get a coffee and pastry."

Most of the time when I tried to explain what we were seeing or add some depth and color by telling its history or cultural relevance, he seemed bored and distracted. It was as though very little interested him beyond coffee, pastries, ice cream, Cuban cigars, and finding a shop to buy some indigenous musical instruments (he's a musician). I expected more but perhaps I'm more curious than the typical tourist.

So, that describes the tedium part I mentioned above, either his tedium about what we were doing or my tedium of waiting for him to get going each day. The stress part is yet another story. There were some just plain awful episodes.

One was when we visited Colonia, Uruguay, a preserved colonial town across the Rio de La Plata from Buenos Aires. Shortly after arriving, we stopped in for an al fresco lunch at a picturesque café with a lovely view of the river. My brother thought the chicken on his brochete mixto (grilled skewers of chicken, beef, and veggies) was undercooked. Luciano ate a piece and agreed. Rather than sending it back to be cooked more, my brother began to complain of feeling sick. I told him he couldn't possibly feel any potential food poisoning for at least several hours but he was in such a worked up state that he ended up going into the restroom and vomiting anyway. Afterward, he came back to the table irate and ordered me to tell off the waiter and restaurant staff in Spanish (he barely speaks any). After that, it was rather hard to enjoy the rest of the day, wondering when the next outburst would occur.

Another catastrophe happened when the lock on the street-side door to his apartment building broke. Here, almost every building requires residents to use a key to exit as well as enter so my brother was stuck inside. There was no real danger, such as in a fire, because he was on the first floor with a balcony so he could have jumped if his life was threatened. It was certainly a great inconvenience to wait an hour for the owner and a locksmith to affect a rescue but his reaction was as if he had been held captive in Guantanamo Bay for months.

Oddly enough, he was most composed during what I would have found the worst experience of all. He was pickpocketed on the subway the next to last day of his vacation, losing his wallet, credit and ATM cards, driver's license, and money. I'd advised him upon arrival to carry a limtied amount of cash and only a single credit or ATM card, whichever he would be using that day, because pickpockets have a thriving industry here (as in most crowded urban environments). He felt sure that no one could get into the deep pockets of the cargo pants he favors (as seen in the above photo) without his knowledge and thus he became another tourist bereft of his valuables. Perhaps by this time he was just worn out with the insults and injuries he felt he'd sustained here and therefore he weathered the incident relatively well.

Next time I'll show some photos and describe some of the sightseeing but for now, here's a little advice to would-be tourists.
  • Realize that you're a stranger in a strange land and adapt your habits accordingly (i.e., triple your level of caution). Thieves and con artists will spot you a mile away no matter how you attempt to blend in or dress like a local.

  • Before your trip, take some time to find out about where you're going. If you know a little about the history or culture, you'll probably find everything much more interesting when you get there.

  • Don't insult the natives. That taxi driver probably understands enough English to be offended by the derogatory comments you're making about his country or people in what you think is a private backseat conversation.

  • Tell your local guide, friend, or family member some general themes of what you want to see and experience, such as art, architecture, nature, or history. Otherwise you'll be dragged around to things that bore you to tears and your contact will be annoyed about trying to read your mind to guess what might entertain you.

  • Most important, relax and have a good time. A major benefit of foreign travel is the opportunity to try new things: food, language, environment, and everything else. If you can roll with a few punches, you'll add some new dimensions to your life and go home with some stories to share.

Coming up, I'll share some photos and tell you more about what we actually did, not just whine about how stressful it was...I promise!

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