lunes, 26 de enero de 2009

Why so few people want to travel to Colombia?



We watched a documentary by the NZ TV on The Travel Channel; Intrepid Journeys, where a woman (I wont sponsor her struggle for popularity outside NZ)was reporting on her unusual and "unsettling" trip to Colombia. Much to my surprise, the camera showed very little more than her complaining self (too tired, too sleepy, too cold, too hot, too scared, too hungry, rather unaccustomed, etc.) and few mountains and water ways that could have been filmed in Borneo, Papua, Congo or Brazil just as well. Not a single time she showed a positive attitude about any of her experiences (Unlike most reporting travellers who politely refer to any of their destinations as a wonderful place regardless of any objective consideration), naturally forgetting to mention that those couple of weeks in that tropical context did not show more than 1% if too much, of what a country consists of in terms of geography, demographics, or culture -what really matters for viewers of channels of this sort. This woman had nothing to say about our unbelievably optimistic people, Colombian first class food, the country fabulous architectural worth, its music, biodiversity or else. She was barely impressed by the tallest palm trees in the world at the Cocora Valle. In short, we could simply not believe what we were listening to, her lack of insight, the misinformation that derived from her account of events. I can imagine though that people got to know her very well, she made sure of it. This is as much as the world knows of my country. No wonder why tourism is so rare.
Colombia has the marvels that every other country claims as their own, and it is so far unspoiled by massive tourist herds. Maybe that is why it is worth exploring.

Emil loves Colombian music...the modern approach:







1 comentario:

Silva Kiili dijo...

I have'nt been in Columbia yet but the music was most enjoyable!:)

Let me know when you are coming to Washington as we are planning to leave Washington before Jaanipäev. I hope to see you here before that:)
Try to survive in cold Estonia!
S