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Mexico and its tourism
Many archaeological sites, for example the pyramid of Chichén Itzá in Mexico, are witnesses of a prestigious bygone era… The Mayans saw death as a deliverance, which was an obligatory passage to pass into the world above. All their beliefs were centered on the sun, the stars, relatively simple things in fact, but so beautiful and important.
Today, almost the entire Yucatan Peninsula has lost its identity, to serve and satisfy the millions of tourists who flood Mexico every year. The beliefs of these tropical travelers are: alcohol, mass leisure and Instagram.
Everything is designed and made to facilitate the consumption of attractions and activities for boring, bored tourists who no longer know what to do with their dollars. The official language of communication has become English, the unofficial currency is the dollar, everything is bargained for in order to obtain a service, a souvenir, a photo, and amusement parks, “resorts” of all kinds are springing up like mushrooms.
The splendid cenotes, these water holes so important to Mayan beliefs, have taken on, for the most famous, the air of a municipal swimming pool. The port of the island of Cozumel has become a home port for cruise ships of unimaginable size. How can they build boats of such size? How can they travel in these conditions?
Cancún has become a hub for young, brainless tourists, Playa del Carmen is known for its debauched evenings, Tulum for pseudo-intellectual travelers lacking in bearings.
There, as elsewhere, on the coast of the Riviera Maya, the “All Inclusive Resorts” are springing up one after the other, the dolphinariums are counted in the dozens (hundreds?); there is no longer any ethics to be able to offer entertainment. Large rental Jeeps are also proliferating, increasingly replacing small cars, to satisfy the demands of tourists from the United States.
The Mexican people, so kind and respectful, so proud of their cultures and their Mayan and Aztec ancestors, are integrated, assimilated, in this whole fresco, accompanying this limitless growth, for the happiness and good of all…
Argentina and its natural wonders to preserve
Much further south in Mexico, there are other territories, truly preserved lands, where the reliefs and their geographical isolation have protected them from the voracity of human.
The natural pyramid (or cone) of Arita is the perfect example. A true sentinel on the edge of the largest salt desert in Argentina, the Salar de Arizaro, perched at an altitude of almost 3,500 meters.
You can’t get here by chance, because such a journey is not for everyone, it has to be earned… From Tolar Grande, you have to ride on tracks for hours and hours, get lost, explore, walk, venture, accept to leave your comfort zone, to find yourself alone or almost, facing yourself.
In this region of Puna you have to be natural, true, real. No makeup, no ego, no exuberance; the immensity of the landscapes and the strength of the elements will restore you to your true value, that of a small human with two arms, two legs, and an optional brain.
Cold waters, the wind sweeping everything in its path, dust, the sun that burns you, freezing nights, altitude and lack of oxygen, active volcanoes, English that is useless to you, non-existent 4G (no story possible on Facebook!), and so on… that’s all that awaits you. But what a great idea to travel here, you might ask!?
Well, that’s exactly what I value: this powerful feeling of being one of the first people to venture onto these lands; of perceiving the infinite immensity of the landscapes; of having the privilege of rubbing shoulders with untouched Nature and listening to the silence; of not being affected by humans; of simply being able to observe the weight of the mountains, the horizon, the skies, the elements…
Thanks to all this, and because of its geographical isolation, I dare to hope that the South of South America will be sheltered for a long time from the torments and the devastating appetite of this entire economic system, and of these unscrupulous investors, to show travelers what our planet could have looked like before hyper productivity.
The Altiplano, Patagonia, Antarctica, are among the last lands where human influence is not (yet) felt. But here again, Man is mistaken.
- You have the right to think before you embark on a journey.
- You have the power to not travel just to consume images, or just to break the monotony of your everyday life.
- You have a duty to think before undertaking an excursion, before wanting an unnatural interaction with a wild animal that has become tame, for example.
- Your life can be the most beautiful journey…