To be a Tourist?

Why do people travel? Is one reason more justified than another? Who is judging you when you are abroad? As I have been writing this research paper theorizing on these questions in the Cuban context, I have found it to be a struggle to place myself inside the research. In a number of ways the piece is a self-reflection on my experience travelling. It has been fascinating to watch our group grapple with this question as well. To be a tourist is to be a foreigner, cumbersome, disrespectful; it is a bad thing. It means you are not inside the culture, you are just visiting. Watching foreigners deem each other tourist or non-tourist is fascinating and something that I have not seen any local do thus far. Foreigner is foreigner, and the economic status will always be different. Seeing our group of students sneer at tourists as if they were the plague is painfully ironic. How does our experience qualify us any more Cuban status than an average tourist? Visiting Varadero was an interesting example of this. We spent a weekend at the beach, as every other tourist would. For me, everyone is a tourist. We are all trying to learn from the culture at hand, and placing a hierarchy of experience, or Cubanness, is inherently unproductive. I think the most important thing to remember is to be respectful, patient, and humble. Change the tourist status to one of mutual exchange, education, and curiosity.