Read Your Local Blog

An interesting thing happened last week. On a Latin American-based travel blog, Travelojos, the topic of being able to speak freely as a travel writer was discussed in depth. Jens Porup, a former Lonely Planet travel writer, was giving a speech at a tourism conference in Bogota, Colombia, when he said, among other things, that Colombia is great but needs to step up its tourism, but Peru, Ecuador, and Venezuela are dangerous and not worth visiting. This created a bit of a stir up in the travel writing world, and on Travelojos, which reported on it.

In a post about the speech on Travelojos, people started to pitch in their own thoughts about travel writers speaking their minds and replied to what seemed to be unnecessarily harsh remarks about some countries. I was involved in the discussion as well, but was surprised when I saw that Lonely Planet head digital editor Vivek Wagle pitched in. Wagle explained that Porup no longer writes for Lonely Planet, and was misleading by representing them. Wagle wrote,

"My name’s Vivek. I’m the head digital editor at Lonely Planet and a former Lonely Planet author.

I have to say that we’re all disappointed that Jens chose to address the Bogotá tourism industry recently while portraying himself as a representative of Lonely Planet. Jens stopped working with us in June 2009, and Lonely Planet does not support the views he expressed.

As for Peru and the other countries Jen stereotyped, we try our best to be objective and to help people get to the heart of a place. Peru’s main drawcard may be Machu Picchu, but it has MUCH more to offer than pollution and crime. Anyone who has spent time getting to know it would agree. We absolutely do not believe that South American countries can be portrayed in a few flippant, simplistic lines.

I did want to let you know that Jens is in no way speaking for Lonely Planet when he makes such statements."

I was pretty impressed that in seemingly no time, a large publication like Lonely Planet was on the scene to respond to this. But in just a short time later, Jens Porup himself responded on the same post. Porup wrote,

"I used to believe in Lonely Planet. That was why I applied to work for them. I believed that Lonely Planet was about “telling it straight”. That, as an author, I would be allowed, even encouraged, to tell it like it is.

Then I started working for LP, and I realized this was not the case. It may have once been true twenty years ago. Now, all Lonely Planet cares about is making money.

The problem is simple: telling the truth hurts. The BBC (LP’s new owner) is interested in one thing only: maximizing profit. The way to do this is to minimize potential offense to any group, no matter how small.

The result? Guidebooks I don’t want to write, and guidebooks I don’t want to use.

Colombia rocks. Peru sucks. People who’ve been to both places know the truth."

While I don't agree with what Porup has said, it is at least refreshing to hear a travel writer speak his mind and go against the grain. I think it should be fairly obvious that a travel guide book will be interested in selling books mainly, but it's always interesting to hear an inside source on it. Of course there are always 2 sides to a story, but this is why blogs are useful. 

Travelojos was able to bring this conversation to a forefront, and in doing so showed the power of bloggers. Instead of the conversation being blown off or ignored, by the insulter and insultee were able to reply in a timely and honorable fashion. I think this is an interesting development for blogging, and hopefully will continue to shed light on topics like travel, among other things. 

Argentina Wins, Diego Belly Flops

Last night was the big game: Argentina vs. Peru. This was a qualifying match to see if Argentina would continue on to the World Cup. The first half went by mostly uneventfully and with no scoring. But quickly after the 2nd half started Argentina scored the first goal of the game. Cars were honking in the streets and a few shouts could be heard. Then the rain started to come in.

From where I was watching at a friends apartment, we had a view of the skyline towards the port. The horizon was ablaze in purple and yellow from the thunderstorm, and we marveled in the waves of rain that pounded down on the streets, flooding everything. The game almost became difficult to watch, as it rained so heavily that the screen looked white-washed.

And then the game was in stoppage time, with 2 minutes until it was over. It was still 1-0, and Argentina just had to hang on. But suddenly, with maybe a minute and a half left, Peru scored. It was madness, and you could literally feel the air coming out of the country. It seemed like people might explode with the lightning.

They wouldn't give in, however, and Argentina charged down the field. There had to be only 30 seconds left in the game, and suddenly in the right place at the right time, Martín Palermo stuck out his leg and the ball zoomed into the back of the net. In the insanity of the storm it was so hard to see, and anything could have happened. As the ball went into the next lightning went off on cue, the crowd and announcers went nuts, and Palermo ripped off his shirt and ran around wild. Then they cut to coach Diego Maradona, and he quickly did two belly flops into the wet field, dancing around like a child. It was impressive.

Though Peru threatened down the field again with just seconds left, the game clock finally ended, and the stadium was crazy. So Argentina held on and somehow, as these things often happen, two goals were scored consecutively, making the final score 2-1. Argentina isn't out of the woods yet, though. On Wednesday they'll travel to Montevideo to play Uruguay. Both teams are playing for the final spot, so it will definitely be a good match to watch.

Above: Diego Maradona dives in the rain. Photo courtesy of Clarín.

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La conferencia de prensa de Maradona. (TyC Sports)

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The Best Photo of the Day

Argentina coach Diego Maradona with Lionel Messi

Today is a big day for fans of Argentinian soccer. At 7 pm tonight in Buenos Aires, the national team will play against Peru in a qualifying match for the World Cup next year. Because of so many bad games and losses, Argentina could potentially not make the World Cup, which would be a huge shock to the soccer world. This is probably one of their last chances to turn things around and make a "Wild Card" slot, so basically tonight is do or die.

This photo, which was posted on the Clarín Web site, is of legendary player turned fallen star turned national team coach Diego Maradona and rising star Lionel Messi at practice. As you can see, Maradona is pointing for something, though it does look like he's picking his nose. A great photo, really.

Depending on how things go tonight, there could either be a soccer riot or...maybe a soccer riot. Who knows. It's been a pretty volatile week with rumors that Maradona would quit because of disagreements with other managers, and other demonstrations about the government moving to break up monopolies within the media. So we'll see what happens tonight. I'll keep you posted if anything crazy should happen.

Below is a video of Maradona's goal against England in the 1986 World Cup semi-finals, which was voted by FIFA as the "Goal of the Century."

Back in Puno

We´re back in Puno today after a day and a half exploring Lake Titicaca. We started out on Sunday by heading to the Uros Islands, which are man-made floating islands made out of reeds from the lake. The islands are small and only a few families live on each one. We ate some of the reeds, which kind of tasted like sugarcane without the sugar and then took a reed boat to another island.

We then moved on to Amantani, a natural island with pre-Incan ruins. Here we stayed with host indigenous families, and we got a chance to understand some of the culture. The hosts were incredibly friendly and welcoming, speaking both Quechua and Spanish very well. Eating their local food which consisted mostly of soup and vegetables, we also drank mate tea with coca leaves for the altitude.

After lunch we headed up to the top of the island, and because we were so high up, it was a struggle. It was difficult, but because we have been living high up in the Andes, we made it to the top first and beat everyone else by about 20 minutes. If I hadn´t been living in Cuenca I probably would have been back at the bottom with the older people. We couldn´t see the sun set because it was cloudy, but instead dodged little girls trying to hit our faces with chalk for Carnaval.

On the way back down we stopped for some incredible donuts with syrup and mate in a little stone shop by the ruins. Later after dinner we went to the community center dressed in traditional indigenous clothes and danced with the locals for a couple of hours. The community center was the only building with electricity, which was solar powered. On the walk back we were only guided through the extreme darkness by tiny flashlights and occasional bursts of lightning in the distance.

The island was once of the most peaceful places I´ve ever been to, and you couldn´t help but feel relaxed and want to stay longer. Even the use of outhouses couldn´t spoil the atmosphere. In the morning we had a quick breakfast and moved on to the island of Tequile. Just as we started a hike up to the center it started to rain, so by the time we got up there we were all soaked and wet.

We didn´t do much in Tequile except look at a market and hear some information about the locals, and then we got lunch. The sun came out and it was hot again, drying our clothes quickly. We got back on the boat and started the trip back to Puno. The trip was nice because we got to see some of the islands, even though traveling around the lake takes a very long time because the boats are so slow. We met some nice people and had some good laughs, but now it´s time to move on again.

I still feel like I´m rocking on a boat right now. The plan is to head back to Cuzco, catch our flight to Lima, and then on the 25th return to Guayaquil. From there we´ll probably spend the night and then I might head up to Portoviejo to visit my friend Ricardo. It´s still a mystery as to whether or not the government has paid us, and as a result it is straining our expenses on the trip. But it´s been a good time so far, and hopefully we can continue to make the most out of the time we have.