This term probably means different things to different people but it’s something that I thought about a lot on my recent trip to Oaxaca, Mexico during the Day of the Dead celebrations. Oaxaca had been on my list of destinations for a while and when I found out that I could take that particular week off of work, it was an easy decision to head there and see first hand what it was all about.
I love visiting indigenous communities and learning about cultures that are different from my own but it can make me feel a bit uncomfortable at the same time. I am so aware that this type of tourism can appear voyeuristic. In Oaxaca Day of the Dead is a big deal. It’s an important and meaningful holiday for the locals and it’s also a big driver of tourism.
One of the main activities for Oaxacans is to visit cemeteries to visit their deceased relatives. They decorate the graves with flowers and significant objects and the family all gathers around. Each cemetery seems to have certain days where there is increased activity. Before setting off on my trip I booked a cemetery tour through the Oaxaca Lending Library (https://www.oaxlibrary.org), which seemed to be a legitimate organization that does a lot of work in support of both the local and expat community. (As an aside, I was scolded by an American living in Oaxaca for using the term expat–she prefers migrant. I could write an entire post about that.) When I arrived in the city I was bombarded by other tour operators also offering tours to the various cemeteries on different nights. The whole thing started to make me a bit nervous. There would be busloads of tourists (3 large buses from the library alone) traipsing through the cemeteries while the locals are there to celebrate an important holiday. Is that cool? I did ask about etiquette–I was assured by one of the expats (I mean migrants) that as long I was thinking in these terms I wasn’t going to do anything offensive. And I truly appreciated that. I don’t think I personally did anything overtly offensive. I didn’t take pictures of people without asking if it was ok to do so. I was quiet and respectful. However, I still can’t help thinking about how the presence of so many outsiders impacts on the people who are there to celebrate the holiday. Having said that, nobody seemed to be angry or annoyed about us being there. The Oaxacan people seem to be deeply proud of their culture and traditions and are happy to share them with the world. And it felt like an honor to be able to observe these traditions in such an intimate way. So I am grateful to the local people for being so welcoming and gracious to all of us tourists.
In addition to the cemetery tour, I also went on a full day tour through an organization called Fundación En Vía (https://www.envia.org) which provides education and interest-free loans to women in Oaxaca. From the organization’s website:
“Fundación En Vía is a non-profit organization that works to empower women to better support themselves and their families. We use funds generated through responsible tourism to provide interest-free loans and educational programs to entrepreneurial women in 6 communities in the Tlacolula Valley of Oaxaca, Mexico.”
I was kind of on the fence about taking this tour because it was quite expensive, especially compared to prices of other tours and activities I had researched. (Their regular tours are $50, but during the Day of the Dead they were $80.) However, the more I thought about it, the more I wanted to support an organization that was doing good work in the area. By the time I made up my mind to go, the tours were pretty much sold out but luckily they had a cancellation and I was able to get a spot at the last minute. The tour I went on was to Teotitlán del Valle, which is a town that is known for dyeing and weaving wool into rugs. We visited a family in their home, saw their Day of the Dead altar, drank some mezcal with them, had lunch and learned about the businesses that En Vía helps them to finance. In addition to the rugs, this family runs a cafe and makes chocolate. We saw demonstrations of both spinning and weaving the wool as well as making chocolate and talked with the women about the challenges and goals that they have. We also accompanied them to the cemetery, which felt a bit different for me than on the other tour. Maybe it was because we had made a connection with some people in the community. There also weren’t nearly as many tourists there. It was a fun day that also felt meaningful. That to me is what responsible tourism means.
Fierce Sunflower 