A
canoe glides silently through the rainforest. Monkeys bark warnings
from the overhanging boughs as a caiman slips into the stream. Such
is the stuff that green dreams are made of but, as Stephen Benz
reveals, the reality of ecotourism can be closer to a nightmare.
On the Amazon, in Costa Rica, Honduras and on the Mayan trail from
Guatemala to Mexico, Stephen describes his encounters with water,
mud, insects and other wildlife – and not least with the ecotourists
themselves. He witnesses simulated cultural festivals and discovers
that his fellow travellers prefer pursuing their own green dreams
to coming face-to-face with the local people and their world. With
witty insights into the phenomenon of modern travel, Stephen discusses
the paradox at the heart of cultural and ‘green’ tourism.
His shrewd observations make provocative and absorbing reading.
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