DPs according to the Independent Traveller

[Kapa]

I haven't heard the term "Eastern Bloc" in a........ long time. Has the cold war ended yet.....?

RYP, watch out..... you've got serious competition ;-))


Erstwhile Dangerous Places

A few years back, in lieu of a bachelor party for a friend, I sketched out a surf trip to El Salvador. It would never happen. Upon hearing of our destination, the bride-to-be and a groomsman's wife vetoed the choice due to safety concerns in the wake of a ten-years-gone civil war, and we ended up on a boat in Costa Rica.

Not a terrible option, certainly, but at the time, El Salvador was probably no more dangerous than a localized surf break on Long Island - maybe less so. Four years later, another wedding approached, and another surf trip was planned. This time, El Salvador was vetted without hesitation, and the ladies almost showed up for the final weekend. Did conditions change, or just attitudes?

You may have your own similar story, but the facts are this: the lengths to which people will go in their search for solitude, authenticity, a sense of the new and untrammeled, a whiff of adventure, are stretching all the time. As a result, destinations once thought dangerous, even dangerously unthinkable, are becoming tourist outposts.

What Is It Like? Is It Dangerous?
What is it like to travel in El Salvador, Nicaragua, the Eastern bloc, certain African nations, and other places once thought extremely dangerous and inhospitable? Many of these destinations are not intrinsically dangerous places, but simply have not had the exposure to tourism that ultimately results in healthier local economies, robust police forces, and tourist-friendly safe zones and businesses.

Your first impression will be the utter absence of the typical tourist infrastructure - including tourist traps. This hardly means your presence will go unnoticed, or is unwelcome. In many cases, particularly in places not exposed to the explosion in leisure travel in the late 20th century, you will find the locals just as curious about you and your home as you are about theirs; the weary cynicism of some tourist-trodden communities has not set in.

In any unfamiliar place, your relative safety can shift radically every few steps or minutes; the terrorist attacks of the past four years in New York, Madrid, and just this month in London are the stark proof. Another recent example: throughout the 1990's, Indonesia was a very popular place for "Western" tourists. Post-9/11 and Iraq invasion, however, Indonesia's large Muslim population made a less comfortable place for Western tourists in general, and Americans in particular.

Then the December 26 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami resulted in a massive influx of humanitarian aid, not the least of which were veritable peaceable armies of American volunteers. The perception of Americans reversed again very quickly, and some tourists have returned to the region.

That said, personally, I felt far safer in El Salvador riding the psychedelic-paintjob buses and raiding the markets as the only gringo in sight than I did tromping through certain surf bum-infested towns in Europe and even Hawaii.

Nonetheless, Salvadoran hoteliers discourage visitors from walking alone after dark, and armed guards conduct night watches at many hotels, resort clubs, and the like. It can be difficult to figure out which activities are safe, and which might present some danger. Your best safeguard against trouble is to gather some local knowledge.

To whit: I inquired with our guide about visiting a well-known volcano park in the inland mountains; he strongly recommended we wait until the weekend. "During the week, there are no people out there, so there are no police; the banditos work weekdays," he explained. On the weekend, bigger crowds attracted a military and police presence, and made the grounds extremely safe.

Finally, I found it interesting that, particularly in the case of Central America and the Eastern bloc, it took about a decade before any mainstreaming of popular opinion took place. In fact, however, these places were nice places to visit a solid five years earlier. This may serve as a good guide when choosing a destination; five years of stability is go time.

Central America
El Salvador and Nicaragua, not so long ago home to death squads, desaparecidos, civil war and revolution, have emerged as the "next Costa Rica." New hotels are opening all the time, and coastside shanty towns are cropping up to support the return of the surfers (the region was extremely popular, almost overrun, with surfers in the 70s). Finally, an incredible stream of money from Northern expats has encouraged the building of malls, movie theaters, and markets, especially in San Salvador, and this influence is spreading.

In Nicaragua, it turns out, an influx of international volunteers during the Sandinista regime exposed the populace to a more diverse community and created among them a more broad cultural and linguistic awareness than in most other Central American countries save for Panama and Mexico.

Salvadorans have been described as "friendly and hard-working," which seemed a cliché at best, but I was stunned at the accuracy of the description. I found that folks helped you with your Spanish, did unbidden favors, told you about their families, let you in on the joke - try the same in Europe. And whether in a restaurant or the surfboard repair "shop," the work was fast, of good quality, and very fairly presented and priced. And the rural charm is balanced by very modern facilities when you need them - the roads go from good to great, and the airport serves as a hub for many Central American flights, and is no war-ravaged shell of an airport - in fact, you'll find Nautica, Perry Ellis, Tommy Hilfiger, and a Radio Shack. As tourism ramps up, the Salvadorans will adapt and be ready. War is over if you want it.

Kenya
Kenya has experienced a surge of tourist interest; safaris there can be sold out months in advance. Terror attacks in 1998 and 2002 may have actually made the country more safe, at least on a day-to-day basis, as Kenyan officials have stepped up security efforts. While the US State Dept. maintains a warning for Kenya, Britain and Australia have none, and Canadian officials only warn against specified regions.

Indonesia
As mentioned above, the recently rather sullied perception of Westerners and Americans has recovered a bit, but caution is still recommended in this Muslim-dominated region. Note that Bali is predominantly Hindu, and is an extremely (sometimes too much so) popular exception to this rule.

Eastern Bloc
The Eastern bloc may be among the most visitor-friendly and tourist-ready regions of the world, and quite a bit of the region is blisteringly beautiful, with a mix of period architecture that escaped, and thereby defied, the march of franchising, globalization, and many of the more commercial historical currents of the 20th century. Your choices here are almost limitless, but do your homework. A city like Prague, for example, maintains much more Old World charm than does, say, Plovdiv in Bulgaria, which is dominated by Soviet-style cement edifices.

Libya
Whew, Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi makes a statement to relent from decades of terrorism sponsorship, the US lifts restrictions on the use of US passports for travel to Libya, and suddenly Libya is in the Sunday travel sections. However, Libya remains on the US "State Sponsors of Terrorism" list, and although a US Liaison Office was opened late in 2004, no consular officer was installed, and very limited services are available.

Okay, all of that said, what is it like, really? This description from Lonely Planet offers a clue: "Tripoli is as urbane as any place in Africa, while the Jebel Akhdar region to the east is reminiscent of verdant Crete."

Sounds pretty nice, which only serves to underscore how difficult it can be to know what really to expect. Here's a hint: tour groups to Libya presently require a guide and a police escort.

Tips
1. Check the travel advisories of other countries
The travel advisories of the US State Department are sometimes considered slightly myopic of the big picture. For a more global view, check the corresponding advisories of other Western, English-speaking countries; Britain, Australia, and Canada serve well here.

In some cases, the advice can be easier to parse than are the US State Dept advisories; Australia, for example, organizes advisories thusly:

Travel advisories

By destination

Countries for which we advise against ALL travel

Countries for which we advise against NON-ESSENTIAL travel

General advice for Australian travellers on world-wide risks to Australians overseas

See also our Travel Bulletins - information about specific events or travel issues

What our advice means

2. Hire a Guide
A guide can do much better than get you out of jams - they can assure that you don't get into any. They are motivated: you get hassled, they get no more tourist business. In some cases, a guide is mandatory; as mentioned above, tour groups to Libya require a guide and a police escort.

3. Use a Tour Company
Most tour operators working in once-dangerous locations are no shrinking violets; these folks know that your package must come with safety provisions included. The surf guide we hired in El Salvador, Edgard Schleusz of K59 Surf Tours (http://www.k59surftours.com/), put us up in a nearly empty country club right on the point at Zunsal Beach, a perfect setup. Edgard seemed to be known equally well by both reputable and less savory sorts, so could move around comfortably. We sometimes felt like the safest people in the country.

4. Know how to contact your embassy
While traveling in Guatemala, an El Salvadoran friend of mine was assaulted, bound, and abandoned in an episode that directly caused a Travel Warning to be issued, and ultimately ended a ring of official corruption at many levels of law enforcement. He has dual citizenship, and despite protests from the Guatemalan police, invoked his US citizenship when reporting the incident (after an escape that plays like a James Bond scene); FBI agents showed up shortly thereafter. Clearly, the FBI is going to be more persuasive than your broken Spanglish. If you get in trouble, you need to know how to get out of trouble; the embassy is your first and best contact.

The State Department recommends Americans register their trips when spending more than a month in a foreign country, or when traveling to areas of unrest. They've made it very easy; you can do this online at Registration with Embassies.

5. Choose your lodging carefully
Of all the details you can dedicate yourself to getting right, I would concentrate on safe, clean lodging. You will want a place you can:

leave your stuff; inquire about a safe for your valuables

trust that your health is not in jeopardy

get solid advice

find safe haven

expect sufficient security, especially after dark

count on the communications system, particularly telephones

have recourse if something goes wrong

You might also ask about climate control (that's air-conditioning to you); it is a great luxury in many locations, but could come in handy if you're taken ill, have to get work done during a vacation, or the like.

You might consider staying at a western chain hotel if available. On one hand, it may have better security; conversely, it might be more likely to be a target for crime. This is precisely the type of question the US embassy can answer for you; they are equipped and willing to give relatively "routine information" of this type.

6. Arrange for transportation ahead of time
You are never more vulnerable than when you arrive at the airport with thousands of dollars worth of luggage and gear; the airport hustle is the easiest and most lucrative job in the business. Either arrange for transport from the airport with your hotel or guide, or take only "official" transport vetted by airport personnel or other authorities.

7. Protect your passport
Lose your passport in the wrong place, and you are in for a world of hurt that could last some time, and have implications far beyond simply an extra few days in a hotel.

8. Money and Shopping
American banks carry no clout in a place like Libya, at least not on the streets; credit cards and checks are generally not accepted. As Americans are presently required to travel with a guide, they will be able to assist here, and with other red tape challenges.

In Central America, on the other hand, many of the governments have officially adopted the dollar as the official currency; greenbacks rule. This doesn't mean you can buy your breakfast or get a haircut with a credit card; the "green" in greenbacks is the operative term. Cash machines cough up dollars, and are surprisingly abundant.

Shopping may be an erratic and bare bones experience. For example, markets will typically offer only one brand of most items; menus may be sparse and not all items available; hours of operation may be unpredictable.

In El Salvador, you could not purchase t-shirts, bobbleheads, logo visors; I saw no souvenirs of any kind, very refreshing. In Libya, the medina in Tripoli is said to be almost calm. The rule of thumb here is that the markets have regular people buying regular things - thread, slippers, soup bowls. For now, you'll find no swarm of tourist traps.

9. Communications
Communications in third world nations can be very frustrating; in El Salvador and part of Nicaragua, for example, many "land line" telephones could not connect to the cell phone network whatsoever. This can sometimes be circumvented using calling cards.

10. Language
In many of these locations, exposure to English has been minimal. Although many of the burgeoning tourist entrepreneurs are multilingual, and may have even spent time abroad, outside of the confines of your tour guide bubble, you are going to need some language skills. No hacking it along in broken English; you will know the full extent of Babel.

11. Consider Cruise Ships
One way for travelers to dip a toe into previously forbidden waters without getting in too deep is to take a cruise that visit such destinations briefly and safely. After the US lifted travel bans last year, the Libyan capital of Tripoli almost immediately showed up on several ship itineraries.

12. Expect to share the wealth
The assumption in many distressed regions is that you are insanely wealthy - and in fact you are. I have a tradition of getting a haircut when traveling - I consider it something of a chickenshit tattoo - and a local elder helped me find a barber in La Libertad. For his troubles, he asked for a quarter, the cost of about one ounce of coffee in the US. Without feeling like you are being taken, and without too much pain, you can also share the wealth, often where and when it is most needed.

To discuss this and other Traveler's Ed articles, visit the Traveler's Ed Message Board.


Go Anyway,
Ed Hewitt
TravelersEd@aol.com
Features Editor
The Independent Traveler



http://www.independenttraveler.com/reso ... ategory=13

[RYP]

Yes, yes of course I always consider a cruise ship when visiting Iraq or Afghanistan...

[jcruelty]

Thanks for the post Kapa... I'm currently eyeing a Thanksgiving trip to El Salvador, if I can convince my girlfriend. Reading stuff like this really gets the wanderlust going.

I have to admit also enjoyed ghoulishly paging through the Australian site's list of most dangerous places (pretty accurate it seems to me). Since RYP's next WMDP book is not forthcoming in the near future, I have to turn to newspapers covering New Orleans looters & Australian embassy pages to get my dose of vicarious thrills/chills.

The weird thing is, an exgirlfriend of mine just wrote to a bunch of us letting us know that she's teaching for the next 3 months in Medellin! I'm too scaredy pants to go to Colombia but she says she's loving it & has an apt up on the hills that's easily 3x as big and 10x as nice as anything she's every had before. I guess she's a starving student/teacher type so maybe not worth bothering... still, I worry about her. At least Colombia's not on the au site's list of "Countries for which we advise against ALL travel."

Maybe in another few years it will be on the independent traveler list... maybe cocaine will be legalized... yeah right.