VivirLatino

Sometimes, I ‘m a little ashamed to admit that I read Gawker. Most of the time, I find what they write offensive, and the hipster’er than thou comments piss me off. This morning though, a post on a PR pitch for an Amazonian Spa in Ecuador, opened up my head about the economics and identity politics behind eco-tourism, specifically in Latin America.

Here’s the orginal PR pitch that got my wheels spinning:

The women, who are immaculately clean and wear uniforms which do little to conceal their glowing aboriginal cheekbones and other attractive features, have very strong hands after toil since childhood in fields and in the home virtually without tools,but are surprisingly soft and tender when they massage just the right places…

An intimacy has been shared, for the women, who speak only a handful of words in English and speak Spanish as a second language to their native Indian dialect have communicated much to their guest. And their guest understands everything.

You have to love the emphasis on how clean the Indigenous woman are, as if usually they are dirty, so it needs to be pointed out. Also I found the statement on how the uniforms do not conceal their cheekbones written in a way that was intended to sexualize which is made more explicit with how the mujeres know where to touch. Then there is the glamorization of labor, which goes back to what a surprise that they are so clean since they spent their childhood sweating in the dirt without “civilized” tools. Wrapped up in the pretty bow of their Indigenous language. Forget the fact that here in the U.S., speaking an Indigenous language can allow the state to take away your child.

Pero perhaps that was just crappy ass pitch from a crappy ass PR dude. So I went to find out some more about this Amazon resort and spa.
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