Casa Dani

Dani in his tabernaWhen reading Dean Maccall´s “Staged Authenticity: Arrangements of Social Space in Tourist Settings” I noticed that while it applies to travelers in general, a majority of it fits more with the casual traveler, and it also depends entirely on where you go. For example, being from the United States and traveling within the U.S. lends a different experience. My parents and I went to Boston when we were looking at colleges, and while we were there decided to walk the Freedom Trail. Clearly we made the decision to do a touristy activity, but along the way we stumbled across a totally neighborhood Italian restaurant that was legitimately run by the mafia. We got to experience a little bit of the “back door” of the city of Boston simply by coming across it. The circumstances change a bit when you go to a different country. I went to England this past weekend where my cousin now lives. I had already been before, but one of my friends had not and wanted to do all of the touristy sightseeing. We walked all over the city visiting Buckingham Palace, Trafalgar Square, and Big Ben until, exhausted, we decided to sit down in a random English pub to grab a drink and a game. My cousin the previous night had given us many suggestions for things to do that were “very London,” like taking high tea. I think that being a tourist is difficult, because while you want to experience the true culture of the city, you also want to see its history and the things that are important. Often there is not enough time for both, and usually immersing yourself into the culture is the part that is sacrificed. Another factor that is especially important is the language of the country you are visiting. I went to Italy last year for Spring Break, having taken Italian to the advanced levels but by no means fluent (similar to my Spanish skills actually). When we got to Rome, it was very late and we were wandering around trying to find dinner on our way to the Colosseum. The only place that was open was a small restaurant playing Bob Marley, oddly enough, and with people who did not speak a word of English. It was a cool experience for me because I had to translate for all of my friends, but it was also another glimpse into the “back door” of the culture, which we immediately followed with the quintessential touristy experience of visiting all of Rome´s monuments. The situation changes more when you actually live in the culture. Living in Spain, you would think I know authentic restaurants and neighborhood bars. The thing is, I can point them out to you, but if we walk in and do not know what we want or what something is, it becomes clear that we do not belong. I am lucky enough that Catalina, my roommate, knew Dani from her previous stay in Madrid. Dani owns a taberna in La Latina, an old neighborhood of Madrid and his taberna is as authentic as you can get. We are his youngest visitors by fifty years, and I say visitors because he knows almost everyone who comes in, as they are regulars. I think Maccall makes some good points about the stages of being a tourist and that the word comes with negative connotations, but I think a great deal of it depends on how long your stay is and where you are.