Post study abroad I hope to be a more conscious tourist. I have learned so much in Merida about the ethics of tourism and the levels of tourism. I plan on applying this information to not only my future travels but also in my interactions with tourists at home.
During this trip I truly pushed myself out of my comfort zone. Growing up as a black girl in America I already had experience on what it was like living as a minority, but I was completely disconnected from the experience of living in an area where you do not speak the same language as a majority of the population, at least not well.
Communication is so vital in making connections and establishing relationships, two things I struggled with in Mérida. The inability to communicate due to language or cultural barriers is extremely frustrating but I only had to live like this for a month. I can only imagine the difficulties people must face when they immigrate permanently to an area where their culture and language is not understood or actively present.
I have learned so much about the Mayan and their culture. Throughout the trip I was constantly making comparisons between traditional African culture and what we have been learning about Mayan culture. In combination with ideas presented in the Cheikh Anta Diop’s Two Cradle Theory, many indigenous communities are over the world have many similarities, likely making descendants of these groups more similar than one might think.
