Thursday, May 20, 2010

What I'm not doing on my summer vacation

There's an ad I see repeatedly on Facebook to encouraging me to study Spanish and yoga in Costa Rica (and perhaps combine it with surfing and fire dancing!). Not wanting to encourage the advertiser by following the link, I Googled it and four or five schools came back - one in particular with the same tag line.

I'm trying to figure out why I would want to go to another country to hang out with a bunch of white, middle-class Americans when I can do that at home for free.

I suppose the fact that Spanish is the language of Costa Rica gives it a veneer of authenticity, although I could immerse myself in Spanish right here in Nashville if I find the right crowd. But who wants to to risk ending up hanging out with immigrants who "should be" learning English when I could be catered to by locals who make a living off of being nice to tourists?

I tend to think of inclusive, see-the-sights-but-not-the-life trips as catering to middle-aged and older folks, but this is a brilliant way to capture the youth market.

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