You see it, you change it

(Monday, 15 June 2009)

The Heisenberg Principle from Physics, also known as the Uncertainty Principle, states that you cannot have absolute certainty about a particle’s situation: the more you know about its position, the less you’ll be certain about its momentum, or speed. And vice-versa.

One implication of this, and more to the point of this post, is that the simple fact you’re observing a certain phenomenon – a particle, for instance – affects its situation. This is called the Observer's Effect, and it means there is no such thing as perfect, zero-interference observation.

I think the same applies to tourism and places like El Cocuy (see a couple of posts below). That town is genuinely friendly, touched by travellers only enough to make it hospitable and welcoming, without turning itself into a theme park or tourists into walking wallets packed with money.

But the truth is, even if only 2 or 3 tourists at the time, our presence there changes the reality of the locals.

You have “the time of your life” there. You’ve tasty meals for €1. You buy beer at a night club – the only one, for that matter – for €0.33. You spend the all day moving from one place to the other, buying this here, buying that there, and at the end you’re absolutely surprised how cheap it all was.

You’re sensitive, so you don’t splash your money around – you keep it low profile. If people ask how much a plane ticket to your home country costs, you don't tell the truth and say something 25% of the real price (you'd say less if you could, but then they wouldn't believe it either). If people ask about your travels, you omit most of the places and what you’ve been up to.

But still… Just the fact you’re spending a few days in an “hospedaje”, paying the national park’s fee to go up the mountain, renting camping gear, and eating and drinking without any concerns, it means you’re probably spending in a couple of weeks what most of the locals have for a few months of living…

So, if after a night out you’re suspicious someone might have overcharged you a bit on your consumption, whose fault is it – theirs or yours?

Probably no-one’s, probably everyone’s. But I’d just like to go back to the Heisenberg’s Principle for a minute here…