Gringo Trails

Capturing the essence and dangers of the Bolivian amazon jungle, Pegi Vail's documentary Gringo Trails showcases one man's will to survive in the jungle. Documenting the search for backpacker Yossi Ghinsberg who was swept away by the river and found twenty-five days later looking like he had came from a concentration camp. Compelled by his experience, Yossi wrote a book about what he went through while stranded in the middle of the jungle. By selling his story,Yossi's was able to help boost backpacking tourism for a developing country. This film shows how tourism can be detrimental to a country's natural environment. A lesson learned from watching the film is that tourist need to be mindful that they are a guest in someone else's country and respect certain implications put in place to preserve the environment. Also we see how backpackers prefer to be indulged in their environment rather than staying in a hotel because it creates a more memorable experience for them. Through the different interviews and views of tourism documented in the film, we can learn how tourism can boost an economy but also be detrimental to the environment.

Pegi Vail's documentary "Gringo Trails," explores the causes and effects of tourism in developing destinations, where he uses destinations in South America, Africa, and Thailand as examples. Vail takes a distinct approach as to what one would expect from a documentary about tourism, where he tries to raise the awareness that traveling to new and unknown places are not always the best. Vail shows that the sudden flux in tourism at such destinations deteriorate its ambiance that make people want to go there. Overall, this documentary is eye-opening for its audience, in which it makes viewers think about what their effect on a particular culture is.

The "Gringo Trails" documentary overall deals with a topic that is appropriate for anyone and addresses issues that need to be exposed to everyone. However, the film does include content that would not be appropriate for certain viewers. The intended audience appears to be those who are capable and enthused to travel. It is clear the projected message is, when traveling, be respectful and considerate of the people and the culture. The change is to cut down on tourism in places that cannot handle it. Mass tourism can ruin a community or a location. Prior to viewing this documentary, I didn't know anything about the effects of mass tourism and honestly was not expecting to see any major repercussions of this occurrence. However, using interviews and beautiful raw footage of Bolivia, Thailand, and other locations, this film addresses real problems and inclines you to desire change. I was most impacted by the part of the film intended to inform how quickly destruction of an area can occur, and the facts shocked me.

The film Gringo Trails allows the audience to see the real effects of tourism and a new perspective of the problems that it causes on both a local and global scale. It informs us of the evolving industry of tourism as well as the negative impacts that it has on the environment. This documentary shows the far off places of the Bolivian jungle, the beaches of Thailand, the deserts of Timbuktu, Mali, and Bhutan. These locations that were once hidden gems have been transformed over the years and turned it into an unauthentic experiences. Gringo Trails does an amazing job of pointing out that when visiting a foreign country, you are a 'guest' and should act as one.

In the film called Gringo Trails it gives great insight on the subject that many do not even like to think about, and that is the problems with tourism. By having the video have a wide variety of places and personal experiences where people have realized the consequences of being a tourist, it really helps with the impact it leaves on the viewers. It also mentions the changes of tourism, like how backpacking has changed over the years from being solely about people not caring about comfort and just wanting to explore, to becoming more like a tour and very restrained. Over all, the video gave the impression on how when you are a tourist, you must be conscious of how your presence is impacting that society and to respect their values and traditions, instead of having them conform to you because you are the visitor.