When thinking about possible topics I could cover in this platform, a good friend of mine suggested the idea of talking about local tourism. How does my town look like? What are some interesting places to visit or activities to do?
And I most say I loved the idea but, as it's usually my case, I soon became overwhelmed of thinking about the many things "I don't have" to start such an adventure.
Still, I agreed, got on my small awesome Scooter, strapped my smartphone in a chest pocket in a way that allowed me to record some good, kinda shaky first takes, and put myself to the task.
My first video was more of a cry for help than a real tourism video. But I felt like I had to do it, so I did.
But I had a couple of places in mind with real tourism potential, one of which will soon appear in one of the videos, but then I realized how sad the situation in my town really is when it comes to tourism.
You see, San Juan de los Morros has two problems in that matter: one is political, the other is its own people.
On the political side...
...the leaders that "represent" the town don't know about continuity. Every new elected mayor has a plan for anything, and they execute that plan... And then forget about it! They build a monument, and four months later is closed due to lack of maintainance. They build a park, and a few months later the park is closed because it gets damaged and tall grass and all kind of creatures then takes over the place. Then a new mayor comes in, they start new projects, and completely ignores the ones already there.
On the civilian side...
...people has no sense of ownership. That park that the local authorities built is then left there open, alone, with no police or authority to reinforce the rules, and then the people start abusing and dismantleing it because "in the end, it's the government's". No! It's not! It's yours!! You'll never see the mayor riding that park, honestly! Your kids are the ones going to enjoy it! If you destroy it, no one will come and rebuild it.
And that's the case in every other touristic venue in my town, which sadly you might be able to discover with me soon enough: It gets built, abused, abandoned, and forgotten.
I'd like to see my own people making a bigger effort in preserving and defending all of the venues developed by its authorities for the recreation of both locals and foreigners, and those authorities to invest more resources and effort, not only in building, but in maintaining such places and making sure rules are enforced and those who damage public parks are correctly punished.
Things are different with private facilities. These are generally in way better shape and have everything you can imagine to make you have a good time. But are usually expensive, and not affordable for everyone. However, we understand that this type of places are expensive to maintain so, its a price we might be willing to pay.
In any case, I'll do my best to show you the best my town has to offer, without ignoring the not so good side of the story, for the sake of education and fairness.
Hope you can join me and enjoy the trip!