How to find authentic culture when you travel.

First, how do you define authenticity?

I define this as broadly as possible. I think that anything people do to express their culture, because they want to, is authentic.

So, what is culture? For example, let’s say food, clothes, music, songs, poetry, literature, art of all kinds, games, sports, etc. A complete list would be too long for this blog.

Authentic culture is everywhere.

Food can be complicated, but you try telling a Chicagoan that their pizza isn’t authentic if they’re not from Italy. I think that French food is French if it’s a recipe that’s common in a lot of (intentionally vague number) French home cooking. That includes couscous. Italian cuisine with tomatoes and pasta is authentic, even though the tomato is from the Americas and noodle are from Asia.

Where to draw the line?

I think that it’s when people do something purely for money, or because they’re told to that I start to doubt the authenticity. Last December in the Amazon, I saw two bartenders put on Amazonian headdresses and dance around to a 90s American pop song before teaching a group of tourists how to make pisco sours.

Yes, pisco sours are Peru’s national drink, (authentic) but the combination of American music and Amazonian decorations struck me as odd. I might not have questioned it so much if I hadn’t seen one of the bartenders cross himself like a Catholic and glance skywards with an apologetic look on his face as he put on the Amazonian headdress. That made the performance seem even less authentic than it already did.

 What do you think? How do you define authentic culture? Leave me a comment!

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Unu Raymi Inca Water Festival

This was one of the most heartwarming Inca ceremonies I’ve ever been to. It was clearly entertainment for the villagers of Sangarará, who welcomed me with open arms.

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Who are the alpaca ladies of Cusco, Peru?

The debate on these women’s authenticity gets heated but I think that they’re wearing clothes that express their culture and working with animals that their families have tended for thousands of years. Seems authentic to me. This article is a rerun because I’ve been working so much on books lately that I haven’t had much that’s been published online.