During the last decade, Minca has increased its population and become a center of attention for tourists but also for investors that looked for a new place to start their project.
In the last post, we described how is Minca and the first impressions that one has when arriving here. Due to its nature, calm and beauty, it has been inevitable that in the last decade Minca become the center of attention for nature lovers (maybe sometimes not that much “ecofriendly”) and investors looking for a new place where to start a project have set their eye on it.
We asked ourselves: how this town was before tourism influence? What do the local people feel about it, are they happy with the change, or something is missing in all this new and still changing life in Minca? I spent the last days asking these questions to different people, business owners, moto-taxi drivers and other inhabitants and these are the answers.
“as long as they take care of the town, we welcome everybody with open arms”
“Look, that pavement used to be like this, all dirt”. He is Carlos, a former farmer who, like so many men in Minca, one year ago left his work in the fields to become a motorcycle cab driver. “I used to grow tomatoes, cilantro, beans… and I traded all to businesses here and in Santa Marta”. Carlos explained to me that around four years ago, the authorities began to be very strict with local farmers to preserve the biodiversity and fauna of the natural environment. They used to ignite large fires to convert a forest area into a cultivable field and also used many “poisons” to treat the plants that, collaterally, killed birds and other animals. “So it’s good, tourism brings joy. If it weren’t for the tourist…They leave some money in the town”. “If it weren’t for the tourists…” Then I asked him what happened when Covid-19 hit the town, to which he replied that fortunately he also fattens chickens and piglets and with that, he was able to spent a decent time.
As Carlos, Jorge, a young green-eyed moto driver, had been a farmer until ten years ago, when his parents decided to move to Minca to work. While he found this taxi job, their parents started working on a coffee farm. Another field that, in addition to coffee processing, has tripled its income by opening the doors of the coffee farms to tourism giving guided tours. “Thank God we have all been doing very well here. It is good that every day more tourists arrive to make a bigger town, as long as they take care of the town and do not come to harm it, we welcome everybody with open arms”, he says.
Then, it seems that people are happy with the changes that tourism has brought. Even the town’s recyclers told me that, somehow, tourism also made people value the natural environment that they have and have begun to work for greater awareness of waste and care for the environment! “Well, there are others who come from Santa Marta (the nearest city) and around that bring their dirt and leave it on the river bank and that harms the others”, Aris Eduardo, one of the recyclers, explains. “But in general local people, it’s trying and improving on that”. Some local people indeed said to me that often national tourism had been the more irresponsible ones here. But we cannot judge that.
However, the first ones who showed a little disagreement were the police. I perfectly remember the day when we were quietly working and suddenly two cops appeared in our backyard. Finally, they say they only came in to ask for English classes -that no, we didn’t do-, but since they saw us foreigners, they left us a warning: “be careful with what you do around here, there are a lot of people who come here to consume and stuff”. Oh, yes? I was curious so the next day I went to the police station to get more information about that. The officer didn’t allow me to record but basically explained that: “You see? all that are houses and hostels lost in the middle of the forest. So, a lot of people comes to enjoy, stay calm and in the clouds, and we cannot control all this”. Is really normal that police stop you in the street to control what are you bringing in your bag.
Finally, the last biggest criticism that awakened our questions and it deserves to be mentioned, because the type of project we are undertaking, has to do with the lack of commitment to the local community that some business owners have shown. Tourism likes: To see that people from all over the world are interested in knowing the beauty of this place is great. Even helped that authorities acted by imposing standards for the protection of the environment. But so that the town continues preserving its roots and the children keep growing in a healthy and educational environment, it is necessary that development reaches people equally and that these spaces for social care and learning continue to be promoted. This local friend, who also has a foundation about social circus for children, explained that many owners now, just take profit, but give nothing to local organizations. And there are many ways to support, starting by respecting and cleaning every trace of environmental pollution, up to contributing with time, skills, material or financial resources to local associations already working for social progress.
And as travelers, each of us can find the best way to contribute that fits our time on the road. As our friend says, starting from the basics: loving and respecting every place we visit.
