Ökotourismus zwischen Sein und Schein - Lateinamerika-Studien ...

“I think tourism has – lets say – a good part about the tourism is that there
is a pressure to keep Vilcabamba clean and to keep trashy elements away
from Vilcabamba. There was going to be a chicken farm, there was a
person who wanted to put a very large chicken farm – I mean large for
Ecuador, quite small compared maybe to United States. And because of
the tourism there was quite a bit of negative reaction and actually because
the owners were going to realise that the whole town was going to be
against them because of the smells and flies that it could cause, people
say: ‘beautiful, pristine Vilcabamba with the chicken farm, what
contamination is there’.” (Joy Horton 2001, Vilcabamba)
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Nachfolgend werden kurz alle übrigen in Vilcabamba vorherrschenden
Tourismusformen erläutert, auf welche ich während meiner Feldstudie nicht
näher eingegangen bin.
VI.4.2. Gesundheitstourismus
Wesentliche Aspekte für den Gesundheitstourismus in Vilcabamba spielen
das beständige Klima (es herrschen ganzjährig Temperaturen um 20°C) und
dass der Ort auf einer günstigen Höhe von 1500 m liegt. Natürlich lockten
ebenso jene Artikel über die Langlebigkeit und die Immunität gegen
Herzerkrankungen viele Kranke auf Kur nach Vilcabamba.
Das breiteste Spektrum an Gesundheitsbehandlungen bietet wie schon
erwähnt das „Hostal Madre Tierra“: Reiki, Massagen, Schlammbäder,
Meersalzpeelings, Aromatherapie, Hydromassage, türkisches Bad, etc.
werden dem Touristen zur Verschönerung und Entspannung angeboten.
“Also we have good clay over here that is a good treatment that cures a lot
of stuff. We have everything in Vilcabamba to be healthy: the air, the
temperature, quietness, food, water, everything is there, and we are right
beside the lung of the world, the amazon. So even though the altitude also
is part of that. This old people will disappear in overage or a bit over all the
intrinsons(?) are still here and still hold to be used. We have a lot of proof
of people who came over here and were sick and when they leave – I don’t
know of their cure – but they are less sick. I have one example that comes