The Meeting of Two Worlds

These past few entries have mostly been about theories and actual physical locations. I’d like to switch it up a little, by devoting this entry to the people; the Jordanians.

First of all, I’d like to make a distinction between two kinds of tourist encounters; formal and informal. The formal relationship is largely defined by some form of interdependence; one person needs the other and the roles are well defined. Some examples include street vendors, taxi drivers and more specifically our busdriver and our tour guide Omar Alamat.

Omar is a friendly and warm tour guide who knew (sometimes too) much about every place we’ve visited in Jordan. He was always accessible when I had a question, and he even learnt me how to tie a keffiyeh. Nevertheless, our relationship was clearly formally       defined: He was my tour guide, and I was one of the many people he had to guide.

Then there are informal encounters, where the partakers are largely independent from each other. I met one such individual at the local shisha joint, where a young man sat down next to us to start a conversation. We didn’t talk about anything particularly interesting, but it was nice to talk to a local, free from the possibility that he would try to sell me some kind of mosaic. After our chat we said goodbye, to probably never see each other again.

I am of the opinion that the nature of your relationship, be it formal or informal, makes a huge difference. On all accounts I should like Omar more than the local (I don’t even remember his name), and yet I don’t. In previous entries I’ve talked about authenticity or realness, and the same logic applies here. Formal encounters simply do not feel authentic, due to their inherent interdependency. It’s like a paid friendship, which is not really my thing.

Reference: Moufakkir, Omar, and Yvette Reisinger, eds. The host gaze in global tourism. CABI, 2013.