As farmers, we have had little direct contact with tourism. We mainly feel its effect through higher prices. Sellers know tourists may pay more, so the old habit of bargaining—even between neighbours—is disappearing.
Our farms do not produce enough surplus to supply hotels and restaurants on a large scale. Most food is grown for community needs, with only small amounts reaching the market.
Through our organisation, UNORCAC, we began experimenting with hosting tourist groups. One group from Spain stayed with local families for a week, and the outcome surprised both hosts and visitors.
We exchanged stories, gained mutual respect and heard visitors describe the stay as the best part of their holiday.
We hope to expand this approach. The income could supplement farming and finance improvements such as irrigation. Water shortage remains one of our greatest agricultural constraints.
More income may also encourage materialism, although television and radio already influence desires strongly. Tourism is only one source of social change.
We ask visitors to learn about the area before arriving and spend time understanding its people and nature. We are training local guides in medicinal plants, flora and fauna and identifying more forest areas that deserve protection.
Community tourism should help visitors understand how we live, while giving farming families another reason and means to care for the land.
We also ask for patience. Leisure as a separate activity is unfamiliar to many of us. Traditionally, recreation happens while we work—walking with sheep, gathering berries or sharing time in the fields.
Hosting visitors therefore involves learning on both sides. Tourists discover that relaxation and work do not have to be opposites, while we learn how experiences from daily life can become a respectful source of income.
Give us time to develop this unfamiliar form of tourism; the most valuable visit may be the one where guests and farming families learn to see ordinary life through one another’s eyes.