This was another great piece, playing with different types of marble, and different styles of structuring the surface of the marble. I would have loved to touch it to feel the different textures - but of course that's not something you should do in a museum ;-)
In the afternoon, I met a Mexican in the street who turned out to be part of a research group looking into tourism, or more specifically, the behavior of tourists in Mexico, Guatemala and Cuba. They not only analyze how the tourists behave, but also how tourists perceive their behavior. In a joint group of universities in Mexico, Guatemala and Cuba, they have already conducted about 80.000 interviews with tourists in the past eight years.
The results seem to be sobering: many tourists behave without any kind of respect towards the country they are visiting and the people living there. In addition, many tourists are not even aware of this and express that they are certainly 'better' or more educated than the 'stupid tourists from the US'. According to the researcher, this stereotype of the American tourist seems to be inaccurate: tourists from quite a few other countries behave in exactly the same way, but somehow feel superior and use the stereotype to justify their own behavior.
They also looked at how tourists spend their time while traveling. Apparently, in between partying, reading travel guides, and hanging out in the hostel, many don't really spend much time experiencing the country they are in. Ah well - I had already observed all of this during my trip, but hearing it confirmed by research is quite another thing.
Next to a big report, the researchers also aim to create the first Latin American travel guide - created exclusively by Latin Americans. I'd definitely be curious to see this travel guide!
On my way back to the hostel in the evening, I passed by the Cathedral of Yucatan, the oldest cathedral in continental Latin America (only the one in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic is older). Its nighttime illumination was beautiful:
