A FRAMEWORK FOR UNDERSTANDING LOCAL LIVELIHOODS
this a “reserve” but it was different from the kind that CONAF managed. This reserve was private and the company was the owner. They brought in a big cruise ship and a huge bus. They started running cruises to the glaciers. They’d meet the tourists in the airport with their big bus and take them to their hotel for the night. Then they’d get on the boat and head out to sea for a few days. When they returned, they’d head out to the reserve for a barbeque and a hike. Then they’d head back to the hotel and the next day the bus would take them to the airport. They didn’t really have much effect on Puerto Aysén; the people that went on their trips were all foreigners and everything that went on with the land and the hotel and the boat was really separated from local folks. But, everyone hated to be behind that bus on the road. It drove really slow and threw off a lot of smoke. Martin wasn’t sure what to think about the tourism in the region. He was making a little money from it and he knew others too who were driving buses or providing horses or helping with the logistics for the groups – working with the bigger outfitters that had moved in. He wished he understood the language the tourists spoke and he wished they weren’t always in such a hurry but, overall, they seemed harmless enough. And he saw the big companies in tourism bringing groups out onto the glacier. They had fancy vans and equipment and larger groups than the folks that he sometimes led. They seemed to be making a lot more money. Martin wanted to learn more about how they operated. The man from the leadership school stopped by one day and told Martin about a new project for local people of the region where they would learn the skills to be adventure guides. They would learn more about tourism and how to start businesses. He told Martin he should apply and after thinking about it for awhile, Martin agreed. He talked to the man in charge of the school, organized the papers they required, applied and was accepted. For the next two years, Martin would ride his horse 50km across the mountains once a month, to the main road where he would catch the bus to go to class. His classes taught him about trekking and mountain climbing and how to finally get out on the glacier and explore. They addressed safety. He finally learned why those tourists threw back the fish they caught. He learned to develop trips. He learned to price the trips and about the types of services tourists were looking for. He learned a little English. He even learned to use a computer and to “surf the web”. Martin also learned about other parts of the region from the other students in the school. There were a lot of team projects and he got to know the other students and their stories and doubts and dreams. There were a lot of times during those two years he was in school that he thought he might quit but, somehow he kept on making that 50km trip to catch the bus. In 2005, Martin graduated, along with 21 other students, and he is now a Regional Guide. For the first time, he is able to not only lead groups to the glacier – but to lead them onto the glacier, because he has learned the skills he needs. Coyhaique is a city now – more than 60,000 people. New stores have opened: one is a huge grocery store with a fancy English name, “Full Fresh”, and the
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