Latin America
Latin America - a fascinating place typically Latin America denotes those countries in Central and South America that have a Spanish or Portuguese language and Catholic traditional life style. What is not appreciated by outsiders is the blending of native (Indian and African) cultures into the Latin traditional culture. Add to this a substantial German, English (British), and Dutch European influence and you get a magnificent polyglot culture that has no problem counterweighting the always present influence of North American (US and Canadian) corporations and tourists.
Political factors and more fragile domestic economies add nuances to Latin America that tend to shift the type of government more frequently among models of liberal democracy, military juanta, and socialist dictatorships. Only one thing is sure in most of these nations - travel is a bargain for the bold wanderer. Over this polyglot cultural patina is the omnipotent corrupting influence of organized crime - Latin America is one of the primary sources of cocaine and this has caused all sorts of symptoms of value shifting, violence, and skewed economies.
Latin America includes the "banana republics", a derogatory term taken from an unjust period of history where US Corporations such as the US Fruit Corp could influence the civil government and basically exploit the local populations with low wages, company stores, and company law. When local politics erupted to throw off the perceived injustices of their situation, often, the US government would be influenced by big business to intervene and reassert the authority of the local corporation. The legacy of this era transcends into current attitudes within the industrial and agricultural sectors of the economy, but the tourist sectors of the countries have almost always been enticing and beckoned like an oasis in the desert. Without exception, whether viewed from the perspective from the sea from a cruise tour or from the perspective of a land based tour, one cannot be impressed with the friendliness and good will of the local people.
Key cities worth tourist attention in South America include Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Aires, Punta Arenas, Valparaiso and Santiago, Lima, the Galapagos Islands, Cartagena, Maraca Ibo, and Montevideo.
Key tourist cities in Central America include Belmopan - Belize, Guatemala City - Guatemala, Dacura - Nicaragua, San Salvadore - El Salvadore, San Jose - Costa Rica and David - Panama.