Coke red
Tuesday Mar 18, 2008
Part of our travels to Peru involved a discussion (ongoing as it were) about native culture, developed culture, influx culture, American culture, and all of the sundry other subtleties of a globalizing world. SOme have taken the stance that all culture not native to a region is bad. Others are of the opinion that development, whether 'native' or 'imported' is a natural progression of a globalizing society.
And so here we have Coke. In Lima, Peru. Bottled in South America. 'Invented' in the United States. Is its proliferation acceptable? Is it more valid in 'highly developed' Europe (say, Italy) than it is at the base of Machu Picchu (some in our discussions have assumed this stance to be true)? What culture/society/history/preservation is 'correct' and what is to be wiped from a place? Who decides? The academics or the people living in that world? Is tourism bad? Is tourism good?
I should also point out that my friend was photographing a beautiful specimen of a 1960s Dodge at this very moment. How 'bout that?
In any case, I really like this photo. It's one of my favorites from the trip. I almost feel like I could see this in National Geographic (if I'm completely off here, please tell me!).
