How Do Tourist Guides Add Value to An Ecotour? Interpreting Interpretation in the State of Amazonas, Brazil

In Ecotourism, interpretation by a guide creates or shapes the experience for the tourist, differentiating one episode from another. As such, the guide S interpretation adds value to the tourism product and contributes to the visitor S experience. This paper discussed the role of interpretation by guides in the State of Amazonas, Brazil, finding in them patterns from which lessons may be drawn. Given the intangibility of the Ecotourism product, this paper argues that it is the guide who defines the quality of the product. The guide may draw the tourist toward or away from sustainable practices, and significantly contributes to the success or failure of the escotouristic venture. The State of Amazonas in Brazil already has guides, but this study questions their education and training in interpretive skills as well as their professional organization and working conditions

A girl from Ohio

A GIRL FROM OHIO is a dark and comic novel about the plight of an older woman who wants to connect with a special man in post-9/11 New York City. Fortyeight year old Kathy has had boyfriends-but the wrong ones. She wants to find a good man for genuine love and commitment while at the same time doubting such a man exists. As she engages in her search via writing an ad for an Internet dating site, she recollects growing up in Ohio, past transgressions and an array of ill-fated relationships. When her interest with a special man, Jim, develops, Kathy struggles to trust herselfand Jim. After realizing that Jim is the real deal, Kathy softens her hardened exterior and opens herself to the possibility of having true love. In the end, Kathy learns that she has to allow herself to change. She must let love in.