Go Media/Canadian Tourism Commission wraps up in Toronto...Crazy Mexico tours

Thanks to the folks from Edmonton for a nice closing night at Go Media, the annual Canadian Tourism Commission session for journalists and travel folks to mix and mingle. This year's event was held here in Toronto, and the Tourism Toronto and Ontario Tourism folks did great work as hosts at receptions on Monday and Tuesday night. Last night it was Edmonton's turn.

They had mimes and jugglers, who were trying to convince skeptical reporters just how easy juggling really is. I suspect there are better places to toss balls in the air than crowded ballrooms filled with candles and glasses of wine, but that's just me.

They also had a band called The Bea Arthur's - three guys with a set of drums and two ukeleles. They wore short pants, blue and yellow argyle-like socks and short-sleeved white shirts with blue and yellow ties. It was a bit like AC/DC meets golfer Payne Stewart. They played some Lady Gaga and other stuff, then had a great time with Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody.

The final band was Souljah Fyah, a fine reggae style outfit. I was hoping for a deejay to play Jumpin' Jack Flash but it didn't happen. Maybe next year!

OKAY, I DON"T GET THIS

Reuters carried a story the other day about how some travelers to Mexico, mostly Europeans, are signing up for "undercover tours" in a lousy part of Mexico City, which is rife with drug dealers, prostitution and pirated goods. Others are heading to Hidalgo to do bizarre simulations of the treks made through Mexico by illegal immigrants.

I think the latter is particularly disgusting. There's nothing amusing about a desperate search to find a better life for yourself, and to do a "simulation" of the dangers people face trying to escape to the U.S. or another country is, I think, hugely disrespectful. That's the case any time, but especially when looks at the papers today and sees how a band of some 70 or so people trying to get to the U.S. were slaughtered by Mexican drug cartel members.