Hemingway tour

Last I heard, biologists are on the brink of cloning a human being. For sure, the fullness of that project will usher in an exciting new world. Just think of a time when every one and every thing is the alpha something. The strong shall inherit the earth! How orderly and peaceful that ought to be. And the weak, what will happen to the weak, I imagine, is that they will be pursued and go underground.

And, just like in the damn movies, we who have the unaltered chromosomes will triumph. We should. If we leave the world to these supposed superior human beings, all art will be put in the dust bin of history. And even in the movies the underdogs can't win. Ok, that may be more of a writerly wishful thinking rather than a logical assumption.

In an effort to spare art from trash, many tour groups offer trips on sites and places that have been, at one time or another, patronized by prominent artists. The tourism industry, just like that of advertising, may be full of hacks and spin doctors. But, what the hell. If you know your history, then maybe you know what to think of a place and can shun tour groups.

Earlier in the year there was a tour of Spain conducted by a Latin America-based travel agency. Dubbed Ernest Hemingway Travel Destinations, the tour promised to make participants experience the sites and settings that the author so wonderfully captured in the book "The Sun Also Rises." From Madrid to Bilbao and Pamplona, I imagine the tour to be a drinking caravan. Every Hemingway tour ought to be one.