The advice to gringos planning to travel to places like Colombia or Mexico City is always the same: try not to stand out. Don’t walk around with a big camera dangling from your neck. Refrain from wearing expensive jewelery. Try not to appear as 
though you’re lost.
All of these admonitions make sense, and I have no problem following them.
But the list of safety tips usually doesn’t end there. It often goes on to advise travelers to “dress conservatively,” like the locals do.
Gray Slacks on a Hot Day. This is where me and the conventional safety advice part ways. I’ve noticed that dressing like the other men in places like Guadalajara means wearing gray slacks on a hot day.
Of course, I’d wear long pants in a professional setting. But on vacation in the summer? Forget it.
As my family toured Guadalajara via the city’s public transportation system, it must have been fairly obvious that we were tourists. But our outsider status didn’t attract predators. Rather it seemed to have encouraged our fellow passengers to see to it that we made it to our destination.
Do you change the way you normally dress when visiting a foreign city?
on Dec 3rd, 2009 at 9:27 am
I know I already responded to you on twitter, but this is a topic that really amuses me, or annoys me depending on the day. I HATE the typical tourist get-up. It doesn’t matter where they are from but every country seems to have a dress code for a warm weather vacation and it usually consists of shorts, monochromatic colors, big, comfortable but ugly shoes, and a seriously lost expression.
My advice for tourist would be first to ditch the shorts, and second to get some nicer looking shoes and socks. Nothing gives away a gringo tourist faster than the tennis shoes and thick white socks :p
on Dec 5th, 2009 at 4:56 pm
Get a good hair cut and dye job, as well as a pedicure and manicure. For women, kick your makeup a notch — even if you consider it warpaint.
Leave the t-shirts which broadcast that you’ve been to Portland or Salt Lake City back home. Be sure to wear designer brands so you’ll fit in. If you’re unsure, you can never go wrong with Ralph Lauren. Make sure that your clothing is clean — and most importantly, ironed.
on Dec 6th, 2009 at 8:29 am
Good tips Jennifer. Sporting nice clothes on a vacation can make it feel more exciting and probably plays a role in how people treat you. Having worn a “Pittsburgh” shirt in Puerto Vallarta, I can attest that many people will notice it and comment on it.
on Dec 8th, 2009 at 8:21 pm
I do have to admit I cringe when I’m in the interior of Mexico and I see someone dressed like that in shorts and sandals or sneakers. In the Mexicans’ eyes, that makes you someone with no class, an uneducated person who should be digging ditches but somehow managed to save up enough money to travel anyway. In their eyes, fair or not, you only wear shorts in casual situations like at the pool or on the coast. Or playing tennis.
My compromise is to wear really lightweight traveler pants, the wispy ones made by the likes of ExOfficio or something nicer in cotton/linen that’s still cool and comfortable. To me it’s not a matter of “looking like a tourist,” but more not “looking like a loser.” Because that’s their impression if you have money but don’t look like it. Women show lots os skin, men don’t. That’s the way it is. The casual, let it all hang out style that is pervasive in the U.S. doesn’t translate well abroad, on most continents actually.
on Dec 8th, 2009 at 9:19 pm
I’ll have to look for some light-weight traveler pants. Sounds like a good compromise. Part of the fun of going to a different country is doing some things differently.
on Jul 8th, 2010 at 9:35 am
As a woman I definitely dress differently depending on what town I’m in. If it’s a beach town with lots of tourists I may wear a summer dress but I’d never do that in a city where I don’t see other women wearing dresses.
It’s funny because you see a lot of women wearing jeans with skimpy tops so boobs are okay but knees are not
on Jul 8th, 2010 at 3:02 pm
That’s interesting. But come to think of it I was just in Guatemala and most of the women I saw were wearing jeans–even when it was very hot outside. I wonder what they have against knees?