It is easy to appreciate the bravery of your comments.  Most of us would like to travel to unique destinations, and then mingle with the locals, and have a great bonding experience.  Years ago, traveling in Europe, Africa, and the Greek Isles, was like that for many of us.   We were not afraid  to stay at little inns and bed and breakfast places, and to take  hikes down uncharted paths, leading to beautiful landscapes in wilderness areas; where no taxi or even bike trail was obvious to the naked eye.  It was a simpler, safer and perhaps more ignorant time in life, and it was marvelous.  Now, people seem to be suspect of a foreigner, and they close their doors, or their minds, you might say, to any kind of simple interaction.  Perhaps, we tourists did not play our part well.  We may have been rude, or maybe we were too messy, and demanding.  Also, mankind has had more time to plan more wars, and ignore the needs of the poverty ridden, that are all too present in this world.  If we had been more open, and approachable ourselves, and perhaps more tolerant and caring;  we would still be able to travel with the kind of one-on-one mind set that you speak about, which is the best way to embrace this kind of experience.