Originally Posted by
Al Downie
Most guidebooks to the region which I've read so far do stress the need to dress in a conservative manner to avoid offending the locals. 'Women should wear long trousers and not show shoulders', for example, and I'm pretty sure if that kind of thing offends them, they'd probably take a dim view of me in a lycra bib! In fact even I take a dim view of me in a lycra bib...
Not sure what region you are referring to. Do you mean the rural US or somewhere else? If the US I think they are overstating that based on my experiences and those of the young ladies I traveled with last Summer. I can't say we never offended anyone, but if we did it wasn't obvious and we were warmly received pretty much everywhere we went.