Yucatan, Day 3 driving to Campeche
The next morning we went birding on the access road to the Tulum ruins. Coming in from the rear side, and before the tourist buses arrived promptly at 8:00 AM, we scoured the forest edges for brilliant birds. I captured a Great Kiskadee and Tropical Kingbird perched together in a tree. I barely glimpsed a Scarlet Tanager as it flew by, and we found our first parrot of the trip just as we were stepping back into the car. We didn’t have to walk far to see outstanding beauty in small packages.
This day was a long drive along the coast of the Yucatan, making stops along the way to interior Mexico. We were in the state of Quintana Roo for the majority of our trip, and barely crossed into Campeche. The whole time we were driving south there was very little development along the coast. The reason—Sian Ka’an existed to the west. On our previous days’ visit to the canals and to catch crocodiles we had scarcely entered the northernmost part of the preserve. There was so much more waterfront, and forested barrier that we had not even witnessed.
Before turning to the interior we stopped at Bacalar to visit a sawmill factory. This operation had been set up since last October, when a hurricane devastated the area leaving many downed trees and plenty of work. The loud machinery and generators churned as we entered, and the fresh smell and gritty feel of sawdust was everywhere. We had a discussion for nearly an hour on the importance of offering small communities like this one new and improved logging machinery better equipped to handle the size of trees that now exist in this area. By supplying local people with the knowledge of this new machinery, and presenting markets where they can sell their wood, we are able to influence their use of their own forests. While TNC’s investment is very little in their operations, we are able to talk to them about what trees to be cutting, how to properly rotate through a forest when harvesting, and supply and demand to make it the most economically viable as possible.
This directly related to our next visit of the day at a small ejido community in the interior forests. Their community has been t
here for about 40 years and traditionally made its money off their local resources—logging and agriculture. Their interesting location around several small Mayan ruins as well as directly between two protected areas
(Calakmul Biosphere Reserve and Sian Ka’an) made it an influential community for conservation. TNC began working with the landowners to assist them in developing their logging business. Traditionally very poor, they were not making enough money off of either of their industries. With our partnership, they began to develop a small ecotourism business to guide visitors around the local ruins and help with bird-watching and plan identification. Those working as guides went through an intensive training process with partner ProNatura Yucatan to learn ornithology and a bit of botany, as well as English to communicate with tourists. For many this was their first experience outside of their small community and it would forever change their livelihoods. Just three months earlier they had started a small woodshop there to make use of the abundant downed twigs and branches they found in their forests. Women and men learned to use small tools to carve and smooth pieces of wood into spoons and bowls, candleholders and even chopsticks. Some were very traditional Mayan pieces, while some were perfect for the tourists who would buy them.
The women cleared their home of furniture and set up small tables for us to share lunch at. Stewed chicken with rice, homemade vegetable tamales with a local green and fresh watermelon juice made us feel like their honored guests. As I witnessed the poverty of the village, and the hundreds of chickens, roosters and turkeys that freely roamed the grounds, I wondered what a lunch to feed 30 people cost their village. How many chickens had we just used for this one meal? How difficult was it to prepare so many meals for us despite their other daily chores and activities to support their family?
This day was a long drive along the coast of the Yucatan, making stops along the way to interior Mexico. We were in the state of Quintana Roo for the majority of our trip, and barely crossed into Campeche. The whole time we were driving south there was very little development along the coast. The reason—Sian Ka’an existed to the west. On our previous days’ visit to the canals and to catch crocodiles we had scarcely entered the northernmost part of the preserve. There was so much more waterfront, and forested barrier that we had not even witnessed.
Before turning to the interior we stopped at Bacalar to visit a sawmill factory. This operation had been set up since last October, when a hurricane devastated the area leaving many downed trees and plenty of work. The loud machinery and generators churned as we entered, and the fresh smell and gritty feel of sawdust was everywhere. We had a discussion for nearly an hour on the importance of offering small communities like this one new and improved logging machinery better equipped to handle the size of trees that now exist in this area. By supplying local people with the knowledge of this new machinery, and presenting markets where they can sell their wood, we are able to influence their use of their own forests. While TNC’s investment is very little in their operations, we are able to talk to them about what trees to be cutting, how to properly rotate through a forest when harvesting, and supply and demand to make it the most economically viable as possible.
This directly related to our next visit of the day at a small ejido community in the interior forests. Their community has been t
here for about 40 years and traditionally made its money off their local resources—logging and agriculture. Their interesting location around several small Mayan ruins as well as directly between two protected areas(Calakmul Biosphere Reserve and Sian Ka’an) made it an influential community for conservation. TNC began working with the landowners to assist them in developing their logging business. Traditionally very poor, they were not making enough money off of either of their industries. With our partnership, they began to develop a small ecotourism business to guide visitors around the local ruins and help with bird-watching and plan identification. Those working as guides went through an intensive training process with partner ProNatura Yucatan to learn ornithology and a bit of botany, as well as English to communicate with tourists. For many this was their first experience outside of their small community and it would forever change their livelihoods. Just three months earlier they had started a small woodshop there to make use of the abundant downed twigs and branches they found in their forests. Women and men learned to use small tools to carve and smooth pieces of wood into spoons and bowls, candleholders and even chopsticks. Some were very traditional Mayan pieces, while some were perfect for the tourists who would buy them.
The women cleared their home of furniture and set up small tables for us to share lunch at. Stewed chicken with rice, homemade vegetable tamales with a local green and fresh watermelon juice made us feel like their honored guests. As I witnessed the poverty of the village, and the hundreds of chickens, roosters and turkeys that freely roamed the grounds, I wondered what a lunch to feed 30 people cost their village. How many chickens had we just used for this one meal? How difficult was it to prepare so many meals for us despite their other daily chores and activities to support their family?
posted by Kristin @ 10:09 AM
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