San Javier, Part 1

Que Pasa Aqui (What’s Happening Here)

The Heat of summer is finally settling in. We are back, after two weeks being out of communication in the mountains, where we were visiting and interviewing several isolated ranching communities in the San Javier area. Our days were filled with travel over bumpy, dusty dirt roads with nothing but cactus, rocks and sun for miles around. The sight of a cow or goat nibbling desert brush is a sign that you have reached “civilization” in the form of the ranch. Now you feel that you have reached a refuge, with small tended flower gardens, perhaps trees for shade, but always near a water source, reflecting the saying we hear everywhere and have never felt more true: “agua es vida” (water is life).

Above: View of El Jarrial Ranch

Below: "Posa" (swimmable oasis)

Now we are back in the city, sitting in our upstairs room at Baja Paradise, our favorite hostel in La Paz, doors open, fan swirling. We dropped back into town for a special event that was co-sponsored by one of our local partners, Niparaja, a prominent local conservation organization. Specialists from all over the state convened to talk about the importance of the Sierra La Guadalupe and the Sierra La Giganta in terms of their cultural and historical significance, ecologically unique oases, endemic flora and fauna, and the scarce water supply that provides fresh water for much of the state.

Left: Conference in La Paz; Right: 3-D topographical map of Sierras La Giganta and Guadalupe

Perfect Timing

We have arrived at a critical time. The experts at the conference implored the need to learn from sierra ranching communities, who are now the sole keepers of indigenous knowledge and have adapted to live in equilibrium with their harsh, arid environment. Political primary elections are approaching, and the hope was to enamor politicians to carry the banner of protecting the Sierras as a biosphere reserve in their campaigns.

Ultraviolet water filter

The proposed biosphere reserve is catalyzing the world of NGOs, governmental agencies and academics to listen to what historians have been saying for decades, that this culture of “Antigua Californios” could flicker out within a handful of generations. The majority of young people are leaving because it is nearly impossible to make enough money from a land with inconstant water. For those who want to further their education, youth see no options for combining their degree with the remote ranch life.

While many academics and professionals were discussing the future of the sierra in an air conditioned conference room in La Paz, a paved highway creeps feet closer to reaching San Javier in the heart of the Sierra. Electricity is 15 days away and families are preparing to buy TVs, fans and refrigerators. They tell us it is a blessing, but they also wonder, “How will this change us?”

Dario tooling a piece of leather and showing his 1 year old grandson the ropes.

Challenges on the Ranch

Every day our understanding of the complexities of “la vida ranchera” (ranch life) become more clear. With every cup of sweetened, dark coffee offered to us under palm thatch shade, we connect another piece of the puzzle. Prices for onions, the major summer crop, can be miserably low in these months because the market is saturated and there is currently no way to store them. Very few people are curing and tanning leather anymore because the permitting process to use Palo Blanco bark is too difficult. Women have started sewing and embroidery projects, and will actually work well together, unlike the men. However, the materials were given out to them by the government and when they run out, they don’t buy more. Not to mention, many women can’t sew anymore because they need glasses which are too expensive to buy. Children from ranches ride several kilometers into San Javier for school on Mondays and stay there in a dorm until Friday. After school lets out at noon, kids help clean the school, play games and huddle around a single television set to watch soap operas. The customs of ranch life are beginning to fade, especially as kids are only are home on the weekends to learn the ranching way of life from their parents. At 15 years old, they have to make the decision to either stay on the ranch and learn how to plant and raise livestock, or leave the sierra to study.

Conducting a workshop with secondary school students to better understand their hopes for the future and what they feel is special about ranch life.

The Value of “La Vida Ranchera”

The more we learn, the more value we see. Yesterday we enjoyed 100% organic wine from grape vines introduced by the missionaries close to 300 years ago, the best goat cheese we had ever eaten and olives from a backyard orchard. We watched as Maria Gomez Meza carefully wove dried palm fronds into a hat, a process which will take her a month of weaving 3-5 hours everyday and which will result in a work of art for which she has no market. We learned from Dario Higuera how to tool intricate patterns into leather, and make horsehair ropes by twisting black, brown, white and gray tail hair into strands with handmade wooden tools. We learned from his wife, Cipriana, how to toast coffee beans and make goat cheese. Memo informed us of all the healing properties of the nopal cactus (prickly pear), and how to peel and prepare it. Chavalo Velis and his family who has been making sweets out of every kind of fruit imaginable for generations, helped Mila prepare a special lung cleansing tea from a local leaf. Proof that what the sociologists say about the rancheros of Baja California Sur having absorbed the indigenous wisdom of the natives who lived here before them is true.

Youth Networking and Economic Opportunity Abound

We have begun connecting a crew of passionate young advocates from each of the sierra communities. While they have all left to study tourism, law or information technology, their hearts are in the sierra and with their communities, and they are committed to protecting the essence of the ranchero life. Together we hope to help others see the value in those things that are pivotal to making the ranchero culture unique. While many new ideas spin around everyday, we keep returning to the ideas of creating some form of marketing cooperative and developing a certification to help package and promote sierra made items, ensuring authenticity, hygiene standards, handmade products etc. We have also been discovering the many possibilities associated with rural tourism, unique opportunities not currently found in the current coastal-based tourism market.

Tony, Dario, and Colleen after a lesson in rope making. Tony was one of our"guest" classmates last semester who has a ranching background and joined us for a week of work.

Coming Up

The next step is a community meeting on Friday. We have invited families from across the San Javier area to participate in an envisioning their future activity and setting a common goal for the community for which we will play a part in.

Our network is growing, our ideas are being validated, we have some committed help and we have been taken in by many a ranch family. Spirits are high and we are looking forward to returning to the Sierra tomorrow.

San Javier baseball game in the heat of the day, where we handed out invitations to our upcoming workshop.

"Business Week" in La Paz

The stars seemed to align for us as we networked in La Paz. We met with several different government organizations offering various assistance programs for economic development in rural regions. We also had a great meeting with Niparaja (a local conservation organization and one of our key project partners) and discussed at length how we can compliment the work they are doing in the sierra. They have spent over six months gathering input of remote mountain communities and bringing isolated representatives together for workshops regarding a proposed biosphere designation for the region. While creation of a biosphere reserve is their primary focus, they recognize that these ranchers play a vital role in protecting the environment; they are interested in supporting economic opportunities for ranchers and see building social capital as a key part of their program.

How to Get things Done

We also met with our Rotary Club contacts, Cuco and Alberto. Cuco is the current president of the Baja Rotario 4100, has a great deal of business experience and currently runs both a real estate business and has a sideline business of assisting people through bureaucratic government processes and paperwork (including expat immigration). We’ve discovered that the bureaucratic process is a huge obstacle for remote ranching families in applying for government assistance—Professor Dean, you would be happy to know we are discussing the business opportunity and political entrepreneurship in light of associated market failures. Alberto is a tax lawyer who knows the formation process for starting a business in Mexico, and has offered us his services pro-bono. Thank you again, Opportunities Without Borders, for putting us in contact with such wonderful people. At the end of our meeting, Cuco proudly presented us with a small Rotary Club banner and proceeded to pin us each with a Rotary medallion, providing an unexpected photo op.

We also had the opportunity to take a sunrise hike with our mentor, professor Fermin Reyagadas, who narrated a wonderful cultural, political and geological history of Baja as we walked up Cerro Atravisado. The governor walks this hill every morning with a contingent of about 30 followers, and is where Fermin once tracked him down to implore him to shut down a proposed gold mine in a rich ecological habitat. As in many places, especially in Mexico, things seem to “get done” by knowing the right people. We at least know where to find the governor if we need him!

Youth in Action

We were able to have dinner with and interview a few incredibly insightful and articulate young people, currently living in and attending university in the city, who grew up in the sierras and are passionate about using their education to improve the quality of life for ranching families. Their passion glowed in their eyes as they each spoke to us about why the ranching culture that they grew up in was so important to them.

It was a productive week and we’ve been busy typing up all the information that has been streaming at us from a fire hose. We walk down the street waving our arms and chanting, “We need Cliff Notes for our notes!”

Left: Talking about and typing up notes.

Right: Mexico scores the tying point against South Africa!

What’s Next

From La Paz, we drove to Coyote Bay in the Bahia de la Conception and stayed at the NOLS branch, where McKenzie had some necessary supplies stored. We enjoyed a very beautiful and relaxing planning day, designing a series of interviews, mapping exercises and a workshop that we will be doing with communities in the area of San Javier in the Sierra La Gigantas over the next couple of weeks… stay tuned!

Left: An interview with Olga, born in the Sierra La Gigantes.

Right: View from the NOLS branch in Conception Bay!

San Dionisio

At the end of the last week we made our way into the mountain community of San Dionisio in the Sierra La Lagunas, which was designated as a biosphere reserve in 1994. We wanted to learn the impacts the biosphere designation has had on the ranching families living in the area, and how they have effectively taken advantage of ecotourism and other entrepreneurial opportunities.

Driving up into the mountains, we quickly realized that San Dionisio is an incredible place, a paradise, really. Amidst the vastness of the desert—the mountains, sand, and endless variety of cacti—water from the mountains’ aquifers trickles down through the arroyo, creating a lush environment for giant palms, fruits, fig trees, vegetables, and a unique traditional lifestyle dedicated to hard work, familial ties, stewardship of the land, and economic survival.

We were hosted by a wonderful family, who recently opened up a restaurant and camping area where we stayed for two nights just up the dirt road from their home. Luz, the mother, taught us how to make tortillas, and her son, Rojelio, proudly gave us a tour of their breathtaking huerta (orchard/garden) where they are growing and raising almost all of the food they need. We wandered the organically twisting paths while admiring the hand-spliced orange and mandarin trees and tasted native herbs, such as the espelente, which makes your tongue go numb and is used medicinally for sewing up wounds.

Mila flipping the lopsided tortillas we made... "round" is an art!

Ricky doing ranch chores and Rojelio giving us an orchard tour.

Under the shade of palapas and mango trees, we interviewed other several community members living up and down the arroyo (desert wash); some families dried mangoes, guavas and pineapples to sell, while others sold beef and had modest, thatched roof accommodations for tourists to stay. One group of women began growing native cactus in a nursery to sell, and an elderly man, named Claudio, was the community’s master leather worker, who helped each of us to craft a leather wrist band of our own. Each family works very hard, attempting to protect the environment while crafting their own entrepreneurial niche—independent of each other yet very much connected and symbiotic on the whole, just like a desert ecosystem.

Mangoes drying on palms

Claudio using the juice of an orange to lighten the color of the leather

We really got a sense of how different generations view the ranching lifestyle—mothers’ hopes for their children, children’s dreams for their futures, grandparents’ visions for the wisdom and kind of life they would like to leave behind for future generations. It was sad to think of all that could possibly be lost here if the children do not stay engaged with this lifestyle in some way. We spoke at length with the community’s eldest woman who feared there were not enough young people interested in sustaining the sierra ranchero culture. Yet, we also learned that educated adolescents were coming back to the ranch, bringing with them their technological, marketing, and tourism skills. It was exciting and inspiring to see the youth beginning to consider the economic value of their land and culture.

We learned mucho and had a lot of fun in the process. McKenzie, Mila, and Diana did an excellent job interviewing and translating for Colleen while she videotaped, and Colleen’s Spanish is coming along steadily with a lot of encouragement from the community members. She’s working on making sentences and was able to describe her morning ritual to the family: Primero yo encontre una piedra plano para yoga, entonces yo nade en una cascada (First I found a flat rock for yoga, and then I swam in a waterfall). McKenzie enjoyed her contemplative morning runs up the dirt road, soaking up the multiple layers of periwinkle mountain ranges. Life starts early, with the roosters calling and community members out maintaining the road before the sun comes up. Mila spent her peaceful early mornings reading and drinking tea, and even got a chance to shower in a mini waterfall with only a cow keeping her company!

Stay tuned for more details of our “business week” in La Paz as we get ready to head up to Loreto and into the La Giganta mountain range this weekend.

Back in Baja

Well, we made it! The Living Roots gals are on the ground running, working hard, squeezing in a bit of beach time, eating plenty of tacos de pescado, and hoping you’ll enjoy keeping up with some of our experiences along the way!

Colleen, Mila, McKenzie

Getting Off the Ground

After picking up Mila in Longmont and snapping a bon voyage team photo in front of the “good-luck poppy” (bloomed for the first time in six years that morning), the Living Roots team was off on their Baja expedition. The adventure started in DIA when TSA authorities caught Colleen attempting to smuggle (accidently, of course) a “butcher knife” through security. The knife happened to be one of the handmade knives produced by the rancheros we are working with in the community of Las Animas. Due to the knife’s longer-than-three-inch size, a very official round of interrogation ensued. Colleen embellished her story with tales of GSSE and saving the world, and escaped what could have been a $10,000 fine and six years in prison. We took this as another sign of good luck gracing our departing day.

Cabo to Todos Santos

Once safely landed on the tip of the peninsula, we made our way to the Yuca Inn (in San Jose Del Cabo), a great little hostel that grows its own fruit, vegetables, and herbs. We spent our first few days interviewing artisan shop owners, tourists, and government organizations both in San Jose and Cabo San Lucas. We gathered incredibly valuable information in a short amount of time—McKenzie even scored over ten years worth of tourist and development statistics from a government tourism agency on her flash drive. We also interviewed a very generous gentleman from a federal organization that supports local artisans, who gifted us each an artisan-designed journal for our travels. Que Bueno!

We continued on to Pescadero, where we picked up McKenzie’s car, which we left down here in January, and obtained our freedom from taxis and buses. We then drove to Todos Santos (home of the best Chili Rellenos in the world, a well-known surf break, and the Hotel California as sung by the Eagles), where we went “tourist shopping” and conducted more surveys and interviews. While Todos Santos is recognized for its high-quality artisan products, we’ve been discovering that many visitors to the area are unfamiliar with the sierra (mountain) communities and the unique, native-to-Baja products they produce. On the way out of town, we interviewed a couple of women who run a Dulceria (sweet shop), and picked up a bag of delicious locally harvested dried mango slices for the road to La Paz.

Back in La Paz

It was nice to get back to La Paz where we home based in January. We finally got to meet our wonderful, fabulous in-country intern, Diana (a resource provided by Opportunities Without Borders who has done some great market research for us), as well as one of our in-country mentors, Fermin Reyagadas, a professor of Alternative Tourism who has worked with rancheros for the past 30 years. Together we sipped nopal (prickly pear) and naranja (orange) juice, discussing conservation issues in Baja and preparing for our weekend trip into the Sierra La Lagunas.