San Javier, Part 2

Everything Coming Together

High in the mountain desert the pittayas are blooming, the cardons are bursting, and the Living Roots gals are celebrating an equally amazing and fruitful week of community mobilization in San Javier.

Top: San Javier Mission ~ Left: Pittaya flower ~ Right: Cardon fruit

This past week was the last of our stay in La Sierra Giganta, at least for the summer. It culminated on July 2 with us hosting a community workshop with families from the San Javier region and surrounding ranches to talk about what they want for their futures. Bringing these remote families together was no small feat. However, between our hand written invitations, radio ads, going ranch to ranch and word of mouth, we gathered an impressive forty attendees. Over one hundred empanadas were prepared by five local women, each with their own special recipe for beef, goat cheese, bean and sweet cheese fillings, while another woman prepared coffee and jamica (hibiscus) water for all. Clouds even rolled in to keep the morning bearable and cool. We could not have asked for a better day.

The Next Generation

The night before the workshop, we met with children of all ages who live in the dormitory school during the week (about 45 of them) and conducted a number of activities including a game where they had to choose to be either alfalfa grass, a goat or a mountain lion. We also piloted a series of short video segments prepared by Fermin designed to teach and inspire youth to learn traditional ranch activities, such as splicing fruit trees. The primary exercise was drawing the skills they would like to learn from someone in the sierra (as well as telling us who could teach them the skill) to be presented at the workshop the next day. The resulting drawings included learning to plant, harvest, ride horses, herd cows and goats, make saddles, cook, sew and braid ropes for many different ranch uses. Overall, the kids were a delight, very engaged during the whole process and were excellent helpers for the workshop.

“Envisioning the Future” Workshop

Our workshop began with the applauded presentation by the youth, after which the audience beamed and was excited to teach them these skills. All were very proud of their children. Next we had the community tell us what was special about the sierra lifestyle that was important for them to preserve or protect for the future. Ideas were written up and posted for all to see and discuss, and included: customs and traditions, taking care of the environment, and being humble, respectful and hospitable. We then spilt into 2 groups (one for men and one for women as is the cultural norm) to discuss the specific products and activities that were most valuable to each ranching family.

Mila working with the men and McKenzie working with the women

The final part of the workshop was discussing the top 5 economic opportunities they want to develop, which include a local market for artisan products and regional foods, as well as the development of both rural and eco-tourism. Tourism ideas included native trail revitalization, creating ranch routes like in Sonoma California to sample wine and local fare while learning traditional skills, and developing basic tourism infrastructure in San Javier proper. The key point was that the community should participate directly in these activities. We also discussed the challenges of attaining their vision, which boiled down to: lacking a direct market, low prices paid by buyer intermediaries, no initial capital, lack of marketing and promotion, and not being accustomed to working together as a community, despite everyone acknowledging the value in doing so.

We could not have done the workshop without the help of Diana and Eduardo, both university students from the Sierra and now an integral part of our team.

All the attendees really enjoyed themselves with the good food and lively conversation, and because social gatherings are few and far between for ranchers scattered in the mountains, they wished they could get together like this every month to share ideas.

Workshop attendees helping themselves to a traditional feast.

Drawing of potential product certification names submitted by attendees. Prizes consisted of seeds, green coffee beans, and a coveted nylon lasso donated by Tony.

Living Roots came away with action steps to test the functioning of a certification process and labeling promotion, including a market trial with sample products scheduled for October 23-25 during the foundation of Loreto festival and a subsequent sales trial based on feedback from the market during San Javier Days during December 1-3, when thousands of people visit the area. Participants also elected (by anonymous ballot) 6 men and women from three different localities to form a committee to coordinate samples for the trials. The formal ending of the workshop was handing out completion certificates to each participant thanking them for their contribution. The biggest “take away” for us from this grass-roots, community-driven event was the high degree of community trust we earned, on top of all the warm smiles.

Ejido in Action

We also found out that the Ejido (communal property authority) was meeting on Sunday and were fortunate enough to present our project to its president and two specialists from La Paz, as well as to the entire gathering of members (including many who weren’t there for the workshop). It is safe to say our project was very well received by all and we found many new friends. On the whole, it couldn’t have gone better in our wildest dreams with all the contacts we made, strong community buy-in and lots of optimism for the future.

Photo op with the San Javier Ejido president

Diamonds on the Soles of our Shoes

In the midst of hard work, we were able to squeeze in a few hours dedicated to the creation of our huaraches (traditional Mexican sandals), handmade by our elderly friend, Martin Castro, who is blind in one eye. It would be hard to find a shoe with more character or custom fit. From a tracing of our feet on a piece of paper torn from a notebook, Martin cut the soles of our huaraches from an old car tire we scored from our mechanic in La Paz. He crafted the sandal straps from a seatbelt part we rescued from a junkyard, carefully hammering rusty nails around our toes and patiently making adjustments until we smiled and danced around with perfectly fitted kicks.

While most ranchers’ huaraches are burly, worn and torn from trekking through the desert by mule and foot, our brand new ones are quite elegant on top of being durable and sustainable. As some say about constructing a building, it’s most important to have a good hat (roof) and a good pair of shoes (foundation). Needless to say, the Living Roots team is beginning the next chapter of their journey with both necessities, which was reinforced by an enthusiastic reception of our huaraches (and of course the ideas under our hats) back in La Paz.

Late Night With the Rotarians

Back in La Paz, the night began with a dinner meeting with Alberto (our lawyer, a Rotarian member) and Diana (formerly known as our intern, now formally a rock star team member) to discuss the steps of creating a civil association (Mexican non-profit). The Living Roots senoritas proceeded to attend the weekly 9 PM Rotary meeting at an elegant restaurant on the marina with the District 4100 Rotarians, who are entirely male. We were scheduled on the agenda to present our project idea and show a video presentation that Diana created titled, "B.C.S Raizes que Perduran" (B.C.S: Roots that Persevere), which is a beautifully captures sierra life.

Our ideas, particularly a sierra-wide certification for artisan goods and rural tourism, were extremely well received and several people provided not only their support, but helpful feedback. Most importantly, the Rotarians are very well-connected and have an extensive network spanning local and international business associations, the political arena, as well as several state and federal government organizations. Afterwards, many went out of their way to individually introduce themselves and offer us their expertise. We are extremely grateful that we have such a respected group of humanitarians and business leaders on our side.

The Next Step

We head back to the sierra tomorrow to revisit Las Animas (where they make amazing knives out of recycled metal) to procure more product samples for our sales trials and find a community representative. The people there have been asking about our return since we left in January and we are eager to return and share Living Roots’ latest developments with them. In the meantime, check out our Haiku posting ~ feel free to comment with your own!