Locals watch for illegal loggers, who have devastated forests in many parts of Mexico. Evanecio Marcos, one of the guides, told me that if someone is caught logging without permission, they're asked to plant 10,000 seedlings or help trim back small trees so others may grow tall.
In the villages there is a strong sense of community, and in each town I visited, it was evident how residents had come together to advance the project. In Cuajimoloyas, my guide explained that he wasn't paid for his work, but that it was his community service for the town -- something required of all the men. He said he would work for a year and then go back to raising corn and beans, and another resident would take his place.
Hop a bus in Oaxaca and head 40 miles to the United Villages, seven Mexican villages that are linked by hiking trails.
(Bart Beeson)
|
|
My guide in Latuvi explained that in order to build the cabins, each family donated a small amount of money, and if they couldn't afford that, they helped with the construction. In addition, each family made adobe bricks -- something everyone could afford. Finally, the town council decided to use the tequio -- an Aztec word meaning "communal effort," in which men get together on a weekend day to work on a project for the good of the community -- to help construct the cabins.
My trip started in Cuajimoloyas, from where my guide led me on a two-hour hike through peaceful pine forests and grassy meadows dotted with giant, prehistoric-looking cactuses, to Benito Juarez. On the way, he pointed out medicinal plants that have been used for centuries by the Zapotec Indians who inhabit the region, as well some of the many species of brightly colored birds -- including chickadees, hummingbirds and warblers -- that flitted along the path.
From Benito Juarez, I hiked north for three hours along narrow forest trails carpeted with pine needles to Latuvi, officially a town of 800 people (although locals say it's less due to migration) made up of simple wood and adobe houses. Yolanda Hernandez, 33, runs a restaurant out of her kitchen -- a small room into which sunlight streams in between the wooden slats, cutting through the smoke that wafts from the wood-burning stove.
What Hernandez lacks in facilities she makes up for with a big smile and good food. For less than $2, she fixed scrambled eggs with onions and peppers, homemade tortillas, beans and cheese, a plate of papaya and banana, and a bowl of hot chocolate.
She recalled how people reacted when several local residents first suggested building tourist cabins in 1998. "People thought they were crazy," she said. "Why would someone from Europe or the United States want to come here?" But the idea gained popularity as visitors started showing up. "Now people are excited," she said. Latuvi just inaugurated its first official tourist facilities -- a two-room cabin built into the hillside, with a spacious porch offering an amazing view of the surrounding sierras.
On my last day I hiked about four hours north to the town of Lachatao, through trees draped with thick, gray moss. I traveled along a footpath believed to have been part of a longer pre-Hispanic route that connected the Zapotec cities in the central part of Oaxaca with a network of trails near the Gulf of Mexico. Lachatao, the oldest of the United Villages, boasts a cobblestone plaza with a 17th-century church.
While the hiking is great and the scenery is wonderful, it's the time spent in the communities that make this area special. I've lived in Mexico for three years and have traveled quite a bit -- and I don't think I've ever felt as welcome in towns where it would be so easy to feel out of place. Lachatao was no exception.
I'd been told I would have to pay someone to drive me from town to the main highway so I could catch a bus back to Oaxaca. But within minutes of arriving, I met a woman who told me that it would be expensive and that I should just hike to the next town over and take a local bus.
