Preserving Natural Heritage, Modern Mayan Communities

by Camila Vazquez Mellado (Mexico)

Making a local connection Mexico

Quintana Roo is the state where the most entrenched Mayan communities can be found, which preserve much of the traditions of their glorious ancestors. This story is about the Cahum Family in Laguna Chabela. I was able to meet this family through the sister, Cecilia Cahum. She is the only one in the family who, despite her strong roots, was able to study until college, where she has a degree in biology. She works during the week near Tulum on a conservation project to protect the Spider Monkey in the area. And on weekends, he visits his family in Laguna Chabela. Here, they receive small groups of tourists to give a "true Mayan experience" for $ 500 pesos per person, in which they take a walking tour through the jungle and their traditions. As a Mexican, honestly, I didn't know that there were still Maya communities in the Yucatan, Quintana Roo and Campeche regions that still preserve a lifestyle as their ancestors lived, from that culture of the Mayan Empire. That they continue to speak the Mayan language, that they continue to live and cook as they traditionally did. Naively, I believed that the Mayan culture had disappeared, as it was with Aztecs with the conquest of the Spaniards in Tenochtitlán, the miscegenation and the introduction of a new culture, the European one. Thus creating Mexican culture, a fusion of diverse traditions, cultures, and ways of life. It was so that I undertook a trip to Quintana Roo and because of fate or destiny, I met Cecilia Cahum; whose family (traditional Maya) lived in the “Laguna Chabela”. A lagoon, protected by the vast jungle near Tulum, where I found a true Mayan community. Here I met this ancestral culture through a family of 5 brothers who are the voice of their Mayan ancestors. His purpose as a Mayan family and community is to share his teachings on the importance of nature in everyone's life while continuing to be faithful to his Maya roots. Although they speak Spanish, they still speak in the Mayan language. Living in the remote community of Punta Laguna (house of the spider monkey, the jaguar, the melipona bees and the puma). The Cahum family really wants to honor their roots by preserving their natural heritage in a sustainable way. By always putting first the well-being of nature, in which their needs are met in a sustainable way. They believe that being able to live in this area is something like a "loan" of nature, in which they pay for taking care of it for the next generations. They still live in Maya "Palapas" that are made in the traditional way, sleeping in handmade hammocks, eating only what they can grow or find inside the jungle. In general, in the Mayan culture, and by the region where they live, they have as their main economic activity that of agriculture. During my visit, I found a jaguar's footprint which had passed through one of the paths between the brothers' houses. I got on the kayak to tour the lagoon, with a feeling of peace and presence at the time I was experiencing while photographing the family. With great pride, they taught me how they lived, from inside their home, their orchards, their house for beekeeping, their pib oven, how they built Cecilia's house, how Grandma prepared the sauces and tortillas for food with her bare feet. Feet connected to the land where she has lived all her life. And this is what I understood from this family, about that connection with the earth and nature that we humans share. Which can help us understand that we are one with Mother Earth, that we need it to be grateful and respectful as an act of honor and love towards ourselves and other human beings.