GloCaltravel Trip to Naha and Metzabok in the Selva Lacandona

GloCaltravel offers an interesting ecotourism trip to off the beaten path areas of Chiapas. In this tour you can visito the villages of Naha and Metzabok, in the north-western part of the Lacandon Jungle. GloCaltravel focuses on eco-frieldy and community-based tourism. Here’s some more info about their package trip to the Lacandon jungle.

3 to 5 days tour from San Cristobal to the Lacandon jungle

“This trip to the Lacandon villages of Naha and Metzabok is genuinely off the beaten track, where you will discover blue lagoons, Mayan ceremonial sites, and experience community tourism in the heart of the Selva Lacandona.

We are the only operator at the moment offering this tour and exploring the possibility of developing a sustainable form of community tourism for the villages of Naha and Metzabok, in the north-western part of the Lacandon Jungle. The local guide we work with established contacts with some important personalities in the Lacandon community, who agreed to show visitors their beautiful lagoons, and talk to them about their ancient and contemporary traditions and rituals.”

And here is there company philosophy:

“gloCaltravel Mexico is the result of our deep love for Mexico, and our personal travel philosophy.
We offer sound tourism alternatives to mass package-holidays, with travel solutions that co-operate with the local communities throughout Mexico to improve their economy, and protect their local environments. gloCaltravel gives you the resources for planning your responsible travel in Mexico.”


Barra de Navidad

We’re thinking of taking a trip to Barra de Navidad in Jalisco sometime in the next year or so. My wife has been doing some research into the Galleon Spanish trade to and from the Philippines back during the colonial period. Barra de Navidad was apparently one of the first ports used on this route during the 1500’s. It was also used for ship building.

Wikipedia has a pretty interesting entry on Barra de Navidad.

Also, if you use GoogleEarth and zoom into that area, there are some nice photos and you can get a good sense of the area.

Here’s the official tourist site for the Barra de Navidad.

Anyone ever been there and would like to share their experience to help us plan?


Taking a Break

Hi all. If you haven’t noticed, this blog has been inactive for a little while. I’ve been pretty busy with family and career commitments, so writing has been put on the back burner for a while. I appreciate your visiting and will continue to write as time allows!

Saludos!

Book Review: “Abracadabra, Mexican Toys”

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As a collector of Mexican folk art, the book “Abracadabra, Mexican Toys” is a welcome addition to my library. Abracadabra is a celebration of the skill and dedication of folk artists, and the book itself functions as a wonderful piece of object art. Through unusual framing and ample use of a macro lens, the photographers transform what were traditional toys for children into mythical beasts, colorful sculptures, and otherworldly objects.

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World Hum Mexico

The World Hum Blog has some compelling posts about Mexico. You can read about fun trips to border towns (sound impossible? Not so!) and the Mexican reaction to the Miss Universe pageant, which was in Mexico City this year.

You can also read an interview with World Hum’s founder here.


More on Ecotourism in Veracruz

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Just got a note from Maria Lucina Santos Martinez from the community of Las Margaritas by Catemaco Lake in the state of Veracruz. A couple years ago my wife and I visited their small but excellent eco-tourism project.

You can read about it and see photos at our Aztec Gardens website. Scroll down about half way down that page to read more about our trip and the organization.

Maria Lucina (”Lucy”) wrote to tell us that they are remodeling their cabin for visitors, and that they have a new trip into the jungle, and a new camp ground set up for visitors as well. I highly recommend this trip for anyone who wants to support community-based eco-tourism and who wants to see the real Mexico.

Their website (in Spanish) has lots of information about the tours. The organization is called the Red de Ecoturismo Comuntario de los Tuxtlas. There are several communities that give different tours within the group. They all have something unique to offer.


Planeta.com Announces the Winner of the 2007 Colibri Award

On June 5th, 2007 in Oaxaca de Juarez, Mexico, Francisco Verástegui received Planeta.com’s prestigious Colibri award for ecotourism. Francisco created Mexico’s first city map of notable and historic trees for the city of Oaxaca.

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Ron Mader, the founder of Planeta.com and the creator of the award says about Mr. Verástegui,


Verástegui’s passion for Oaxaca’s urban parks and gardens has never been stronger and in the spring of 2007 he collaborated with colleagues in producing the map Árboles Históricos y Notables.

Francisco Verástegui receives the Colibri Ecotourism Award for his work in protecting the historic and notable trees of Oaxaca City and raising awareness of the urban environment.

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Verástegui was born in Mexico City and is an artist. He has lived in Oaxaca for twenty years. Mader goes on to say about Francisco and the award,


“Ecotourism depends on the leadership of individuals exemplified by Francisco Verástegui who are resourceful when creating new linkages connecting tourism and environmental conservation.”

You can find out more about the Colibri award here. This in an interesting choice as many people associate ecotourism with rural areas, national parks, and protected areas. It is exciting to see the definition of ecotourism expanding to urban areas and the possibilities to protect natural resources within larger cities.


Book Review: Ornamental Plants and Flowers of Tropical Mexico

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Today I have the pleasure to present a review of a book called Ornamental Plants and Flowers of Tropical Mexico. This is a book of photography and interesting facts about the plants you may find in tropical Mexico, especially in the Puerto Vallarta area.

The author is Linda Abbott Trapp, who lives in Puerto Vallarta. She is a professional writer and has authored five other books, including Fresno, Valley of Abundance. She also writes for newspapers about business, the arts, ecotourism, and psychology. She holds a doctorate from Iowa State University and was dean at the California School of Professional Psychology.

Her work with plants is strictly as an amateur botanist and plant enthusiast. According to the book’s introduction, Ornamental Plants and Flowers of Tropical Mexico was a project that began in part because she couldn’t find information in any single complete, book about the plants that she was seeing around her home. So she started researching and taking photographs, and the research eventually evolved into the book.

Ornamental Plants and Flowers of Tropical Mexico is a compact book (128 pages) of color photographs and information about roughly a couple hundred plants that you’d see on a visit to tropical Mexico, Puerto Vallarta, and in other areas where gardeners may use these tropical plants in landscaping.

One important thing to note about the book is that the information about the plants is very brief. The subtitle of the book is “A Guide for the Curious Tourist or Resident.” From the subtitle, you can tell that this is not intended to be a book for more serious plant enthusiasts. It mainly works as a field guide to quickly and easily identify common plants that you’d find in resort areas in tropical Mexico and perhaps excursions to nearby forests.

The plants are arranged alphabetically based on the most common name for the plant. The information about the plants includes:

1. Common and scientific names
2. Botanical family
3. Use and care of the plants for those interesting in growing the plants
4. Cultivation and propagation tips for gardeners
5. Information on the flower/flower type
6. History, trivia, unusual facts about the plant

As Trapp mentions, Mexico’s biodiversity is astonishing, with roughly 50,000 plant species scattered throughout the country. You can find many of these plants in tropical areas of Mexico. Thus, it would be nearly impossible to produce a book with more than just a few hundred plants and provide a decent level of detail about each plant.

The fact that Ornamental Plants and Flowers of Tropical Mexico is so concise is both a strength and a weakness. Trapp is able to include a wide variety of plants in her book, with plenty of attractive photos to help you identify them, but facts that I would like to see, such as local Spanish names or indigenous names, ethno-botanical information, etc. are missing from some of the plant descriptions.

I would have liked to have seen common Spanish names for each plant, as this is a book about Mexican plants. The author says that she did indeed ask locals about common Spanish names, but in some cases they declined to respond. I think with a little extra effort, she could find out these names easily.

Trapp has done a good amount of research on each of the plants, and there is indeed in many cases some very interesting trivia regarding plants’ agricultural and cultural importance.

A strength of the book is the number of photos of each plant, taken from various angles and representing different colors of flowers, and in many cases, wonderful details of unusual plants such as the Heliconia. The photos are generally quite good, although some are a bit sharper and clearer than others.

I was impressed by the number of palm species in the book, and the photos do a good job of showing enough detail so as to easily distinguish one palm species from another.

There are a number of plants found in the book that also double as houseplants in other parts of the world. For example, you can find photographs of the Wandering Jew, Croton, and Candleabra Cactus, all growing outdoors and in many cases in a wild setting.

One curious thing about the book is the inclusion of exotic species. Although some of these plants have become naturalized, I would have liked to have seen more plants native to Mexico presented in the book.

According to Trapp, the plants she selected follow the following criteria,

“I’ve chosen plants closely associated with tropical Mexico in the visitor’s mind, those commonly used in resort landscaping, a few imported plants I was especially charmed by, and some of those plants the visitor or resident might see on a tour off the beaten path as well.”

As a book for the curious tourist or resident, the book works very well as casual reading and as a useful field guide. For those craving more details and information about tropical Mexican plants, you may wish to seek out a book or two with an emphasis on detailed text and facts rather than photographs.

Ornamental Plants and Flowers of Tropical Mexico was published by Abbott Publishing and is available exclusively from Sunbelt Publications

Please visit the Sunbelt Publications website to learn more about the book. Sunbelt also has an extensive collection of books about Baja California and Mexico.


An Interview with Ron Mader of Planeta.com

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Photo courtesy of Planeta.com’s Flickr collection

A couple weeks ago I conducted an interview with professional journalist, photographer, and activist Ron Mader for the Practical Environmentalist website.

Ron is a one of the most vocal proponents of ecotourism in Mexico, and lives and works in Oaxaca. He is also the founder of Planeta.com, an online resource for global ecotourism and responsible travel. Ron founded Planeta.com in 1994.

I decided to follow up the interview with a series of questions specifically about tourism in Mexico to publish here at Flor y Canto.

Here are his responses. Thanks again to Ron for taking the time out of his busy schedule to do these wonderful interviews!
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In my opinion, Mexico is one of the most fascinating countries in the world. The rich history, the dozens of indigenous languages and cultures, the art, and the biodiversity and landscapes are truly amazing. However, so many people in the U.S. have negative stereotypes about Mexico and know so little about our neighboring country. What do you think are some of the ways that we can help to break down these boundaries and misconceptions?

A - First a shout: “Mr. Bush, tear down this wall!” It is ridiculous that the United States proposes to build a wall along the U.S-Mexico border. We should be opening North America, not artificially segmenting it. Those who build walls are pretending.

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Auction for a trip to Mexico’s Copper Canyon

Check out this great auction for a trip to Copper Canyon, sponsored by Planeta.com. The auction ends the 28th of April.

Canyon Travel is donating a 7-night Western Canyon Explorer trip for two people to Mexico’s Copper Canyon. Enjoy bird-watching with bilingual naturalist guides. The package features regional cuisine and cultural presentations. Retail value of this trip for two persons is (US) $3,318 during high season. This trip does not have seasonal restrictions, though it must be taken within one calendar year.

The current bid as of today was $1,800, so act fast!


Exploring Mexico and Mexican Culture