An example of independent rural tourism initiatives.
So, today I spent an hour speaking to Enrique about him, about his family and most importantly about his community and personal project in Nuevo Durango.
Enrique is amongst other things the creator of one of our featured experiences in the Mayan communities of Quintana Roo, but let’s start from the beginning.
WHAT AND WHERE IS NUEVO DURANGO?
Nuevo Durango is a Mayan community of only 287 inhabitants.
It is around one hour and a half from Playa del Carmen towards Valladolid Yucatan.
It is part of the Lazaro Cardenas municipality.
It is one of the several Mayan communities that for the last 14 years have come together in cooperatives to integrate rural tourism into their way of life as a source of income.
Nuevo Durango was founded in 1952 by several families from Yucatan and was given the official naming in 1960.
From before tourism times the community has been dedicated to honey harvesting, hunting and agriculture.
Amongst their crops we can find corn of course, and many other fruits and vegetables like: beans, squash, Sweet potato, sugar cane, coconuts, bananas, mango, pineapple, avocado, papaya, cactus and chaya.
And, as part of the tourism services, Nuevo Durango can offer:
- Community Jungle lodging
- Food / Gastronomy
- An insects’ museum
- Temazcal
- A couple of almost private cenotes
- Caverns
- White tail deer, melipona bees and Tepezcuintle conservation units
- Night jungle walks
- Reforestation activities
- Milpa (ancestral agriculture)
- Culture and worldview promotion.
The community is run independently by all the inhabitants. All of them continue living their lives as normal and when tourism comes, most of the families are part of the experiences and activities on a given day.
The cooperative has been developing their own tourism product for 14 years and everyone that is part of it has been professionally trained.
WHO ARE ENRIQUE AND BLANCA?
Enrique and Blanca to start with are our main contacts for Nuevo Durango, but most importantly for the DE LA MATA A LA MESA experience.
Enrique got involved in the creation of the cooperative since 2005. He has been part of the process and development for all these years.
He is the main creator of the experience we are inviting you to be a part of.
Enrique is the man that makes sure his land has always A LOT of food to offer, and, Blanca, his wife, his partner, his right hand, is the food master.
Blanca and Enrique have been married for 26 years and they now have 7 children. Enrique is very proud of being able to give his life and time in preserving and promoting their culture. He is even prouder for being able to share all this with his family.
Enrique describes what he and his family do and share with us as something simply MAGICAL. And I must say: I agree.
I don’t think I have ever felt more grateful in my life thank how I feel when I am lucky to be welcomed in a Mayan community, in a Mayan family, in a Mayan home.
The experience that Nuevo Durango and Enrique offer is more than tourism. The experience is LIFE in itself. We get to do exactly what a Mayan family does in their everyday life.
But guess what? It is not only about seeing something that we don’t do anymore.
It is more than anything to allow ourselves to have the opportunity to reconnect with nature as Mayans do (that we don’t anymore in cities); or, to see where our food comes from and be grateful (that we don’t do either); or, to be able to witness the sacredness in everything and in every moment as the Mayan people does.
Yeah, I do believe this is the magic that many of us need.
And of course, Enrique and his family are always eager to meet you and open their home doors. Enrique has learned and grown a lot since he is dedicated to rural tourism. He even speaks 4 languages besides Mayan. He told me every new foreign passenger allows him to always learn more. Even if it is just a new word, and for that, he is grateful.