Just two hours south of the glitzy high-rise hotels and high-end shops of Cancun, Mexico, lies the Zona Maya, a stretch of lush jungle dotted with the ruins of ancient Mayan temples.
Jaguars and pumas roam the forests as scarlet macaws flit across the sky. The Zona Maya is also home to communities that speak languages and practice traditions predating colonial contact. While these cultures remain vibrant, the local economy does not: 25% of the Zona Maya population lives in extreme poverty, earning less than $1.25 a day.
However, thanks to an initiative to provide indigenous communities with ways to make sustainable livings, local people are boosting their livelihoods by sharing their heritage with tourists.
Visitors to the Zona Maya can participate in a purification ceremony in a temazcal, or sweat lodge; learn how to work old-style looms; listen to a community elder tell ancient myths; watch traditional dances; and enjoy other Mayan traditions.
Locals also offer tours of the beautiful canals that served as trade routes for the ancient Maya; opportunities to swim in cenotes; kayaking adventures; and visits to the Sian Ka’an biosphere, which is a Unesco World Heritage Site, as well as to Mayan ruins such as lesser-known temples.
It’s all part of Mayaka’an, a project aimed at giving rural and indigenous people in the Zona Maya a way to make a living through sustainable tourism. Mayaka’an is a joint effort of Mexico’s National Commission of Natural Protected Areas, the local nongovernmental organization Amigos de Sian Ka’an and the Ministry of Tourism. Amigos de Sian Ka’an is a member of the coalition Mesoamerican Reef Tourism Initiative (Marti), a group of organizations that promote conserving the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System through sustainable tourism.
Mayaka’an is funded by the Inter-American Development Bank and is made up of 14 cooperatives from nine indigenous communities. All of those communities participated in training workshops from the Rainforest Alliance, which is also a Marti member. The trainings teach cooperatives about business management, customer service, sustainability and marketing.
“It makes me proud to show visitors our origins, our culture and everything we do here,” says Rosa Tzab, one of the eight members of the Sijil Noh Ha cooperative, which receives 1,500 to 2,000 tourists per year.
And for many tourists, efforts by Tzab and the members of all the cooperatives of Mayaka’an make for a rich, memorable travel experience.
This content is paid for by AMResorts in association with the Rainforest Alliance
