A Visit to the Coast and our Return to Merida
In San Felipe, we held sessions to analyze and process this change of sociocultural contexts from our last community of Yaxunah and, before that, the city of Merida. During these sessions, the students were able to make observations about the differences in gastronomy from an inland to a coastal community, as well as the differences in family interactions and the change in daily activities based on the natural surroundings and the relationship between people and their environment in different contexts.
Among the outdoor activities in San Felipe, we included a nighttime boat tour to a swamp that contains a natural freshwater spring known as Cambulnah. This ecosystem is important for the coastal area that houses diverse species of fauna such as birds, fish and reptiles. Here, we were able to observe a large Morelet’s crocodile and don Pedro Figueroa, the head of the boat tour cooperative in San Felipe, explained how the cooperative works with the community to protect, conserve and keep this area clean and pristine for ecotourism. On our way back to port, we were even able to see bioluminescence from microorganisms in the water!
As always, saying goodbye to each community that we visit is difficult, the strong bonds that are created within the host families and the sincere friendships that develop make the experience special and leave a lasting impression on the souls and hearts of each family and each student in this immersion program. It is wonderful to see a community united at the start to welcome and again to say farewell to our students.
Before our student's three week independent stage of the program, we had a week in Merida where we learned about Mayan archeoastronomy and saw our students present their ethnographic research projects that touched on the diverse topics that caught their attention within Yucatecan culture.
First we will talk about the lecture and workshop on Mayan archeoastronomy given by the specialist Felipe Chan Chí. During this activity the students were able to learn about how the ancient Mayan people observed the sky and how they documented the passing of the moon, the sun, the planets and the stars using architecture and reconstruction of pre Hispanic tools designed to observe the heavens. Our students also learned how the Mayan people had so much knowledge of constellations, how they came to name them and document them and above all, how they were represented in diverse aspects of the Mesoamerican worldview. At the end, our students could connect how observation of the heavens and nature are important for daily life and sacred moments in contemporary Mayan culture, including in the milpa agricultural system, hunting, ceremonies of pre Hispanic origin, world view, traditional medicine and modern Mayan architecture.
Now we will talk about the ethnographic presentations and the diverse topics that the students touched on from their own perspectives. Each student told us about their ethnographic work with enthusiasm and piqued the curiosity of their peers with interesting questions about the topics.
Their work focused on topics that will help us understand the worldview and how humans interact with nature, as well as the knowledge, use and management practices that local people have in relation to their natural environment. In this vein, the students touched on topics such as the reference to the mythology of the aluxes, which are natural beings that guard the milpa, caves, the forest and diverse contexts where people interact. They also talked about the importance of trees, exploring knowledge and uses that people have for the diversity of flora that exists in Yucatán, the importance of silviculture, as well as the management of the ecosystems that form the ejido, how they are organized and how the leaders of this communal land trust decide how to use their land.
Other interesting topics were related to food and food production and how global systems affect nutrition, gastronomy, eating practices and traditional forms of agriculture. Some students focused on the problems facing the milpa, how it has changed and adapted to modernity as well as how each day interest is lost in this traditional agricultural system that is so important for our food. Students also explored the importance of the kinds of native seeds that exist in Yucatán, the challenge that traditional producers face and the perspectives that they have for the conservation of diverse varieties of seeds, as well as the importance of bees as pollinators and honey as an important part of natural food and medicine. They also touched on topics of the transformation of gastronomy and eating practices in the city and in pueblos, and how bottled sodas were introduced into daily life in Yucatecan society.
Our students also talked about the intersection of traditional and modern medicine and how these practices have become important to maintain the health of people here in Yucatán. It is interesting the way in which these topics of health are brought up, above all when the idea of how traditional and modern medicine interact in a sociocultural context where the traditional knowledge still plays an important role for people, even with the advances in modern medicine. The focus was centered on the use and permanence of traditional knowledge and practices, where traditional healers use medicinal plants and therapeutic massage (sobadas) to maintain the health of the people, especially pregnant women. Also mentioned were some beliefs driven by diverse aspects of the Mesoamerican worldview that relate to disease, labor, birth, and death during birth.
Finally, the students explored topics related to new ideas of masculinity and ways to be a man in Yucatán as well as the concept of love through the perspective of Yucatán culture. It is interesting how the students approached these topics, they focused on rights of passage within Yucatecan culture that determine certain aspects of a person depending on their gender, but above all how the idea or concept of being a man is adapting and changing with time. They also explored the concept of love in a sociocultural context different from their own, where they could get to know the perspectives of different generations on the topic of love: how it is lived and what love means for each person.
Now we are ready to begin the last part of the Yucatán program, where each student will meet one last host family and integrate into a new community to live and have a three week individual experience in diverse parts of the Yucatán Península. They will each have the opportunity to put into practice the knowledge and skills that they have gathered through their previous immersive experiences. They will each carry out an independent project, known as a Spanish Language and Cultural Immersion Practicum, utilizing all of their tools, skills and creativity.