Week 9 in Pez Maya- fish & coral monitoring, Coba ruins, dolphin encounter

Week nine in Pez Maya was a pretty amazing week for diving. We’re getting a lot of fish and coral monitoring done so it’s looking like we’re probably going to get 5 of the monitoring sites done this phase, which is not bad for this time of year. All of the Rescue Diver training has been completed now and the Divemaster training is well on the way to being finished too.

There was one dive in particular this week that people will remember for a long, long time. Two boats went out on Tuesday to try and get to one of the monitor sites but the sea was a bit too choppy so they decided to head for Lagrimas Negras for a fun dive instead. As they were approaching a couple of divers spotted fins in the water. And then more fins. And then dolphins were leaping around the boat! They kitted up super quickly and jumped in. They needn’t have hurried though because the pod of 10 bottlenose dolphins stuck around for the entire 30 minute dive! They could hear them clicking and squeaking underwater and they came really close, within a couple of metres at times. There was even a baby!

At the weekend we went to explore the Mayan ruins of Coba. The ruins are all spaced out within the jungle and the site is vast so we all hired bikes for the day and cycled round. It was great fun until some bright spark decided it would be a good idea to “cycle” down a path that looked suspiciously like it wasn’t made for bikes. We ended up carrying our bikes along stretches of the path and lifting them over fallen trees but never mind. Once we found our way back to the main path we set off to find some ruins. There were lots of different types of buildings and a couple of ball courts too. The Mayans used to play this game in teams. The walls are decorated with pictures of seveal heads so it is thought they would sacrifice members of the losing team after the game. Some people think they actually played the game with a head (!) but I’m not sure whether that is a story made up for the tourists. The most spectacular part of Coba is the great pyramid Nohoch Mul. It stands at 42m making it the tallest Mayan building on the Yucatan peninsula. It’s a pretty steep climb but the view from the top is incredible. The horizon is completely flat and all you can see is jungle with a tiny glimpse of the crocodile infested lake near the entrance. It was amazing!

It’s hard to believe it’s the end of week 9 in Pez Maya now. It’s gone really quickly but we’ve still got one week left to enjoy. Hopefully the sun will shine for us and the sea will cooperate!

Week 9 in Pez Maya- fish & coral monitoring, Coba ruins, dolphin encounter

Breaking news on Lion fish capture!

We have been informed by CONANP (Comision Nacional de Areas protegidas) people that south of one of our Marine Conservation Expeditions, Pez Maya, in one of the lagoons on the middle part of Sian Ka'an Biosphere Reserve, a fishermen captured 28 lionfish in 30 minutes!!! Worth for a Guiness record!

We have seen some lionfishes in many of our immersions but never so many! We really hope that with the efforts of everybody we will capture the major part and prevent them from invading the Caribbean sea as it is, as you know, an invasive species that doesn't have a natural predator , lays thousands of eggs and eats everything.

Breaking news on Lion fish capture!

Fish aggregations in Eco-Index

Perhaps some of you have heard or know the Eco-Index from Rainforest Alliance which was created to provide the conservation community with a quickly and easily accessible vehicle to share project data and reports, lessons learned, and best practices in a precise and consistent format.

Every month they publish a newsletter which contains ongoing projects happening in the American Continent. This month we are happy to find in it the Fish Agregation project that Cobi together with Amigos de Sian Ka'an, The Nature Conservancy, United Nations Development Program and GVI are promoting in Quintana Roo. The project intends to:

• Locate grouper and porgy reproduction aggregation sites in the Sian Ka’an Biosphere Reserve.
• Monitor the number and size of the individual aggregates to evaluate the size of the aggregations over time.
• Establish a community surveillance system to prevent fishing during the periods of reproductive aggregation of these species.

GVI through Pez maya & Regional office staff participated in the first stage of the project by giving logistic support and the Open Water & EFR (Emergency first response) courses to the fishermen and Rangers that are part of the project. We keep track of their advance and are looking forward to see the outcome of the project when it is finished!

Fish aggregations in Eco-Index

Week 8 in Pez Maya- 80's night,Thanksgiving, Rescue & Dive master, Monitoring

Could it possibly be the end of week 8 already?

The weather this week has been a bit unpredictable in Pez Maya! The wind and the rain have conspired to foil our dives on multiple occasions. Friday saw no diving at all, but we tried to make up for it the next day by substituting in a monitor and spot dive for our normal Saturday fun dive. On Saturday night, the staff cooked a lovely meal for us, as always, and the EMs decided to make it 80´s night, dressing up and creating playlists accordingly.

On Sunday, a group of EMs went to Akumal to snorkel for the afternoon. There they saw loads of sea turtles! Monday we were back to work, however. (As much as diving all day while living on a beach can really be called ¨work¨…) It was a bit choppy, but we managed all of our dives. I cannot say as much for Tuesday. After one pair of dives went out, the staff decided to call it quits due to rough seas. Wednesday even brought a few mini monsoons! Many of us had to wait in the boats for the storms to pass before we could start our dives, but luckily most of us stayed warm in our wetsuits!

Thursday was definitely the highlight of the week. In addition to the fact that it was the loveliest day so far, with bright sunshine and calm seas, the Americans also brought Thanksgiving to Pez Maya! In between dives, they worked hard to cook an amazing feast for everyone. Roast chickens, stuffing, sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, a beautiful salad, a spinach and cheddar dip with tortilla chips, and even some pumpkin pie and apple-pear pie for dessert! The tables were arranged in one long line, and each of us offered one or two things that we were thankful for, which for most of us included the meal before us, as well as the experiences we’ve had here at Pez Maya—making friends, learning about diving and the environment, and living the good life on a gorgeous beach in Mexico! Then, we ate and ate and ate…and experienced a level of fullness that we forgot was humanly possible.

With only two weeks left, we are continuing to monitor as much as possible, and some of us are even getting our Rescue and Divemaster certifications finished. It’ll be a busy two weeks, but we’re looking forward to every moment!

Week 8 in Pez Maya- 80's night,Thanksgiving, Rescue & Dive master, Monitoring

ILCP, Yucatan Rapid Assessment Visual Expedition follow up

As you may remember last month, as part of the Yucatan Rapid Assessment Visual Expedition (RAVE), we had two reknown photographers from the ILCP (International League of Conservation Photographers) in our two Marine conservation bases, Pez Maya and Punta Gruesa.

The RAVE is now finished and after 4 months of work they are doing the final accounting of outcomes and focusing on further plans for all the materials that were produced during this expedition. One of the results is that they will give us a collection of images taken while on the Expedition so that we can use them locally and globally for conservation. Also, they are working hard to produce a final version of the Yucatan Wild Multimedia in both English and Spanish, which will be made available to all the partners as well.

Furthermore, CNN in Spanish will be producing a 30 minute piece on the RAVE using the images and interviews of the RAVE to call attention to development in the Yucatan. As you may know, CNN en Español is seen by over 30 million people in Mexico, Latin America, the US, Canada and Europe, which should be a great boost for the efforts! We are looking forward to it and will inform you when it is on.


On another note, if you would like to know more about the RAVE and what is going on with ILCP, it publishes every month a newsletter which we would like to share with you as there are very interesting news and images on it, just click here.

Finally, we would like to extend with all of you their grattitude letter to GVI and all volunteers that made it possible as official partners of this joint effort.

Carta agradecimiento GVI

ILCP, Yucatan Rapid Assessment Visual Expedition follow up

Nets for Lion fish capture

This Sunday, a massive Lion fish capture on the coast of Quintana Roo was organized to celebrate the conservation week in Tulum. Staff from GVI Mexico participated in it and during this Massive capture we were given the special nets that were shown during the workshop two weeks ago.

Lion fish invasion continues to be a big problem as every day the number of lion fish sightings are increasing, Pez maya and Punta Gruesa expeditions are not the exception as volunteers and staff have been reporting an increase amount of them. Every time a lion fish is sighted by us a report is filled and sent to CONANP (Comisión Nacional de Areas Protegidas) which is one of our local partners and the ones in charge of lionfish management in the Region.

With the new nets we will be able to capture lionfish on a better way and get them out from the Mexican Caribbean waters!

Nets for Lion fish capture

Pez Maya & RO staff attend the 1st Agrochemical Toxicology & poisonus animal bites course by Red Cross

This last 23rd and 24th of November Lluvia and Jaen, staff from Pez Maya attended the first “Toxicology on agrochemicals and poisonous animal bites course” organized by the Red Cross in Tulum. The course was given by specialists and addressed to tour guides, fauna technicians and people that work on plague control, natural parks and governmental agencies.

The first day was about intoxications with agrochemicals and it was shown the main components of agrochemicals and bug killers that are used at home. They talked about the common mistakes that people do when using rat killers or similar and how to avoid them. Then they explained how these substances react in our bodies and taught the first aids in case of ingestion or exposure to the different venoms.

We learnt that in Mexico exists an organization that should be called in case of an emergency related to poisonous substances, SINTOX (Servicio de información toxicológica; toxicological information service), which has a free number, give assessment on the situation and tell which antidote the doctors should use when dealing with an intoxication of this kind.

The second day was about poisonous animal bites where they taught how to recognize poisonous snakes and the first aids in case of a bite. They also talked about scorpions, bees and spiders. In the marine section they talked about intoxication with sea food, and first aid on stings by jellyfish, sponges, corals, shells, sting rays, fish and crocodiles bites.

The course was very useful and interesting and the information will be conveyed to all the volunteers and staff from Pez Maya expedition.

Pez Maya & RO staff attend the 1st Agrochemical Toxicology & poisonus animal bites course by Red Cross

Week 7 in Pez Maya-crocodile & manatee sightings, theme party, start of monitoring, exciting encounters

This weekend was quite a busy one. On Saturday went on a boat tour of the lagoon to see if we could see some crocodiles or manatees. Unfortunately, nobody actually saw any but we did see some sediment stirred up in the water a couple of times and that (apparently) was a crocodile and a manatee. It was really nice to have a proper look around the lagoon though. The only bit you can normally see is quite a small area from the bridge on the road, but it is absolutely vast!

That night was party night on base and we had a Disney theme. It’s amazing what you can come up with when you’re in the middle of nowhere with limited resources if you just use a bit of imagination. People really put in a lot of effort and it showed. Some favourites were Ursula, Nemo, Aladdin & Jasmine and Sheriff Woody! On Sunday most folk had a bit of a lazy day but Liz, Laura, Sarah, Morgan & Rachel (who was visiting us for 1 week from Mahahual, the other base in Mexico) went to visit Akumal. Akumal has a resident turtle population so Sarah finally managed to see a turtle! Actually there were quite a lot of turtles and they are used to people being around so they don’t swim off. They just carry on as if nobody is there.

Back on base week 7 has been another fantastic week for diving with most of us managing the full complement of 11 dives! Hooray! We’ve had some exciting sightings this week and we’ve finally started monitoring. Aaron, Faried and Katie have been out to some of the monitoring sites to monitor adult and juvenile fish. Most people are getting quite close now and are out on each dive practicing. You have to be pretty accurate in your practice dives before the staff allow you to record real data, otherwise the surveys will be worthless. Hopefully others will be monitoring soon as well though.

There have been lots of exciting encounters this week too. We’ve had sightings of golden tailed moray eels, a huge spotted eagle ray and Jaen, Aaron and Mel spotted 2 bull sharks from the beach early one morning. There haven’t been any sightings for ages but now that the lagoon entrance has opened up again they are back!

Hopefully by the end of next week there will be a few more people out monitoring. We might even catch another glimpse of the bull sharks. You never know…

Week 7 in Pez Maya-crocodile & manatee sightings, theme party, start of monitoring, exciting encounters

Earth hour -Vote for Earth

This time Earthhour Organization is launching the "Vote for Earth" campaign in which your vote will contribute to a global mandate for action on climate change to be presented to world leaders at the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen.

For participating in it you just have to Click here or go to www.earthhour.org to the new online ballot box and add your vote for Earth, then you can use their tools and downloads to spread the word and get others voting too.

In GVI Mexico we have voted and are spreading the word to our local partners, staff and all our volunteers from Pez maya and Punta Gruesa as Climate Change is closely related to our Marine conservation work. Besides being the cause and effect of many environmental problems in the world, Climate Change is one of the causes for coral reef bleaching, illnessess and moreover it is helping to modify many Marine Ecosystem Dynamics.

Earth hour -Vote for Earth

Week 6 in Pez Maya; hurricane effect, lagoon opening, farewells & welcomes

Sadly, at the end of week 5, we had to say goodbye to our 5 weekers: Chris, Jenny, Deepak, Tia, and Erin. (We miss you guys!!) We chose to make this weekend our long weekend, so we could say goodbye to them in style in Playa Del Carmen. It was almost cancelled, however, due to the imminent arrival of Hurricane Ida. GVI staff were watching the progress of the hurricane very closely, to make sure it wasn’t going to come too close to our base. In the end we were allowed to go, as long as we met up on Sunday for an update on the hurricane’s progress. Just in case it came close to base, we performed an epic boat push on Friday just before leaving, nearly putting them inside the staff huts!

And good thing we did! We had a bit of a surprise waiting for us when we all returned to Pez Maya base on Monday evening. The hurricane, although it passed by with barely a drop of rain, managed to push the tides up to the edge of the staff huts! The sandbar that had stretched across the lagoon exit for the past 6 months had also completely washed away. Lagoon water now rushes out where the tide rushes in, and it creates a frothy, brackish mix with a fairly strong southerly current, all along our stretch of beach. Where the water used to be turquoise right up to the shore, we now have a strip of colder, murky, ice tea coloured water. Many fish use this Sian ka'an biosphere Reserve lagoon to lay their eggs in a more protected area, so although it’s not as nice for us to swim in, it’s quite nice for them that it is open again.

The hurricane seemed to bring with it a marked drop in temperature as well. Nights seem cooler, and most divers wear their wetsuits for at least one dive during the day. Before, we managed quite well with just our bathing suits, and perhaps a rashie. Now, we shiver on the boat rides to and from our sites, and need the extra insulation of our wetsuits.

Along with the change in weather, the hurricane also washed in new 5-weekers! Danique, Angie, and Morgan arrived just before we left for Playa, so we didn’t get a chance to meet them until after we came back, but they’re really awesome and we’re very happy to welcome them to the Expedition! Cait, a transplant from Mahahual, is here only for the week, but we’re very glad to have her as well!

By the way, we had some amazing diving this week! Finally! After two weeks of horrible weather and bad luck with the boats, the waves are cooperating and the boats are working great! We all got two dives a day, which was a lovely change from two dives a week. Let’s cross our fingers and hope it stays this way!

Week 6 in Pez Maya; hurricane effect, lagoon opening, farewells & welcomes

Volunteer diary, George Wise, Punta Gruesa Mahahual

I have never been to a place like Punta Gruesa before. It is a tropical paradise in the middle of nowhere and I have yet to see a map that shows it’s exact location. Indeed, Punta Gruesa is certainly a great place to live if you want to turn your back on the hussle and bussle of the modern world.

Most of my days are spent diving, studying or learning about some aspect of marine conservation. The days fly by and I cannot believe 5 weeks has past already, luckily for me I have another 17 weeks to go!!

Our group is comprised of 24 expedition members all from a variety of backgrounds and nationalities. It has been great to meet so many different people with different stories but of course communal living has it’s advantages and disadvantages. Cooking for 32 people, for instance, is definitely something I have not done before and requires a cool head and a creative imagination. There are a limited number of ingredients so it is a challenge to cook something different every day but we have had some wonderful meals including many cakes – which are always gratefully received. I don’t think I have ever had such a healthy diet or missed meat so much!

After 5 weeks here I feel really settled and am looking forward to getting stuck into the coral monitoring. Despite the warm beer and early mornings life here is great and I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.

Volunteer diary, George Wise, Punta Gruesa Mahahual

Horsing around at PG

In addition to the rare and wonderful sighting of a Manta Ray there have been many unusual incidental sightings here at Punta Gruesa this phase. During a spot dive on Saturday a group of divers discovered a Longsnout Seahorse (Hippocampus reidi) hidden on the stem of a dead Gorgonian. This caused much excitement as seahorse sightings are a rare occurrence and some species are currently on the endangered species list. They are greatly sought after for use in Chinese medicine and the aquarium trade. Luckily for us this little one seemed safe on our reef and was more than happy to pose for many photographs.

We have also been privileged to see Spotted Eagle Rays, Nurse sharks, Stingrays, Turtles, and the beautiful yet dangerous Lionfish. Sadly sightings of the Lionfish are becoming a regular occurrence with them being seen on nearly every dive. GVI Mexico staff have attended some regional workshops on the management of this invasive species and attempts are being made to control their population numbers.

Horsing around at PG

Diving into the Mayan Underworld

After watching a DVD on the Mayan Underworld about the cenote freshwater cave systems, some of us decided to spend our long weekend in Tulum and experience them for ourselves. We teamed up with Adam & Ela from Cave Heaven in Tulum who had been kind enough to come down to base the week before to give us a talk about the Cenotes.

The first cenote, Temple of Doom, involved a 3 metre giant stride entry into the dark pool below. It was our first experience of diving in freshwater and it took a while to adjust our buoyancy. After a few minutes though we managed to get the hang of it and just enjoy the wonderful place we were in. This cenote has a halocline, and passing from the saltwater to fresh and back again was a unique experience with our surroundings blurring and coming back into focus again. The surrounding rock was very dark and the light from our torches made strange and eerie shadows around us.

The second dive, Gran Cenote, felt very different. Initially much brighter and more open, it gave way to bright white rock formations with stalactites and stalagmites stretching from floor to roof. On this dive we were never far from daylight, and the sunlight through the water gave an unearthly blue-green glow. The water was so clear that at times it felt that we were floating in air as you could see everything so clearly.

After the dives we were all totally exhilarated and I would highly recommend this diving experience to anyone that comes to Mexico. I am certain that another trip to Tulum can be expected soon to explore more of these wonderful phenomenons.

Diving into the Mayan Underworld

Recycling Center in Tulum in good use!

We are very happy to inform you that the Recycling Centre that was built in 2007 in Tulum during our former expedition there is still in use and yesterday was the venue to Award the Winners of the 1st Recylcing School contest (Reciclatón Escolar) of this new Municipality. One of the winners gathered 3,679 kg of plastic, carton, paper and glass and another 1,522 kg.

Congratulations to the winner schools that participated during October and the organizers for promoting the recycling culture! Also to all the volunteers and staff that participated building it as your work continues making the difference!

Tulum was officially designated as Municipality in 2008 and is located very close to Pez maya, which is one of our Marine conservation expeditions. Hence, it is there also where all the recycling items that are not reused or transformed into something amazing like board games, flowers, costums, etc in the expedition are taken!

Recycling Center in Tulum in good use!

A close encounter of the Manta Ray kind…

Punta Gruesa can add a new entry to it’s incidental sightings book! A lucky group of divers (Helen, Rhu, Angelika, Dan, Ricky and Orelie) spotted one of the most amazing and graceful creatures that inhabit our oceans: a Manta Ray!

As far as we know this is the first time that one has been seen on any of our dive sites, which makes these divers even more happy and privileged. The coral spotting dive was getting to its end, having a few minutes left for one last coral when suddenly Orelie raised her eyes to the surface. She not only noticed that a big ray was dancing above them, but soon found out that it was not the usual Spotted Eagle Ray or Southern Stingray often encountered in our waters. This creature was far bigger! No time to get her tank banger, she decided to scream in her regulator in order to get the others' attention.

The whole group watched the beautiful ray swoop and dance for a few minutes before waving goodbye as it carried on its journey south. The divers ascended to the surface and could eventually release their joyful screams as well as spread their news as soon as the boat hit the shore back on base. This is the happy story of a normal day in our paradise of Punta Gruesa, which will stay for a long time in these lucky people's memories.

A close encounter of the Manta Ray kind…

Workshop on Lion fish held in Tulum

Last Tuesday we had the opportunity to participate in a workshop about the Lion Fish called “Regional Strategy to control and mitigate the impact of lion fish in the Mexican Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico” which was held in Tulum and it was organized by different governmental agencies.

During the talk they described the species giving important facts about its biology. Also there was information about the venom that this fish has in his spines; what are the first aid and the symptoms after a stung. It was very interesting to know more about this fish as they also told us the life cycle, only one female can laid 15 to 30,000 eggs for four days every month!!!

There aren’t any predators for this invasive species so that is helping them to reproduce more and more. This fish is originally from the Indo Pacific and its been around in the Atlantic for more than a decade, however the last few months it was started to be seen more. They are known to eat only fish back in their natural area but here they are little greedy creatures and they are having whatever they find from crustaceans, molluscs and even important fish of fisheries like snappers and groupers.

In the workshop they talked also about the strategy to get rid of them, they showed a plastic net that is used to catch them.

Several dive shops and other organizations went to this meeting as everybody is very worried about the situation. It is necessary to act now before it gets worse. In the Bahamas this problem started a few years ago and as they didn’t do anything now you can see up to 300 lion fish in only a square meter!

Workshop on Lion fish held in Tulum

Day of the Dead in Mahahual volunteer diary

Day of the Dead Mahahual Primary School

Day of the Dead in Mahahual volunteer diary

Week 5 in Pez Maya, cenote diving, turtle sightings and Mexican Festivities!

Week 5 has not been the most productive week for diving unfortunately but we managed to do many other exciting stuff here in Pez maya!!

Friday saw problems with the engine on Ka’ay so we couldn’t dive because we didn’t have a rescue boat for our other boat, Vision. Instead we got on with exciting things like rescue diver theory and the weekly kitchen clean, a joyful task which involves taking EVERYTHING out of the kitchen, cleaning it and then putting it back. The day improved dramatically after lunch though with a volleyball tournament to get rid of everyone’s frustration.

On Saturday Ka’ay was ready to be tested but the sea was too rough to get the boats in the water. The rest of the morning consisted of the most enormous thunder storm. Most of the rain we’ve had so far has fallen in short, sharp, heavy bursts, but this was about four hours of persistent lashing rain and thunder and lightning. It was pretty impressive except for the fact it meant we couldn’t dive! It wasn’t the end of the world though. Saturday is our half day anyway so we got to leave nice and early.

Most of the group went to stay in Playa del Carmen that night to take advantage of the many luxuries that town offers; meat, cheese, air con, showers and maybe a civilised drink or two? They also went to see Andres, one of our volunteers, perform fire poi at one of the beach-front bars, which was amazing, especially with a very moody lightning-filled sky as a backdrop!

That weekend also coincided with the Dia de Muertos or Day of the Dead festival. This is a time of year when people remember and celebrate the lives of those who have died. Liz, Sarah, Laura and Jo decided to head for Xcaret to see a bit of Mexican culture where there were traditional alters, loads of people with painted faces, lots of music and performances and thousands and thousands of candles. Saturday also saw the arrival of a new expedition member, Joe.

It was Jamie’s birthday on Sunday so she headed off to Dos Ojos with Liz and Vicky to do a cenote dive. The cenote is stunning. It’s so pretty with stalactites and stalagmites and crystal clear water.

On Monday there were more problems with the boat engine so there was no diving again. One group of volunteers went to a cenote to do some training dives and another group went to Akumal, a beautiful beach just up the coast. Akumal has a resident population of turtles, which sounded pretty appealing to Jenny in particular, who after almost 5 weeks still hadn’t seen a turtle! Thankfully she saw plenty of turtles that day and even got some lovely pics too!

For the rest of the week, even though there were still problems with the boat engine, we managed to find a boat to act as a rescue boat so we got one dive each. Hooray! It felt so good to finally get back in the water again.

On Tuesdays and Thursdays a group goes to Punta Allen to teach English to the kids there. Laura, Aaron, Mel and Jessie prepared a lesson and made worksheets and drove all the way down there only to find that there were no kids. Nevermind. They went back on Thursday instead, so all was well.

Fingers crossed, once again, for better diving conditions next week!

Week 5 in Pez Maya, cenote diving, turtle sightings and Mexican Festivities!

Death came late to Mahahual this year

Day of the Dead, the Mexican celebration known all around the world for its traditions and folklore, was celebrated like every year here in Mahahual, only this time, it came a couple of days late. The official date is November 2nd, but this year the day landed on a Monday, so it was a perfect opportunity to make it a long weekend. Schools, banks and government offices were closed in observation of this pagan/religious festivity. The 3rd November everyone went back to their normal schedule, but the day was not observed in the primary school due to the docking of a crew ship. The same happened the 4th. It was until November 5th that all the classrooms got ready to receive the living and the departed for a very special occasion.

The Municipality decided to organize a shrine competition between grades. Many local celebrities were invited to attend and serve as judges for each of the shrines, being graded on content and originality. Punta Gruesa's Programme Coordinator was one of the judges. The affair consisted in the judging committee going around each classroom to look at the shrines; each one with the objects that were relevant. The obvious ones: Day of the dead bread, hot chocolate, water, tamales special for that day (mukbupollo), flowers (usually zempaxuchil), toys (for the children who have past away), skulls made out of sugar and chocolate, fruits and sweets from this region, a cross and a walkway. Each classroom gave an explanation of each item along with what they represented. Common themes that people found interesting, and are good facts to know about the shrines and this day:

• The families of the deceased prepare a meal to go to the cemetery and eat the food there. The deceased’s favorite meal is prepared.

• Food is left by the grave. It is said that dead people cannot eat the food, but can savor it through their different smells. If the living go back the next day and try to eat the food that was left, they will find that the flavor is gone.
  

• The shrines should have a path, in representation of a path that is made with candles to guide the spirits in the right direction.

• The Day of the Dead shrine has changed throughout history. The blending in of other cultures has happened, mainly with indigenous and Spanish beliefs. Halloween is an American celebration which is trying to invade the Mexican market, so the making of the shrines in the public schools (and some private ones) are ways to keep the embedded traditions alive and well.
  

The votes were casted in and, as expected the older students from 5th and 6th grade came in 1st place. We actually voted for the 2nd grade to win, but in the end it didn’t really matter, because everyone was a winner, including the dead walking amongst us, if it only happens once a year, and this time, a couple of days late.

Death came late to Mahahual this year

New jaguar and puma project in El Eden, Yucatan Peninsula

Hi guys
We are very excited to announce the start of a new project in Mexico - and one very close to our marine sites of Pez Maya and Pta Gruesa.
The project is going to be based at the Reserve of El Eden, located very close (in km) to Cancun, but a long trip away from civilazation.
The place is amazing, beautiful Yucatan low and high forest, with cenotes and an incredible biodiversity.
Jaguars, once common in the region, are quickly disappearing from the Yucatan Peninsula. Deforestation, land partitioning, poaching and illegal trade has converted this species in one of the most threatened of this part of the world. The Reserva Ecologica El Eden was established in 1993 with the objective of conserving key ecosystems for the conservation of Jaguar and Puma. This reserve would have been developed without the reserve, due to its proximity to Cancun. The work carried out during your stay will help increase our knowledge on Jaguar and Puma and their eco-systems and allow for management plans to be developed and implemented within this reserve and in other areas.

So what will our new intrepid volunteers do?
You will be placing and checking camera traps for cats (Jaguar, Pumas and Ocelots) & potential prey; Wildlife tracking; learning how to identify Jaguar, Puma, Ocelot, Deer, and Pecari faeces; Hike through wetlands and forests; trek to unspoiled cenotes (sink hole) for a swim; observe crocodiles and learn their behaviour patterns; Enjoy magnificent sunrise and sunsets above the forest canopy from our 16 foot high cabanas and 30 foot high observation tower; live and learn in one of the most pristine forests of the Yucatan Peninsula.

Does this sound exciting enough? If you are interested is spending 2 to 4 weeks out here, just click here where you will find all the info!

Happy jaguar spotting!

New jaguar and puma project in El Eden, Yucatan Peninsula