Mushrooms are a central ingredient on the menu at Huitzil, a restaurant in the mushroom town of San José, Oaxaca. Its owner founded the region's famous Wild Mushroom Festival. (Photos by Anna Bruce)
July to October is the season for mushrooms in the mountains of Oaxaca. Days are humid as clouds build up to an afternoon of rain. But despite the weather, people arrive at this time of the year to explore and to forage for mushrooms in the state’s cloud forest, located just a few hours from Oaxaca City.
And on the first weekend of August this year, a festival will celebrate mushroom season and the culture in the towns of San José del Pacifico and San Mateo Río Hondo.
In the misty mountains outside Oaxaca city, the rainy season brings all sorts of mushrooms to the region — edible, toxic and hallucinogenic.
“Our main mission in the Wild Mushroom Festival is to meet every year to jointly celebrate the arrival of the rainy season and, with it, the mushrooms,” says one of the festival’s founders, Ariadna Pinacho Cruz, who also runs a beautiful restaurant on the outskirts between San José and San Mateo called Huitzil.
Huitzil pays homage to the area’s mushroom culture: its open-air dining room surrounded by wooded land showcases local mushrooms in beautiful broths, alongside steak and blended with pasta.
Pinacho remembers learning how to forage and identify wild varieties from her father.
“As a child, he used to take me to the forest for a walk to look for mushrooms during the rainstorm,” she says.
Mushrooms are a big part of the culture in the mountains of Oaxaca. Ariadna Pinacho Cruz’s restaurant, Huitzil, reflects that heritage in its menu. Pinacho is also a founder of an annual festival dedicated to the region’s fungi.
The pine trees, mist, rain and mushrooms of the environment here brings “a little piece of the forest to the palate of our diners.”
Pinacho has been running the event since 2020 in collaboration with two partners, Cesar Kevin Pérez Pacheco and Erik Gasgar. The festival consists of a guided walk with local mushroom growers and mycologists. Attendees get a unforgettable encounter with the fungi kingdom and learn how they function in an ecosystem.
The Wild Mushroom Festival’s experts teach the importance of fungi as food and how it fits in with local gastronomy. They also identify the toxic fungi in the region, and discuss mushrooms’ general impact on the health sector and society.
They also teach the importance of the sacred mushrooms from the genus Psilocybe within the culture of San José.
The Oaxaca towns in which these mushrooms are abundant, like San José del Pacifico and San Mateo Río Hondo, are small, rural, tight-knit communities.
For decades, Oaxaca’s mountains have famously been a destination for pilgrims seeking to explore the “magic” properties of mushrooms thanks mainly to American amateur mycologist Robert Gordon Wasson, who traveled to Oaxaca in the 1950s to investigate rumors of a hallucinogenic variety in the region. His article in Life Magazine, “Seeking the Magic Mushroom” (1957), about his experiences at a velada (vigil) in the village of Huautla with the Mazatec healer María Sabina, inspired travelers worldwide — including many rock stars and celebrities of the era — to pursue the world of mushrooms.
San José del Pacifico didn’t become known for its mushrooms until the 1970s, when an eclipse drew visitors to this town above the clouds. As with Huautla, there is a tradition of using “magic” mushrooms. Cruz remembers trying them for the first time when she was 14.
“They are very good for curing diseases, healing the mind, spirit, soul, clearing the conscience and many more benefits,” she says. “It is a healing introspection that I do only once a year, every August 22. First I take a temazcal [an indigenous traditional sweat lodge experience], like my dad, to detoxify my body, relax and prepare myself for the medicine.”
“Later it is the taking of the sacred mushrooms in the forest to be able to connect with Mother Earth and have your own healing,” she says.
Anna Bruce is an award-winning British photojournalist based in Oaxaca, Mexico. Just some of the media outlets she has worked with include Vice, The Financial Times, Time Out, Huffington Post, The Times of London, the BBC and Sony TV. Find out more about her work at her website or visit her on social media on Instagram or on Facebook.
In just the last month, Pemex has made the news several times for spills and a deadly fire, as well as downgraded credit ratings from two major ratings agencies: Moody's Analytics and Fitch Ratings. (Moisés Pablo Nava/Cuartoscuro)
July wasn’t a great month for the state-owned oil company Pemex.
Two workers were killed in a fire that broke out on an offshore platform in the Gulf on July 7. Then on July 26, Pemex admitted that oil spilled into the same body of water from an aging underwater pipeline soon afterward. And then last Sunday — the penultimate day of the month — Pemex shut down Mexico’s largest oil-exporting terminal due to a leak, according to a report by the Bloomberg news agency.
An area near Pemex’s Nohoch-A offshore platform in Campeche, which was involved in a fire on July 7, also appears to be the site of an oil spill that Pemex has failed to report, say environmental organizations and academics. (Carlos Álvarez/Twitter)
Bloomberg reported Tuesday that Pemex closed the Yúum K’ak’ Náab floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) unit in the Gulf of Mexico because of a leak in one of its hose trains.
The news agency said it saw the information in a shipping report. Norwegian FPSO operator BW Offshore handed over ownership and operation of the Yúum K’ak’ Náab FPSO unit to Pemex just over a year ago.
The FPSO, located off the coast of Campeche, has storage capacity of 2.2 million barrels, with oil processing capacity of 200,000 barrels per day and gas handling capacity of 120 million cubic feet per day, according to the online business intelligence platform BNamericas.
Bloomberg noted that Pemex also shut its terminal in Salina Cruz, Oaxaca, last month “after hoses loading a ship were blown off by strong winds.”
There were also problems at the Salina Cruz refinery, after strong winds interfered with tanker operations.(Presidencia/Cuartoscuro)
The string of mishaps occurred at a time of year when Pemex’s oil sales to the United States usually increase to meet demand generated by the summer vacation period, when many people go on road trips.
Bloomberg reported that the Yúum K’ak’ Náab FPSO vessel and the Salina Cruz terminal were expected to resume operations later this week. Citing a shipping report, the news agency also said that Pemex was reactivating a floating platform at the Cayos Arcas terminal off the Campeche coast on Wednesday.
The activation, Bloomberg said, “is meant to help ease a backlog of seven ships waiting to load 8 million barrels of oil for clients in the U.S., South Korea, China and India.”
Shortages of key drugs have been a serious issue in recent years. (Gobierno de la Ciudad de Mexico/Cuartoscuro)
A warehouse containing “all the medicines of the world” could be the solution to ongoing problems with the supply of pharmaceuticals, President López Obrador said Wednesday.
Speaking at his morning press conference, López Obrador said he would put his proposal to federal health authorities.
President López Obrador said he would put his proposal to stockpile medication to the federal health authorities. (lopezobrador.org.mx)
“We now have supply of over 90% in 14 states where IMSS Bienestar is operating,” he said, referring to the government’s new universal healthcare scheme.
“But to provide a definitive way out from the [medications] shortage, I’m going to propose the creation of a kind of pharmacy — a pharmacy in Mexico City, a warehouse, with all the medicines of the world in reasonable quantities,” López Obrador said.
He said the facility would serve as a “reserve bank of medications” and pledged that it would be in operation before he leaves office on Oct. 1, 2024.
“The idea is to have all the medications so that we never lack any,” López Obrador said, adding that his proposal is to have a permanent inventory of all pharmaceutical drugs including those that are “the most difficult in the world to obtain.”
In 2020, the president said he would create a state-owned company to distribute medications, medical supplies and vaccines, but it was never established. (Nastya Hulhiier/Unsplash)
He didn’t provide an estimate on the cost of creating a national stockpile of pharmaceuticals to supply public hospitals, which have faced shortages of some drugs – such as ones used to treat children with cancer and people with psychiatric disorders – during the term of the current government, which took office in late 2018.
Although López Obrador promised that the well-stocked warehouse will become a reality, if it doesn’t come to fruition it won’t be the first time that one of the president’s health sector proposals fails.
Almost two years ago, López Obrador directed Health Minister Jorge Alcocer and another senior official to resolve the problem of medication shortages “without excuses.”
AMLO’s administration has struggled to have enough of a variety of medications on hand in the country for public health service patients, who can end up waiting weeks and month for crucial medications to be available. Here, parents protest at Mexico City’s airport over a lack of chemotherapy medicines available for their children with cancer. (File foto/Cuartoscuro)
“I don’t want to hear that medications are lacking and I don’t want excuses of any kind. We can’t sleep soundly if there are no medications to treat sick people,” López Obrador said in November 2021.
“We won’t relax while there isn’t a sufficient supply of medications, … free medications, all of them, even those that are hardest to get,” he said.
López Obrador has said on repeated occasions this year that the government has purchased enough medications to cover needs for this year and 2024, but shortages of some drugs have continued to be reported.
The president has blamed shortages on distribution problems and, earlier in his government, corruption in the now-defunct purchasing system used by previous governments.
The government’s new purchasing system and insufficient spending have been cited as factors that have contributed to medication shortages during López Obrador’s presidency.
Mexico's avocado exports to the United States reached over 1 million tonnes in the 12 months to end of June this year. (Fernando Carranza García / Cuartoscuro.com)
Mexico exported a record amount of avocados to the United States in the 12 months to the end of June, according to an organization dedicated to promoting Mexican-grown “green gold,” as the fruit is colloquially known due to its lucrativeness.
Some 1.13 million tonnes, or almost 2.5 billion pounds, of Mexican avocados were shipped to the United States in the year to June 30, according to Avocados from Mexico (AFM), the U.S.-based marketing arm of the Association of Avocado Exporting Producers and Packers of Mexico (APEAM).
Avocados, or “green gold”, have become a major Mexican export. (CDMX/ Wikimedia Commons)
That volume is more than 2% higher than the previous record for a 12-month period between July 1 and June 30.
“This is very exciting for us as we broke our historical record,” AFM president and CEO Álvaro Luque told the U.S.-based publication The Produce News.
“And we believe we will break the record again this year,” he added, referring to the period ending June 30, 2024.
Luque told The Produce News that the crop in Michoacán – Mexico’s largest avocado-producing state – for the coming year appears similar to that of the past year, while export volumes from Jalisco to the United States are growing quickly.
An avocado farm in Michoacán, where the majority of Mexico’s avocados are grown. (Graciela López Herrera / Cuartoscuro.com)
Luque said that setting a new U.S. export record in the 12 months ending next June would be particularly special as AFM is celebrating the 10th anniversary of its foundation.
The record export volume shows that the marketing of AFM – which is well-known for its quirky commercials shown during television coverage of the Super Bowl – has been well received by U.S. consumers, the CEO said.
Luque, a native of Costa Rica, noted that AFM is committed to growing consumption of Mexican avocados in the United States through what he describes as “tentpole moments” – events that trigger an increase of avocado sales in U.S. supermarkets.
Guacamole has become a must-have snack at Superbowl parties in the U.S., causing a spike in avocado consumption every year. (Tessa Rampersad/Unsplash)
The best-known such event is the Super Bowl, which many U.S. residents watch in their homes while snacking on guacamole. Over 250 million pounds (113.4 million kilograms or more than 113,000 tonnes) of Mexican avocados were exported to the U.S. in the weeks leading up to the big match last February, The Produce News Reported.
“The Super Bowl is an incredible step in our success story as a company. It is the largest marketing arena in the United States,” Luque told the website The Costa Rica News last month.
He also said that “guacamole and American football go hand in hand” and noted that Mexican avocados are the only ones available in the U.S. at the start of the year, when the Super Bowl match is played.
Exports of Mexican avocados to the U.S. also spiked in the lead-up to Cinco de Mayo celebrations, with volume up more than 60% over 2022 and 18% over the previous record set in 2021.
Luque said that AFM is undertaking a robust promotion campaign this summer because that’s when production in Jalisco peaks. The organization has previously toned down its promotion in the summer months as export volumes from Mexico typically decline and more product from California and Peru enters the U.S. market.
“The U.S. market is big enough for us and others players,” Luque told The Produce News.
“As the market has grown, we still have had our 85% market share. But I don’t worry about market share. Our goal is to make the pie bigger,” he said.
The federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (SADER) noted in a statement on Tuesday that Mexico is the world’s largest avocado producer with 2.54 million tonnes produced in 2022.
A 2022 study by the Texas A & M University found that Haas avocado exports to the United States from Mexico were worth US $4 billion in a 12-month period between 2021 and 2022, up from $2.5 billion two years earlier.
SADER said that 73.1% of Mexico’s avocados were grown in Michoacán last year, while 12.1% were produced in Jalisco and 5% in México state.
The United States is easily the biggest export market for Mexican avocado producers, but Mexican oro verde (green gold) is also shipped to numerous other countries including Canada, Japan, Spain, France and China.
Until now, Apancalecan was known only through references in pre-Hispanic codices – but may now have finally been found. (Frédéric Henri Jean-Marc Bochet/INAH)
An archeological site believed to be the important Aztec settlement of Apancalecan has been discovered in the Costa Grande region of the state of Guerrero, about 100 km north of Acapulco, announced archaeologists from the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) this week.
Until now, Apancalecan was known only through references in codices — pictorial manuscripts that recorded the pre-Hispanic history of Mexico. Apancalecan’s name in Nahua means “place of the houses with water channels,” and it is referred to as a “main town” or “head town” in the Matrícula de Tributos codex of the early 1500s.
The glyph representing the town of Apancalecan. Its name in Nahua means “place of the houses with water channels.” (Mesolore)
The site in the El Cerrito community of Tecpan de Galeana — not far from the highway that connects Zihuatanejo and Acapulco — includes one large mound and “26 minor mounds … such as altars and elongated structures in a good state of conservation … as well as residential areas and ball-playing fields,” INAH noted in its Tuesday press release.
Located 850 meters from the Tecpan River and 1 km from the Tetitlán Lagoon, the complex also includes “deep holes … possibly associated with water storage and dams,” according to anthropologist Rodolfo Lobato Rodríguez.
Lobato is the head of the museum at a similar archeological zone, officials said — Soledad de Maciel-Xihuacan — near the town of Petatlán, Guerrero.
Lobato coordinated the work at the site during a three-day surface tour in June, logging it at 29 hectares (about 71 acres). He and representatives from INAH’s Guerrero center arrived after local residents informed officials of the existence of what seemed to be pre-Hispanic mounds.
The town, which predates the arrival of the Spanish, has been lost for many years. (Frédéric Henri Jean-Marc Bochet/INAH)
According to INAH, the preliminary survey revealed one large mound standing 25 meters (82 feet) tall with a base of 73.5 meters (241 feet) by 60 meters (about 197 feet), with adjacent spaces such as squares. The 26 smaller mounds surround the large one.
A rocky outcrop with carved pools was also recorded, and the site contains channeling systems and complex internal dams, said INAH, who said it will continue to investigate the site.
Apancalecan appears in The Matrícula de Tributos codex, which names the main towns that made up the province of Cihuatlán, established after the conquest of the region by the Mexica (1497–1502), INAH said.
Lobato said, “Due to the characteristics of the ceramic material recovered on the surface — among which Teotihuacán-style ring supports stand out — we think that the site was inhabited from the Classic period (A.D. 200–650), being [a] contemporary of Cihuatlán, another important settlement on the Costa Grande of Guerrero, and that [Apancalecan] continued until the Late Postclassic (A.D. 1200–1521).”
The find is another part of the archaeological puzzle of the Costa Grande, whose pieces have been fitting together in the last three decades and have revealed 1,300 years of development.
A perimeter will be set up around the area to guarantee its protection.
CORRECTION: The original version of this article contained a photo from the archaeological site of Xochicalco that misidentified it as being from the ruins of Teotihuacán.
The numeros species of agave found throughout Mexico have a long history of cultivation and distillation into both fermented and non-fermented beverages, including tequila, mezcal, pulque and aguamiel. (Margarito Pérez Retana / Cuartoscuro.com)
Tequila, pulque and mezcal form the golden triptych of Mexican elixirs. What do these three drinks have in common? Agave.
The plant, also known as maguey, that gives origin to these spirits is processed through the ritual of collecting aguamiel, the agave sap. This practice has deep roots in pre-Hispanic times. Stone scrapers used for hollowing out the agave’s core have been found in several archaeological sites in Mesoamerica, some dating back to the year 200 B.C.E.
A man on horseback rides through an agave field in Amatitán, Jalisco, in the heart of tequila country. (David García Sandoval / Unsplash)
In addition to fermented drinks, ancient peoples discovered the medicinal properties of agave and its use as a sweetener, after boiling and thickening the liquid into syrup. Furthermore, agave fibers have long been used to produce clothing, footwear, building materials, and paper; and the plant also produces several pounds of edible flowers during its final season.
Sap straight out of the plant, before fermentation, was served as a kind of milk for babies, before cows arrived on the continent. The first cattle were brought to the Americas from the Canary Islands by Christopher Columbus, on his second voyage across the Atlantic in 1493. The agave sap is naturally sweet, and was mixed with corn masa to create a comforting and nourishing porridge called atole.
The aguamiel production process is long and exacting. The agave plant needs 5 to 25 years of maturation before the sap can be extracted. When mature, its thick fleshy leaves are cut off and the liquid found within its hollowed-out core is collected twice a day for about four to twelve months before the plant finally dies. This center is regularly scraped out to keep the plant’s production of sap active during its fruitful phase.
Mezcal can be made from various species of agave, each imparting distinct flavors. Skilled farmers, known as jimadores, harvest the agave by hand and remove the leaves to reveal the piña or core, which can weigh up to several hundred pounds. These are roasted for several days within a rock pit in the ground. This cooking process imparts mezcal’s characteristic smoky flavor.
A man harvests agave for mezcal production. (Gob MX)
Once roasted, the piñas are removed from the pit, and crushed or shredded. The resulting fibers and juice are collected into large wooden vats or earthenware pits for fermentation. After fermentation, the liquid is distilled at least twice to increase its alcohol content and purity.
Some types of mezcal are aged in wooden barrels, usually made from oak or other local woods, to further develop their flavors and add complexity. However, not all are aged (reposado), and some producers prefer to showcase the spirit’s natural characteristics without any aging (joven).
All tequila is mezcal, but not all mezcal is tequila. Renowned across the globe, tequila is made exclusively from agave tequilana Weber, a blue agave species. It also differs in process: distillers steam the blue agave piña in a brick oven or autoclave according to strict methodology that leads to a more consistent flavor, and lends itself more easily to industrial production. Tequila was granted a Designation of Origin in 1974, which honors Mexico as the official home of tequila, and requires any drink called tequila to originate in select regions of Jalisco, Guanajuato, Michoacán, Nayarit, and Tamaulipas.
Pulque is an acquired taste, but is regaining popularity today. (Shutterstock)
Pulque, which was central to religious rituals of the Mexica, is made by fermenting aguamiel. Mesoamericans permitted nursing women and the elderly to imbibe this drink that was normally reserved exclusively for priests and nobility. Modern analysis of the spirit has found that it contains vitamins C, B-complex, D, and E; and amino acids and minerals.
Pulque is regaining popularity thanks to its unique flavor and purported health benefits. It may improve intestinal flora as a natural probiotic, which can prevent development of harmful bacteria in the intestine.
As we sip and savor these liquid treasures, we immerse ourselves in a story woven through hard work and ancient wisdom. From the mystical agave plant to the hands of skilled artisans, each elixir carries with it the distilled essence of Mexico – a tale of rich flavors, tradition, and the deep-rooted connection between people and the land.
Sandra is a Mexican writer and translator based in San Miguel de Allende who specializes in mental health and humanitarian aid. She believes in the power of language to foster compassion and understanding across cultures. She can be reached at: [email protected]
According to a report by the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI) 110,843 new units were sold in Mexico during July, compared to 83,588 units sold in the same month of 2022. This represents an increase of 32.6% from last year’s figure.
More than 110,000 new cars were sold in July this year. (Photo: Cuartoscuro)
July’s sales also exceeded pre-pandemic levels by 4.4%, when 106,104 new units were sold in the same month of 2019.
However, July’s numbers are still below those registered in March, which saw 118,801 units sold, making it this year’s best month for car sales so far.
Rising car sales may be due to the recovery of the industry itself following the height of the pandemic.
According to a Citigroup-sponsored report by The Economist Intelligence Unit, the car industry was one of the manufacturing sectors hardest hit by the pandemic. Supply chain disruptions — in particular the semiconductor shortage — caused carmakers to “cancel or delay orders early in the pandemic.”
Automotive manufacturing is one of the industries benefiting from nearshoring, as manufacturers relocate operations closer to the U.S. market. The industry is a cornerstone of the Mexican economy. (Wikimedia Commons)
In 2020, according to INEGI data, less than 1 million cars were sold in Mexico — a 28% plunge from 2019 and the lowest figure since 2010, when 820,413 cars were sold.
In 2021, cars sold in Mexico again surpassed 1 million — though barely, just 1.01 million units. In 2022, 1.09 million cars were sold. The highest year for sales on record (which began to be kept in 2010), was 2016, when more than 1.6 million units were sold.
As for 2023, so far, 743,930 new units have been sold in Mexico from January to July, an increase of 23.6% over the same period in 2022.
Yaxcabá, Yucatán, resident Manuel de Jesús Pech Cob demonstrates how to use the sap from the Pomol che’ plant to quickly stop internal and external bleeding, thanks to its coagulating properties. (Photos by Mark Viales)
According to Balbina Vázquez Benítez, M.S., a senior researcher at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), 90% of Mexicans use or have used medicinal plants for treatment, but only 5% of species have been researched scientifically.
From left to right: Miguel Alonso Ozih Poot, Ofari Abril Manzanilla Pech and Karla Marbella Méndez Brito are university students with a plan to help local children value traditional Maya medicine. They are approaching elders like Manuel de Jesús Pech Cob and asking them to share knowledge they gained from their elders back before Western medicine was more prevalent in Maya towns like Yaxcabá.
“Mexico is second place in the world on the register of the use of medicinal plants, just behind China,” Vázquez Benítez said during a 2022 forum by Mexico’s National Institute of Forestry, Farming, and Livestock Research. “This demonstrates the need to establish comprehensive plans and protocols for the propagation and production of medicinal plants to expand biodiversity.”
Using natural methods to treat illness continues to be an option for the peninsular Maya peoples. Yet Dr. Javier Hirose López from the Eastern University Valladolid, Yucatan, said in a 2018 study that the practice of traditional Mayan medicine could be considered “knowledge on the verge of extinction.”
“Globalization and migration to large urban centers such as Mérida and Cancun have modified the way in which rural populations solve their health problems,” he said. “Added to this, the scarcity of apprentices receiving this knowledge has led to [Maya traditional medicine] being considered under threat or in danger of disappearing.”
A key to unlocking this knowledge of traditional medicine rooted in centuries ago is finding out what current-day elders know. One of these is elders isa Don Manuel de Jesús Pech Cob, 72, an unassuming custodian of ancestral wisdom who lives in the town of Yaxcabá.
The under-construction Maya Train has brought clearcutting to Yucatan for tracks, as well as an influx of people expecting the train to bring a viable living from tourism to Don Manuel’s town of Yaxcabá. (Elizabeth Ruiz/Cuartoscuro)
He has seen his town grow to 3,000 people in a short time — as families that left for city life decades ago have returned since discovering that the Maya Train would be stopping 18 miles away from Yaxcabá, potentially bringing a more economically viable way of life here.
This mass return has meant that Pech has also seen a resulting destruction of his town’s surrounding wilderness — where he has always gathered plants and herbs for a wide range of remedies he learned from his grandparents, before conventional medicine was commonplace in Yaxcabá.
Don Manuel learned about the marvels of Kat ku’uk (Parmentiera aculeate), known in English as cow okra, a plant renowned for its diverse uses. When washed thoroughly and boiled in pure water, Kat ku’uk makes a strong tea that cleanses the body of kidney stones. Don Manuel claims that the potent infusion, which includes corn hairs, and which he consumes all day like any other tea, dissolves crystals before they become larger and more painful.
However, Kat ku’uk’s uses aren’t limited to medicine: it also adds a unique flavor to food. Don Manuel cherishes the memories from his childhood, when his mother regularly prepared Kat ku’uk delicacies — a wholesome addition to chicken soup, a mouthwatering dessert.
In another dish, the magic of Kat ku’uk unfolds as it is cut into strips, washed with a hint of lime to extract its natural sugars, and marinated before being simmered in purified water. A dash of sugar cane or melipona honey elevates the sweetness, creating a mesmerizingly dark-hued syrup.
As a medicine, Kat ku’uk plays a vital role in Don Manuel’s life, offering relief for his slightly faulty kidney.
Parmentiera aculeata is an evergreen tree that grows about 10 meters tall. It produces a sweet edible fruit that is also medicinal.
“I’ve been using these remedies for over 20 years, and they have kept me fit and healthy,” he said. “Using natural ingredients for medicine is just as good, and, in some cases, better than contemporary pharmaceutical treatment.
“Most modern medicine is highly processed and contains many substances, some of which can cause harm or addiction… I never have any cravings or negative effects from my remedies.”
Another mainstay plant once found in the typical Maya’s backyard was Pomol che’ (Jatropha gaumeri), commonly known as wild basil. Don Manuel fondly recalls how Pomol che’ was more than just an herb; it was an integral part of his life, healing common ailments and injuries.
“As a child, whenever I cut myself playing with my friends, I would run home to my mother so she could put some Pomol che’ sap on my injury,” he said. “In those times, access to modern medical facilities was scarce, and the knowledge of medicinal plants played a crucial role in our health and well-being.”
The sap’s coagulative properties are valuable not just for external wounds but also for internal ailments.
“It forms a coating inside your stomach, which helps stop bleeding and alleviates pain from gastric issues,” he continued, emphasizing the plant’s natural sterilizing effect, which combats harmful bacteria.
Don Manuel demonstrates the different cuts used for the versatile fruit known as Kat ku_uk.
Despite the profound healing abilities of medicinal plants, Yaxcabá has witnessed a decline in their use. Don Manuel feels saddened that the younger generations seem to have forgotten the significance of natural remedies while the typical village diet shifts towards processed and unhealthy food. His home has tragically fallen victim to the corrosive influence of plastics and chemicals, he says.
“It is painful to live in a place once surrounded by unfathomable varieties of fruits, vegetables, plants and roots that are nourishing and medicinal, [now] left to go to waste,” he said. “The jungle offers us everything we need, and these ancient remedies likewise connect us to our cultural heritage. Unfortunately, bad habits could destroy this cherished knowledge passed down by our forefathers.”
Still, there is a growing recognition of the significance of traditional healing in restoring Maya cultural identity. Three students from the Benito Juárez García Universities for Well-Being (UBBJ) campus in Yaxcabá are fighting to revitalize interest in traditional medicine.
While pursuing their degrees in regional agricultural development, Karla Marbella Méndez Brito, 33, and her two friends felt curative plants were being relegated to the sidelines.
Her friends, Ofari Abril Manzanilla Pech, 22, and Miguel Alonso Ozih Poot, 22, were determined to recover the medicinal knowledge of their ancestors.
They interviewed village elders like Don Manuel and began transmitting this information to schoolchildren between the ages of eight and 10. The team believes that there’s room for both traditional and contemporary medicine to coexist and complement each other and improve overall health outcomes in their community.
Don Manuel adds a few drops of wild basil sap to some water to create a remedy that soothes gastric pain.
“Traditional Mayan medicine has much to offer in terms of holistic care and deep-rooted cultural understanding, while modern medicine brings the advantages of advanced technology and evidence-based treatments,” said Ozih.
The team’s views are less rare on the global level than one might think: the World Health Organization reports that 88% of countries use traditional medicine, and more than 40% of pharmaceutical formulations are based on natural products.
“Our dependence on modern medicine has made our bodies vulnerable, and traditional medicine could be a way to live healthily and respect the natural wonders that surround us,” Ozih said. “The more we abuse modern medicine, the more our body depends on it. Pills can be addictive and destroy your life, but traditional medicine has few, if any, side effects.”
The trio hopes to encourage youngsters to value the curative abilities of their natural environment. They want to inspire future generations with the healing practices of their ancestors in a conscientious manner that incorporates the advantages of traditional and contemporary medicine. For now, they call for more government funding for research into medicinal plants and investment in the people of rural communities, the guardians of this knowledge.
Mexico's Foreign Affairs Ministry (headed by Alicia Bárcena, pictured) issued a statement on Monday expressing willingness to participate in upcoming talks on the Russia-Ukraine conflict, if both parties are present.(Presidencia/Cuartoscuro)
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (SRE) has said that Mexico is willing to participate in peace talks on the Russia-Ukraine conflict, but only if all parties are involved.
The SRE madethe statement ahead of a summit that will be held in Saudi Arabia on Aug. 5–6 to discuss a peace proposal by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Russian officials will not be present, and Zelensky has insisted that he will not negotiate with Russia while occupying forces remain in Ukrainian territory.
Mexico has previously offered to host peace talks between the two nations. (CC BY 4.0)
“The Government of Mexico declares its support for the presentation and progress of peace plans and proposals aimed at ending the conflict,” the SRE said while making it clear that Mexico believes the talks should “involve both parties.”
The statement echoed the stance taken by President Andrés Manual López Obrador in his Monday morning press conference, when he suggested that Russia should also be invited to the Saudi Arabia summit.
“If there’s acceptance from both Ukraine and Russia to look for solutions to achieve peace, we’ll participate,” he said.
In its statement, the SRE called again for a cease-fire and reiterated a proposal made by President López Obrador in September 2022 to “create a group of countries and international actors that could serve as mediators between both parties.”
Mexico has sent humanitarian aid to Ukraine, but no military aid. (Embajada de Ucrania en México/Twitter
While Mexico voted to back a United Nations resolution condemning Russia’s invasion and sent humanitarian support to Ukraine, AMLO has refused to send arms to Ukraine or sanction Russia, saying that Mexico’s “position is one of neutrality, which has to do with [our noninterventionist] foreign policy.”
In April,President Zelensky addressed the Mexico-Ukraine Friendship Group in the Chamber of Deputies, urging Mexico to support his peace plan.
“Aren’t we united by the dream of safety and peace on all the streets of all the cities of our countries?” he asked.
Remittances in the first half of 2023 totaled US $30.2 billion from January to June of this year. June was also the 38th consecutive month in which the value of remittances has increased. (Steve Johnson/Unsplash)
Remittances to Mexico hit US $30.2 billion during the first half of 2023, an annual increase of 9.9%, according to the Bank of Mexico.
It was the highest figure for the first six months of any year since records began to be kept. Last year, 4.9 million Mexican households received US $27.5 billion dollars in remittances in the first half of the year.
4.9 million households in Mexico receive remittances from family members working abroad. For many low-income families, it is a financial lifeline. (Concanaco Servytur)
In June 2023 alone, remittances totalled US $5.6 billion, marking 38 consecutive months of growth, as well as four consecutive months in which the amount surpassed US $5 billion.
“May usually shows a rebound due to Mother’s Day, [as mothers] are the main recipients of remittances,” Jesús Cervantes González of the Center for Latin American Monetary Studies said.
Head of the México Cómo Vamos think-tank Sofía Ramírez, told the newspaper El Economista that remittances can represent up to one third of a household’s earnings for low-income families in Mexico. However, with the rise in value of the Mexican peso, remittances are no longer going as far as they did.
Mexicans in the United States account for 95% of total remittances to the country. (Tim Mossholder/Unsplash)
The average remittance to Mexico is US $391 per month, currently worth about 6,595 pesos. In June, when the peso was worth US $17.42, that same remittance amount was worth 6,811 pesos.
“As much as I try to stretch [the money], it’s not enough now,” Mexican mother of two Adriana Sánchez told the news agency Reuters.
Meanwhile, Mexican nationals working in the U.S. are battling their own financial problems, as inflation has made their own prices higher and unemployment in the U.S., which rose from 3.4% to 3.7% in June, has made jobs somewhat scarcer.
Manuel, a 42-year-old cleaner in California, told Reuters that he used to send US $100 per week to family in Mexico. But the rent on the room he shares with two others recently went up, and now he can only manage to send US $70 to US $80 per week.
“What more can you ask for than to look after your family?” he said. “But there’s not always work here, and less so for those of us who don’t have papers.”
Millions of Mexicans live and work in the United States, the country responsible for more than 95% of remittances sent to Mexico, according to 2021 statistics compiled by the U.S. think-tank The Wilson Center.
