Aldo Santana is a member of the Cuzalapa people living in La Pareja, a small village tucked away deep inside some of Mexico’s most picturesque mountains, located along the state line dividing Jalisco from Colima.
Here—in a translation of his own words—is how Aldo first introduced himself and his home to me:
“The mountains I live in are part of the Manantlán Biosphere Reserve, famous as the place where you can easily find a wild grass called teosinte, which my ancestors bred into corn some 9,000 years ago. Today, my people call it milpilla and the scientists call it Zea perennis, and from it came every kind of corn on earth.
“In my community, I lead hikes. I can take you to see teosinte, for example, or to very tall waterfalls that still haven’t been given a name. There you’ll see big blue mushrooms and exotic birds. It’s a tropical jungle on a mountaintop!
“I belong to an indigenous community called Cuzalapa. We own land in Mananatlán and we are neighbors of the scientists at the reserve’s Las Joyas Station.
“Today everyone is trying to protect this place, but my family has lived here for over 500 years. Even before this was declared a biosphere reserve, my people were fighting to protect it!”
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