Mexico, Tenancingo Degollado, : June 2019

  The destinations of sun and beach like Acapulco, Los Cabos or Cancun, are among the favorite tourist places for Mexicans and foreigners. Get on a plane in New York and fly into Mexico City, then a short hop to Cancun where english is spoken and where your hotel, restaurant, spa, and beach are all part of a hermetic package. One can return to Montclair, New Jersey to say "yes I have been to Mexico". On another level in our country there are sites whose history, culture, cuisine and architecture offer an alternative to the more popular tourist attractions... or at least that was the idea when the Pueblo Magico program was first proposed in 2001.
Mexico is a treasure trove of tourist destinations attract national and international visitors. One hundred eleven towns have been selected by the government as very special and received the imprimatur having been named "Pueblos Magicos". These are supposed to be the places one must experience in Mexico. There is also a secondary, lesser categorization, labeling some select towns "Pueblos con Encanto". Although Pueblos Magicos and Pueblos con Encanto are historically distinguished communities there are many interesting towns all over Mexico that have not received any such christening. Places designated as "magic" were meant to create a guide for tourists,, a trail of golden breadcrumbs by featuring towns in Mexico that have retained their archetectural charm or just may have a precolumbian ruins withinin their boundries .This article was prompted by my own experiences with Pueblos Magicos and a recent effort to add Tenancingo to those ranks.
The Ministry of Tourism launched the "Pueblo Magico" program, in order to promote tourism development in localities of the country, which are characterized first by historical colonial architecture, exceptional natural landscapes, and or deep-rooted traditions. This was,,, well,,, sort of true. One can surely lose themselves in wave after wave of baroque facades, stone arches, precolumbian cities, singular rituals, and stunning panoramas. It's just that with fame comes a more current value system that obscures the ideal. When the cotton candy arrives and vendors of trinkets from another state clog the square the original culture is concealed or even recreated.
To date, 111 sites throughout Mexico are recognized as Pueblo Magicos. Huasca de Ocampo in the state of Hidalgo and Real de Catorce in San Luis Potosí were the first magical towns in Mexico, followed by 9 more locations in 2002, 2 in 2003, 2 in 2004, 6 in 2005 , etc., until reaching the present number of 111. The majority of Pueblos Magicos are four hours or so from Mexico City. Most Pueblos Magicos are concentrated in the central zone of the country. The population is denser in the center of Mexico than on the periphery. The colonial heritage of Mexico is more concentrated in the central alto plano radiating out from Mexico City which was cultural ground zero both before and after the conquest.  When a site is given the status of Pueblo Magico that town immediately receives a budget granted through the government branch named Sustainable Tourism Regional Development (SECTUR) and Pueblo Magico Program (PRODERMÁGICO), which proportions funds to improve the town's image and tourism infrastructure. Therefore, public spaces are created, then equipment, main roads, paint, and remodeling are bestowed upon the gifted town. One of the problems that arise from this tactic is the large investment in the image of a place, especially the historic center, and not so much in the rest of the community. This has led to a great difference between the have and have nots,,, the have nots having lived in that place way before tourism arrived and the new facade creates social stress. Those that had always lived their lives in their "pueblo" now find that same pueblo is magical and unaffordable.
Sometimes Pueblos Magicos are fabricated from what was there or never there in the first place. Paint and architectural plastic surgery can transform a regular pueblo into something very special.  Often sites where the upper crust already had hideaways were appointed Pueblos Magicos. Property values soared as interest in these sites grew,,,, and the rush to build was on. Valle de Bravo, with its stunning views, for instance was the central religious site for the Matlazinca tribe. It's difficult to find evidence of that now. An artificial reservoir was made to produce electricity which brought the speedboats from Mexico City and Toluca, then paragliders to serve the extreme crowd,, and finally a Walmart was built over Matlazinca ruins. Now traffic clogs the streets and dazed tourists with puzzled looks and ice cream cones amble about looking for special items made in India.
   Malinalco is another. When I came to Mexico it was truly charming, more down home than its present state. Malinalco just happened to be preserved by isolation. It still is charming but I say this with some reservations. One of the reasons for Malinalco's designation as Magic is because just up the road from the center of town is the exclusive development known as the Club de Golf. The Club is a beautiful place of vast manicured lawns, substantial rock walls, a golf course, and good security because it houses the upscale getaway residences of the upperclass. I am sure this fact contributed to the nomination of Malinalco as a Magic Pueblo.
As I said Malinalco is an attractive place. In the center of town its mostly single story adobes are now painted in soft pastels. The town is set in a deep picturesque valley of vaulted mountains. Although only 13 kilometers from Tenancingo the climate is drier and warmer and the flora different than here. Its small ruins prevale from a promontory in the center of town and its augustinian convent is worth a visit. The Mario Schneider Museum near the entrance of the ruins is small but very well done. For the last eight years since 2010 when it was named a Pueblo Magico one is able to dine in many of its fine restaurants that serve an ecclectic mix of food yet if you leave the zocalo and venture down into some of the lower neighborhoods on an evening jaunt expect to find cholos and dog fights in the street. The disparity is quickly evident. Tenancingo its dirty little commercial cousin has more historic culture. One wonders what came first the chicken or the egg. In just 16 short years the program that was to feature some stunning towns in Mexico is on the verge of degrading some of them. Perhaps that is the nature of popularity to cheapen.
I think of Tepozotlan, a bit north of Mexico City, I visited Tepoztlan recently. I don't know what it was in the past but now it is a zoo. The church is the guilded cage in which are housed the exotic animals of the past, that is Virgins carved from ivory and wood. Of course the architecture is there, the church with its astounding altar, and beautiful artifacts, but the culture is obscured by litter,too many micheladas, cheap food, trinkets, and drunks.

Below Images of Tepozotlan:

Gulded Altar of the Church

Virgin of Guadalupe carved from ivory.

Have your foto taken atop a cebu with fake horns

Micheladas oozing chile piquin

When a town aspires to become a Pueblo Magico, it is necessary to wait for the Secretary of Tourism to launch an invitation. The window of invitation is for a limited period of time in which the aspiring localities must present the following documentation:

1. Prove that there is an area or administrative unit in charge of Tourism in the region.
2. Have a directory of tourist services in the locality.
3. Present an inventory of resources and tourist attractions, as well as those that can be declared historical monuments.
4. Geo-referenced information on connectivity, communication and proximity to a main city.
5. Initiate a municipal tourism development plan.
Once these documents have been presented, if they are satisfactory, the validation will be obtained to integrate the file, so they must present or prove the following:
1. Create a committee or working group of Pueblo Mágico.
2. Demonstrate that the town council approves the incorporation as a magical town.
3. Approval by the State Congress on resources that will be given to the locality in case of being Magic Town.
4. Have resources assigned by the municipal authority for the tourism development of the locality and a portfolio of projects.
5. Have an action program for the tourist development of the town for the next 3 years.
6. To have established norms in favor of the tourist development.
7. Present evidence of a unique, authentic and emblematic natural or cultural attraction of the locality that is different from other localities.
8. Have health and public safety services for tourists in case of emergency.
9. Demonstrate that there is private and social investment for the tourist development of the locality.
To remain as a Magic Pueblo:
1. Document innovation and strengthening of tourism products (excursions, walks, guided tours, packages, etc.)
2. Evaluate the impact that tourism development has had.
3. Maintain business relationships with at least one tourist services intermediary.
4. Have a statistical information system (flow of visitors and their origin, expenditure and average stay, etc.)
5. Have a detailed annual report of activities.

Not all Pueblos Magicos are the same. Some are working towns with beautiful landscapes and architecture. Mascota in Jalisco, and Xico in Veracruz are just two of that ilk. Mascota is worth visiting because it is not yet so popular as to threaten what was meant to be preserved. In Mascota the biggest industries are the cultivation of chile poblanos and cattle. Tourism is in the mix but not so much as to upset the applecart.

Below: Images of Mascota

The following fotos are from the ascent and descent to and from Navidad near Mascota

Navidad near Mascota

Navidad

Yerba Buena Centro Magnetico

Perhaps it is the location of Mascota that has kept its popularity at a minimum. It is not yet connected to the world with a good highway.The streets are not clogged with vendors of cotton candy and crafts and food that was never part of the heritage of the town in the first place. Sustainable Tourism Regional Development defines Magical Towns as: "Places that over time have preserved their value and historical cultural heritage manifest those characteristics in diverse expressions through their tangible and irreplaceable intangible heritage."
Xico is another, a coffee town with great food, and history. People still work there outside of a tourist economy. That to me may be the key to what makes and keeps a town magical. A certain amount of the population should make their living outside the tourist economy, as they have for centuries. How one strikes that balance however I do not know. A town propped up by tourism might drown in its own popularity,,, its own discovery.

On September 26, 2014, 13 years after creating the program, an update was presented concerning the guidelines that must be respected in order remain a Pueblos Mágico.I guess this means a Magic Pueblo could lose its citizenship although I have heard of none that is in peril. It was suggested that there sould be an in-depth diagnosis to identify compliance in full with the necessary requirements in order to continue within the program. It seems little late for that clause. I can only imagine the battle that would take place when they try to declassify a Pueblo Magico at this moment with its newly established fantastical economy.

Mexico, Tenancingo Degollado,

Tuesday, June 18, 2019

Magic Pueblos The History and Reality Pueblos Magicos Historia y Realidad

Nuevos Pueblos Mágicos