मेक्सिको – आवारा मुसाफिर

Indigenous Mayans want their sacred cenotes to have personhood status

December 13, 202494 Views

A huge poplar tree stands proud in Maribel Ek’s courtyard, adorned with a sign that reads: “Florece desde adentro” (“It blooms from within”). Deep underground, the tree’s long roots search for the water that makes this land special: a sinkhole lake, known as a cenote. Cenotes provide an important water source to Ek’s community of Homun, in the Mexican state of Yucatan, and a livelihood for locals who lead tourists from around the world into the caverns to bathe in their crystalline waters. But more than that, cenotes are sacred to Indigenous Mayans like her. Guardian of the cenotes, Maribel Ek, rests inside the Santa Maria cenote in Homun, Mexico, Monday, March 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd) As she descends into the cavern, Ek shines a light on a stone covered in flowers, ...

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Killer heat hit harder for the young than the elderly

AWARA MUSAFIR BUREAU

December 7, 2024101 Views

Mexico study throws up surprising findings on climate change A surprising study of temperature-related deaths in Mexico upends conventional thinking about what age group is hit hardest by heat. Researchers found at higher temperatures and humidity, the heat kills far more young people under 35 than those older than 50. For decades, health and weather experts have warned that the elderly and the youngest children were most vulnerable in heat waves. But this study looking at all deaths in Mexico from 1998 to 2019 shows that when the combination of humidity and temperature reach uncomfortable levels, such as the mid to upper 80s Fahrenheit (around 30 degrees Celsius) and 50% relative humidity, there were nearly 32 temperature-related deaths of people 35 years old for every temperature-...

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A hidden paradise under threat

AWARA MUSAFIR BUREAU

June 1, 2024240 Views

A fragile system of 10,000 subterranean caverns, rivers and lakes wind almost surreptitiously under Mexico’s southern Yucatan peninsula Now, construction of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s crown jewel project – the Maya Train – is destroying part of that cave network Rays of sunlight slice through pools of crystal water as clusters of fish cast shadows on the limestone below. Arching over the emerald basin are walls of stalactites dripping down the cavern ceiling, which opens to a dense jungle. These glowing sinkhole lakes – known as cenotes – are a part of one of Mexico’s natural wonders: A fragile system of an estimated 10,000 subterranean caverns, rivers and lakes that wind almost surreptitiously beneath Mexico’s southern Yucatan peninsula. Now, construction o...

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Early jacaranda bloom sparks debate about climate change

AWARA MUSAFIR BUREAU

February 25, 2024494 Views

Every spring, the streets of Mexico's capital are painted purple with the flowering of thousands of jacaranda trees. Their spectacular colors not only attract the eyes of residents and tourists, but also birds, bees and butterflies that find food and shelter in them. But this year something changed. Some jacarandas began blooming in early January, when they normally awaken in spring. The early onset bloom has set off alarm bells among residents and scientists in Mexico City, where the trees have become an iconic, photogenic mainstay of city streets. Local scientists have begun investigating how widespread the early-bloom phenomenon is, but they point to climate change as the first culprit. People walk near a jacaranda tree at Plaza Cibeles in Mexico City, Mexico. February 22, ...

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Monarch butterfly numbers in Mexico plummet to near record low

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February 9, 2024416 Views

The population of monarch butterflies in the Mexican forests where they spend the winter fell to the second-lowest figure on record this season, offering a grim snapshot of the already endangered orange-and-black insects. The iconic butterflies' presence was only documented in 2.2 acres (0.9 hectares) of forest spanning a couple Mexican states where they traditionally hunker down for the winter, according to the latest annual study published on Wednesday and conducted by Mexico's protected natural areas commission and the Swiss-based World Wildlife Fund (WWF), an environmental group. In the mid-1990s, monarch butterflies could be found on around 45 acres of the same forests covered largely by pine and fir trees, along the border between Michoacan and Mexico states. FILE PHOTO: A ...

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Skeleton marching bands join in Mexico City’s Day of the Dead parade

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November 5, 2023605 Views

Thousands of people turned out Saturday to watch Mexico City’s Day of the Dead parade as costumed dancers, drummers and floats took a festive turn down the Paseo de la Reforma boulevard all the way to the historic colonial main square. There were marching bands disguised as skeletons and dancers with skull face paint performing in Indigenous costumes. The smell of traditional resinous copal incense hung heavy over the parade. Participants take part in a James Bond- inspired Day of the Dead Parade, in Mexico City, Saturday, Nov. 4, 2023. (AP Photo/Ginnette Riquelme) A skeleton drum group pounded out a samba-style beat, while blocks away dancers swirled long skirts painted to resemble the wings of monarch butterflies, which traditionally return to spend the winter in Mexico around ...

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The Day of the Dead in Mexico is a celebration for the 5 senses

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November 2, 2023576 Views

The Day of the Dead in Mexico smells like cempasuchil flowers and copal incense. It has a sweet taste. Sounds and colors abound. There are photos, candles and music all over. The hands of artisans prepare the altars to honor their ancestors. Although it is an intangible tradition, borne down from pre-Hispanic cultures, Day of the Dead is also a celebration for all the senses —even if one of them is failing you. Gerardo Ramírez, who over the years become almost blind, sums it all up in one line: “You honor people, you connect with the past.” THE SMELL THAT GUIDES YOU FROM THE UNDERWORLD Together, two smells show dead souls the way out of the underworld: cempasúchil — a type of marigold whose name means “flower of 20 petals in Náhuatl language” — and a tree resin called copal burne...

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Rare Aztec ritual offerings put on display in Mexico exhibit

AWARA MUSAFIR BUREAU

October 1, 2023725 Views

A museum exhibit displaying Aztec ritual offerings dug up from underneath downtown Mexico City opened on Friday in a first-ever showcase that offers new insight into pre-Hispanic art and religious practices. The artifacts, all crafted from wood, include finely carved masks, sculpted scepters believed to have been wielded by ancient gods, and weapons that were buried with sacrificed animals dressed as deities and warriors, both male and female. Small sculptures evoking warriors and warfare made from wood, copal and flint are pictured as part of the exhibition "Insignia of the Gods, the wood in the Templo Mayor," at the Templo Mayor Museum in Mexico City, Mexico September 27, 2023. REUTERS/Raquel Cunha Reuters gained exclusive access to the exhibit at the Mexican capital's Templo M...

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Ancient Maya city discovered in Mexican jungle

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June 21, 2023662 Views

A previously unknown ancient Maya city has been discovered in the jungles of southern Mexico, the country's anthropology institute said on Tuesday, adding it was likely an important center more than a thousand years ago. The city includes large pyramid-like buildings, stone columns, three plazas with "imposing buildings" and other structures arranged in almost-concentric circles, the INAH institute said. A view shows a part of an engraved stone after archaeologists from Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) discovered an ancient Mayan city inside the Balamku ecological reserve in Campeche state, Mexico in this photo released and distributed by Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History on June 20, 2023. Mexico's National Institute of Anthropolog...

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For the first time, AI allows identification of 5 jaguars in Mexico

AWARA MUSAFIR BUREAU

May 27, 2023965 Views

A team of nature conservation experts have recently announced that with the help of Huawei Cloud and artificial intelligence, they have identified at least five jaguars in a nature reserve in Dzilam, Yucatan, in southeast Mexico. The Tech4Nature Mexico project, launched in the Dzilam de Bravo nature reserve last year, uses an integrated and continuous monitoring system analyzing images and sound data to identify and track jaguars and their preys. The project involves partners including the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), Polytechnic University of Yucatan, C Minds' AI for Climate initiative, Rainforest Connection, the local community of Dzilam, and the government authorities of Yucatan. Huawei supplied the capabilities of Huawei Cloud to the project. To ...