Time Out for Fun!

Just two more nights left, and today Team Relationship Management brought the WHA/CTSK roadshow to Xcaret, which is just 30-something kilometers above of Tulum. The original plan was for a collation of those willing to get up at daybreak (Megan, Olger, Art from the UN and myself) to spend an hour snorkeling the reef in front of Maya T, then the snorklers would be joined by a collation of those who wanted more sleep (Janice), we’d all have a quick breakfast to be followed by a work-filled morning, then in the afternoon we’d all drive to Xcaret. But the Mayan gods of Power and Plumping had other ideas. Megan, Olger, Art (from the UN) and I did venture out into the morning’s rather choppy incarnation of the sea, and despite much lower visibility due to kicked up sediments, we did see a lot of fish (very Finding Nemo). But when we returned to shore, intending to move on to the next step of our plan we were stymied. At first I thought it was just the poolside shower that was having trouble – when I turned the handle all I got from the showerhead was a sad, dwindling hiss. In my room I quickly confirmed (by skidding across floor tiles that turn slick with condensation whenever A/C, which is otherwise constantly running, turns off) that Maya T was without power (again). Ever stalwart, unswayable and maniacally focused on being productive, Teams Product Dev and Web Site packed our laptops and Jeeped to the CTSK office in Tulum, determined to make headway on our various deliverables. What dedication!

Olger and I worked through the morning, but, with a final presentation pending the next day, there was still more work to be done. So rather than break for Xcaret as a group, we decided to divide and conquer. Olger and I (safely, obeying all traffic laws to the best of our knowledge) sped up the highway, and pulled into the Xcaret parking lot with minutes to spare; the CTSK van had also just arrived – this would be the first time they’d see the presentation that 2 of CTSK’s members, Manuel (Sales) and Pastor (Tour Guide) had been part of for the last few days at various locations around Mexico. After spending most of the last two weeks in our rustic accommodations, walking down Xcaret’s spacious, nearly elegant and completely air-conditioned hall was almost too much for me an Olger. While we definitely weren’t “roughing it” in Tulum, it had been a while since we’d been anywhere so refined.

The presentation was in a long auditorium, and it was packed with representatives from local hotels, tour companies – mainly Best Day (who were consistently supportive of WHA while we were down there, in a number of ways — thanks Best Day!), and others. I’d guess the total attendance was around 100, and Laura later told me that other audiences they’d addressed were around the same size — clearly these roadshows were the most contact with their industry that CTSK had ever had, and it was also clear that this sort of exposure would be one of the most important outcomes of the program. These roadshows were going to drive business. (And looking around the room, I got nervous about the website, wishing it could be finished before all these people left the presentation and went online to find out more…)

The end of the presentation also marked the end and realization of a tremendous amount of work for the WHA team. To celebrate, the group of us (Olger and I, now reunited with Laura, Kate from the UN, and new NGO friends) drove north to Playa del Carmen, where Janice, Megan and Dustin (who’d drive back to Tulum that afternoon to add his thoughts to the presentation material for the next day) would meet us. Without going into too much detail, because this is already a long post, and because, as I learned, “What happens in Playa del Carmen stays in Las Vegas”, here are some bulleted highlights:

1. Debriefing, recapping and tequila on the Hotel Deseo, while lighting flashed in cloud masses rolling in from the Caribbean

   

2. Dinner at Yaxche where, at a table of 16 (more?)
   
3. Didn’t it seem like all servers wanted to wait on Laura.
   
4. Wonderful speeches at dinner from Laura, Janice and Olger, capturing and expressing a lot of the emotion we all felt about the experience.
   
5. More tequila
   
6. Dancing at the Blue Parrot beach club
   
7. “Tacos para todos!” – Greg Custer

Did you miss us?

Hi there!  Long time no blog.  There are no excuses for this, I know, but let me give it a shot anyway.  We’ve had problems with the wordpress site, they seem to do maintenance fairly often.  Add to that the fact that the electricity and water have gone out three times now in our hotel and I’m sure you can imagine some of the challenges we’re facing.

Yesterday morning (early - 6am!) Janice, Olger and I went on the bird watching tour that CTSK offers.  It was really great, especially because our guide, Alberto has a fantastic ability to recognize the birds by their calls alone.   Before we started the bird tour, though, we met a local shaman (actually, I think we woke him up).  He just moved to the house he’s living in and he’s trying to start a botanical garden with all the medicinal plants they use.  He showed us some of the plants and what they’re used for, then showed us some of the medicines he makes from them.

After meeting Don Domaso we started the birdwatching tour in the Muyil archeological zone.  Soon after we started it started to rain.  Lots.  So we hid out in one of the ruins up on a pyramid and watched the rain.  Luckily, it only rained for about 10 minutes so we were able to continue on with the tour.  The most incredible bird we saw was this one: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motmot.

After we finished the bird tour, we took the boat to monkey island to talk about a tour they’re thinking of doing.  They would like to build a botanical garden and butterfly farm in this stand of jungle that is in the middle of the mangrove swamps on the edge of the savanah.

We arrived back at the hotel around 11:45 and were starving.  We worked for a few minutes and then came into Tulum for lunch.  We were really looking forward to going back to the hotel, working straight through to dinner and really starting to wrap up the presentation for Friday and documentation for the project.  However, when we arrived a the hotel there was no electricity or water.  It never would have occurred to me to select a hotel based on whether or not they have their own generator, but it turns out this would be a good criteria to use.  Anyway, I called the desk to find out what was going on and when it would be fixed and was happily told it would be fixed sometime that day.  So we all gathered our things and headed into Tulum to the CTSK office to work.  This allowed us to get some of our work done, but there are too many of us to really work here successfully given the number of ethernet connections.  Anyway, that’s why we’re behind on the blog. 

Josh and I have made a lot of progress on the CTSK website (http://www.siankaantours.org.  He’s been working on a new design and templates as a short-term fix that will unify their pages and make the information more accessible.  We’ve been working with Paulina and Cristian in the CTSK office to convert all of the pages to the new look and feel.  I’ve been doing a lot of translating, which has been interesting because I realize I didn’t know any computer words in Spanish!  They’re both completely new at doing HTML, so it is taking some time, but they’re picking it up quickly.  If I had this program to do over again, I might organize some sort of web development class in addition to the work Josh and I have been focusing on for the site.We’ve also been working on the spec for the longer term wholesale redesign of their site and the report for the entire program.  We’re almost done (a good sign since we’re leaving the day after tomorrow!)

This morning before the electricity went out we went snorkeling in front of the hotel, so I would really love to remove all the salt with a shower.  Guess I’m gonna have to wait for that.  We’re trying to get things wrapped up so we can meet Laura, Dustin and folks in Xcaret for the final presentation they’re doing for the hotels, then tomorrow we have wrap up meetings all day.

megank

Homestretch

Finally we’ve got something to show. A lot of things to show, actually. I’ve spent the last couple days squaring up the code of one of CTSKs designs, and creating page templates. With Megan translating we were able to show our CTSK team how to clone the templates and add the appropriate content to the pages. Now, about 70% of the site is looking much more professional than before, and the last 30% shouldn’t be far behind.

Tomorrow we’re presenting our outline for where the CTSK site could go in the future. Early in the process I drafted a site maps and some wireframes, and though I hoped to create some mockups of a revised homepage, our focus on tidying the current site just didn’t leave me enough time. Hotwire UI Team to the rescue! I’d been keeping my team looped in about the project, and I guess they got sick of listening to me whine about the time constraints, because Tuesday morning my manager, Ryan Sims, emailed that our rockstar visual designer, Virnard Magpantay, had some cycles to spare. I bundled up all the CTSK links and collateral I could find, plus an extremely rough wireframe of the homepage, and sent it off. Bada-bing bada-bang, and at the end of the day Virnard fires back a design that everyone agrees is awesome. Ryan asked why we couldn’t have Virnard here, too. Aside from the fact that he’s not a huge fan of Mexican food, I think it would be great. Maybe the next one?

The power’s been down at our hotel, so we’re working out of the CTSK office in Tulum. Every now and then the air in our office at Hotwire goes down. The office gets warm and stuffy, and I’m usually the first one to email our facilities team. Well, not after this week. Warm and stuffy is nothing. I’m sitting just 8-inches from a floor fan today, and beads of sweat are still rolling down my back. It’s been a good lesson in how much we all take for granted those little creature comforts of home, and we all keep reminding ourselves of the advice Julio gave us on our first night here—always carry a big bag and keep if filled with good humor.

View from Observation Deck @ CESIAK’s Hotel 

It’s a process, people…

I'm a thousand times more comfortable with our current plan for the web project than I was when I hit the ground last week. The initial thinking was basically crazy—Megan and I were going to try to cobble together a development team from any and all resources on hand. That would've meant Megan coding, the Biz Dev Duo writing copy, and Dustin comping in Photoshop. We'd have to draft the hotel staff as well, putting the Chef in charge of QA, the Front Desk would take on the project management, the Concierge would direct the creative. The bartender we wouldn't move, he'd be fine right where he is… What we're doing instead—focusing on gathering requirements and developing schematics—makes a lot more sense.

 

Yesterday Megan and I met with Fernando, Paulina and Christian at the CTSK office and laid it out for them. Developing a new design for CTSK requires a pretty specific skill set, one they don't have in their office, but part of the program's objective is to enable them towards working independently. It doesn't make sense for them to become fluent at coding—their business is tours, and the web is just a tool to that ends. But they do want the ability to update their message, and keep their product descriptions current. The current site suffers from Multiple Personality Design Disorder—there are 3 very different look and feels, and new visitors probably get quite confused. We decided to help them address this more urgent issue by aligning around one of the 3 designs (we opted for the design that had already been applied to the most pages). I did a couple quick comps of how the other 2 variants could look after applying what we chose as the primary design, and basically said, "Make the other pages look like this." Paulina and Christian are both pretty new to HTML, but they both have been studying on their own, and are eager to learn more.

In other news, it rained last night, and it's ridiculously humid this morning.

Checking in from Belize…

Art and I have been in Belize for the past few days, scoping out the possibilities for a new project along the Belize Barrier Reef.  After a few days away from reliable internet, I'm checking in for the first time to see how everyone's doing up in Sian Ka'an…

Reading their posts, I'm impressed with the commitment and knowledge that the Expedia participants have shown thus far, and no doubt their contributions will be invaluable to CTSK.  It seems to me that this is exactly what a community-based tourism enterprise needs: a bit of mentorship and collaboration with experts in tourism to really identify how CTSK can remain true to its commitment to community, culture and environment, while facilitating new opportunities and markets that will allow their enterprise to thrive.

I don't have much to add to what's already been posted, but wanted to share a few photos that I took during one of our first days, when the group had the chance to take part in CTSK's "Muyil Forest and Float" tour.  Not only did the tour provide an incredible mix of habitats (clear lagoons, jungle, mangroves, etc.) and underexplored ancient ruins, but Pastor (our very capable guide) shared some unique experiences that he and other members of his community have had throughout the years in Sian Ka'an — or, as Pastor described it, his backyard.

 Pastor showing how local people around Sian Ka'an — including himself when he was young — have had to rely on harvesting chicle (the base for chewing gum) from the trees in the reserve as a form of income.

Observatory Temple in the Muyil section of Sian Ka'an.  The ancient Maya — known for their advances in astronomy and other sciences — used to chart the stars by their reflection in pools of water at the top of the temple.

Entrance to one of the canals between freshwater lagoons in Sian Ka'an.  We traveled through two of these canals – one made by the ancient Maya to facilitate commerce and fishing, and the other made by natural processes.  We got out of our boat here, strapped on life vests, and floated through the mangroves for a half hour, enjoying glimpses of birds, fish, and coasting in the crystal clear water.

 View of the lagoons of Sian Ka'an from the observation tower of the new Sian Ka'an visitor center.

When in Mexico…

As Dustin’s blog tells, we spent yesterday afternoon in Playa del Carmen assessing the competition, their sales tactics and product offering. There is a distinct competitive disadvantage here as the competition’s prices are lower and they very much misrepresent what Sian Ka’an is and what you can do there. When we asked if we could swim with the wild dolphins (which is strictly prohibited) the tour operator told us, “yes, of course.” It was very sad, to tell the truth.

 

When we returned from Playa del Carmen, the power and water were not working at the hotel. Only safety lights allowed us to see our way through the hotel. However, to keep everyone happy the hotel had a great Mariachi band playing in the open air restaurant. I think we found Elvis…he joined a Mexican Mariachi band. J

 

Today Olger and I are putting together our thoughts on the current and new products, researching competitive pricing and trying to nail down costs. We’ll be in the office most of the day…at least the view is ok.

 

Later this afternoon we are meeting with the folks from CTSK to review our suggestions, etc.  

PS: The mosquitoes are bad today.

Hmm…which tour to take?

Janice and Olger returned from Punta Allen the night before last, so yesterday was the first day we were all in the office together.  It was great to synch up and share with one another the things we’ve learned thus far about the challenges and opportunities we see in the project.  All of our respective roles in the project overlap quite a bit, so working together and sharing ideas has really be a fun part of this experience.  Expedia has become so large that we often tend to work in silos.  Not here!  We’re sharing ideas for content, sales strategies, the look and feel of the website, etc.  We feel like a .com startup.

 

In the afternoon we went to Playa del Carmen to do some recon and see what CTSK’s competitors are up to.  We have our work cut out for us!  One thing about the Riviera Maya – it’s not hard to find something to do.  We had tour operators soliciting us right and left from

5^th Avenue

(Playa’s main tourist trap) to book their tours.  But we have some great ideas that no doubt will put CTSK on the map in a big way.  These other guys won’t know what hit them!

 

This morning I’m leaving Maya Tankah to start a sales tour (for lack of a better word) around the

Yucatan
Peninsula with a group of folks from CTSK, Expedia, UNF and UNESCO.  We’ll be meeting with Hotels and Tour Operators from the area to get them interested in the World Heritage Alliance (WHA) and encourage them to support community based organizations like CTSK.  Laura has been doing similar meetings with hotels in
Cancun the past few days and has had phenomenal success.

 

We’ll be in Calakmul (camping, I’m told), Campeche, Merida and
Cancun for these WHA training meetings.  Not sure about the internet access in these areas (Calakmul, specifically), so I’ll send an update when I’m back on the grid.

 

–Dustin

Eco Adventure in Punta Allen

Today is Friday, June 23^rd and I am in the office at the hotel. As mentioned by Dustin, Olger and I have been in Punta Allen since Tuesday. I have never been in a place so remote or rustic. They only have two phones in the entire village which of course means no cell coverage (sorry about missing the conference call, Laura) or internet access (sorry for the lack of blogging Ann). They also don’t have electricity after midnight or before 6am.

We arrived back at the hotel last night after 7pm and our first order of business was a shower. We met up with Megan, Josh and Dustin for dinner around 9pm. It was good to get back together with the team to debrief on our respective experiences and thoughts so far. Olger and I have been working with Marco from CTSK to audit their current tour products (Muyil Forest & Lagoon Float in Muyil, Bird Watching in Muyil, Fly Fishing in Punta Allen, and an Eco-Tour in Punta Allen). Our assessment so far is very positive. The current product they offer is good and with a few tweaks could be exceptional. We have found the CTSK staff to be extremely open to suggestions. They also have great instincts and know what direction they should go in but they don’t know exactly how to get there and that’s where we come in. Based on my observations and speaking with some of my contacts at Best Day, the real problem here is awareness. The tours truly sell themselves once the customer understands the product. Based on feedback from CTSK we have discovered that they have a lot of repeat business and word of mouth business which is a very positive sign.

In Punta Allen during the second full day we were exposed to two new products that the community would like to promote: Fish Trolling and Kayaking. Both of these tours have great potential. The Fish Trolling requires passage beyond the barrier reef (which is the second largest in the world) to the open ocean. The boat is roughly 25 feet (maybe 30 feet) and is open to the sun and wind. This tour is not for the weak of spirit…or stomach as we soon found out. The beauty of this tour is that it is authentic, natural and truly a sport. The guides use century’s old traditions to find the fish rather than sonar equipment or other modern devices. To know where the fish are you must look for the water to change to a deep “sea” blue and then you need to watch for birds that follow the Mahi Mahi to eat the bits of fish left behind from their feeding. 

 Once we got past the reef the poles were put into the water. Almost instantaneously we hooked two fish and Olger and I had poles thrown in our hands and were told to reel, reel, reel. Olger landed his fish first (because mine was bigger and I had to work harder – ha ha ha). The color of the fish was amazing – sea green, with pink? There are pictures somewhere – I was too busy trying to keep the darn fish from leaping back out of the boat before the picture was taken. All fishing here is catch and release (except the Mahi Mahi as they are extremely plentiful but we threw them back anyway).

After the excitement of catching the fish, I realized that, well, I was sea sick. I rallied and did not throw up but they did have to take me back to shore. Thank goodness for Marco who applied acupressure to keep me from losing my breakfast (which was tasty – Irma was an amazing cook and we took all our meals at her resturant)

After recovering on the shore for about an hour, the group picked me up again, we had lunch, discussed ideas for tweaking the morning’s product and then took off for our last adventure, kayaking. Our guide, Gerardo, was a national kayaking champion (and was also our fly fishing guide the day prior). It is something that hasn’t been done in P.A. before and it has great potential for eco-tourists. We took a boat across the bay to the mangroves surrounding “

Bird
Island” which also made up of mangroves. The kayaks were waiting for us. We had a quick kayak lesson, did some stretching and had a talk about safety. Once in the kayaks we headed for

Bird
Island. The island is a temporary home for many different types of birds that use it to nest and raise their young. The trees were covered in birds: Frigate birds, Pelicans and Boobies (who ever came up with that name?).

 

The kayak provides a unique experience where you feel that you are a part of the environment rather than simply observing from a distance. The tour continued through the waterways of the mangroves and even through some “tunnels” where motorboats can not go. The flora and fauna are simply incredible. Crabs, Needle fish, Barracuda, birds, etc. I was hoping to see a boa constrictor but no luck. However, on the way back from the tour we did see wild dolphins. An impressive aspect of all the CTSK tours that we’ve seen is their absolute dedication to conservation, respect for nature and adherence to safety. During each of the tours and at all of our meals we discussed the structure of the tours, the co-ops, the communities, etc. The social and business frame work down here is very complex. Simply trying to understand the business flow has been challenging. Olger, Dustin and I have made many attempts to nail down the cost structure for each tour and that has proven much more difficult than we had imagined. Now that we have a good sense of what CTSK has to offer, we need to help the group understand what the tours actually cost them to run. Dustin was able to get a bit more information from the folks at the office yesterday. Today we are going to attempt to get a sense for how the tours are currently sold to other tourists by hitting up tourist offices in Playa del Carmen and hearing their sales pitch. As far as we can tell, there are several groups that can offer tours in Sian Ka’an, not just the Mayan communities. There is no protection from the government and the Maya do not have the same protections that Native Americans have in the
US, which was my assumption before I came down. There is much work that needs to be done by UNESCO and other NGO’s to convince the Mexican government to tighten up regulations, the permitting process for biosphere access and protections for the folk who make their living here. The goal for these people is not to get rich. They simply want to maintain the natural beauty around them and continue their way of life. They see the out-of-control development surrounding them and know that they must be proactive to protect their environment and themselves.

Where the Sky is Born (OP – 06/22/2006)

In ancient Mayan Sian Ka’an means “Where the sky is born”, and it’s not hard to imagine how that name came to be.  The waters of the bay at the Sian Ka’an Biosphere Reserve are of the cleanest and sharpest shades of blue that I have ever seen.  And it’s no wonder that the local Mayan population is concerned with the preservation the natural beauty and the resources of the land that they inherited from their ancestors.Community Tours Sian Ka’an (CTSK) is a conglomeration of Mayan coops that opted to come together to provide a system of ecotourism that is both authentic and autochthonous.  These are locals who have worked the land and the sea all their lives and know by upbringing that any form of careless exploitation of their resources can have dramatic impact on their lives. As Gerardo (one of our Mayan guides) put it for us one day, an outsider with enough money can come here rent boats, buy equipment, hire guides, and set up a guided tours operation in no time.  The resulting operation doesn’t have any incentive to promote responsible tourism because tomorrow, when the ecosystem is ruined, they may as easily take off and start operations somewhere else.  That is not an option to the people of CTSK.  First, because by upbringing they come to love and respect nature, and second because this is their home.  Their livelihood depends on the conservation of the area and it’s not easy for them to pick up and go.In that sense, it’s exciting and inspiring to be here to help CTSK improve on their model and operations.  To that effect, we began the trip by trying out the actual and potential types of tours and experiences CTSK would like to offer more regularly.Arriving at Tulum (80 mi. south of Cancún) on Sunday night, we had dinner with don Julio, a charismatic Spaniard who has worked in the area for a number of years and has earned the appreciation of the locals.  He was the one who told us to start each day with a “big sack full of patience and good humor” because things here are not run like in the
U.S.  We need to keep in mind that any recommendation we may come up with will be taken with a grain of salt.  Besides, things may not always work and probably will not work out as planned.  Personally I plan to take this to heart.  I just came back from a trip to Punta Allen and had the chance to experience what don Julio was referring to.  It’s now 2 a.m. and I better leave the stories of Punta Allen for tomorrow.  But, for the record… I do not snore, Dustin!!! J (at least, I think I don’t).

A Day in Punta Allen

Today is the fourth day of the Sian Ka’an program and the one word that comes to mind is “grateful.”  I’m grateful to be here and to be part of the program.  I’m grateful for the things we’ve seen and the people we’ve met.

 

Tuesday night Janice, Olger and I went to Punta Allen with a few representatives from CTSK (Community Tours Sian Ka’an) to experience what it has to offer its guests.  What an amazing place!  First, we drove down the coast of the Maya Riviera for 1 ½ hours on a dirt road which would have been too rough for the Nissan Sentra we avoided renting at the car rental center (we went with the Jeeps).  We were so pleased to arrive in Punta Allen – not because of the road, but because PA was nothing short of postcard perfect!  It’s a place that I previously thought only existed in movies and imagination.  Punta Allen is a rustic fishing village, with white beaches laden with coconut trees and fishing boats.  There is no asphalt to be seen – even

Main Street

is paved with nothing but white sand.  Community dogs are everywhere!  The “hotel” we stayed in was a series of grass-roofed beach bungalows on stilts (in case of storm surge) fully equipped with hammocks on the porch and mosquito netting over the beds.  The beach-side restaurant we ate at that night was little more than a covered, sand-floored patio with a tarp wall on one side.  The food was amazing!  I could have eaten three plates full of the wonderfully prepared fish, beans, tortillas etc. (compliments to Irma, the best cook in town).  Our team members kept distance from each other for a while afterward, however, because Irma liked to cook with garlic – lots and lots of garlic.  The power shuts down each midnight, at which time the fan in our room went silent and all that could be heard was Olger’s snoring (just kidding) and the buzz of the mosquitoes.  Thank goodness for the netting!  And it was all of the sudden very, very hot.  Oh, man.  I’ll just leave it at that.  But I took the opportunity to wander outside the hut and check out the stars – more than I’ve ever seen in any other place on earth.  The dark
Caribbean sky with its vivid stars was even more mystical in this place, void of any interference from city lights.  Oh, and did I mention that it was hot??

 

One thing really stands about CTSK – they are serious about the conservation of the biosphere.  We are all concerned about the line we walk between promoting tourism and sustaining the ecosystem, and if anybody can walk that line – they can.  Much of the work thus far has been around understanding their business model, the issues they face and the potential opportunities to promote their products in ways that create meaningful experiences for the clients, protect the delicate ecosystem and help the members of the local Mayan communities.

 

–Dustin