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

Blogging, WHA-style + Scope vs Schedule vs Resources

I'm a bit backed up on my blogging, especially from the first few days when our schedules were pretty packed. I've been catching up by transcribing and posting my notes in the moring, back dating the posting stamp so the entry follows the chronology. This means if you've already been reading the blog and you scroll down you might find something new.

Our schedules have been pretty busy, and it looks like Megan and I can expect to be much busier in the up coming days. I'd originally hoped to develope UI and a visual design that CTSK's web staff could execute on, but since they don't exactly have a web staff it looks, and since the end goal is to hook them up with a new site, it looks like I'll be coding, too. There are a couple people working in the CTSK office who do have some basic HTML proficiency, and they'll be managing content updates, so the final deliverable will have to match their level of experience–just simple, static HTML pages. This is a good thing for me, since I don't code much these days, so I won't get bogged down in the weeds of debuggery. Given our schedule and looming deadline (just over 7 days away), delivering even a static site will be a feat.

I striked the above paragraph rather than delete it to give a sense of how we're putting things together as we go. Ramping up and trying to contribute at the same time is a special kind of challenge, and changes in direction are par for the course.
For example:

After a check in call with Laura and Erika (from the UN), Megan and I are a bit more comfortable with the limitations of what we can do here in the time allowed. Rather than try to give CTSK the budget version of an Extreme Makeover, we're going to spend more time on developing requirements for a site redesign. Trying to do more pitted the usual suspects–scope, schedule and resources–against each other, with us caught in the middle. I do think I can spend a bit of time tidying up CTSK's current site, and fixing broken links, but a full redesign will follow a more disciplined process. When we get back, I'm sure we'll also be trying to enlist time and creativity from talented fellow co-workers.

And the deadline just gets closer…

Josh and I have been meeting with the folks at CTSK each morning to review the previous day's work and discuss next steps.  They've been incredibly responsive in collecting the information we need for the site and sharing it with us.

One of the struggles we're having is what exactly success looks like.  I think Josh mentions this in one of his posts, but it's quite a lot for the two of us to create an entirely new website for them in two weeks.  At the moment we're tossing around the idea of instead providing them with a complete design and implementation plan rather than the entire website…more to come as that discussion progresses.

Today after our meeting at the CTSK office we went to eat at a Yucatecan restaurant they recommended to us.  I had relleno negro, which is turkey filled with ground pork and hard boiled egg in some sort of bean soup (i think).  Dustin and Josh had queso relleno which is cheese stuffed with ground beef, olives and…some other stuff.  Then we went across the street for dessert and had elote (corn) ice cream, which was quite tasty.  After that we headed back to the hotel for more work on the website.

 megan

Futbol break (JDW)

Megan and I are at the CTSK offices this morning to rough out a work schedule. We are taking a short break at the moment while a couple of the guys run across the street to the house where the rest of the neighborhood is watching Mexico vs Portugal. It's a close game, with Portugal currently ahead. Fernando told me it'll be a national tragedy if they lose today.

Another beautiful day in Tulum

As I write this, Josh and I are sitting under the palm roof at the open air restaurant in our hotel.  They graciously setup wireless access for us so we're able to work out here with a beautiful view of the ocean and the pool.  They also set up an office for us, but unless the weather turns bad or the wireless stops working, I can't see myself moving indoors anytime soon. 

 Last night Josh and I went to dinner in Tulum with Laura and Kate at a place called El Mariachi.  They were super nice and the food was good (and Mexican, which is a plus!)  We had guacamole, queso fundido, tacos al pastor, ceviche de camarones, arrachera enchilada (grilled pork marinated in a chile marinade or rub) and un poco de tequila con sangrita, which is a mix of lime juice, tomato sauce and chile.  It was all good and there was a mariachi band too (though they were charging ten dollars per song, so we passed…and contemplated becoming mariachis.

Yesterday morning we went to the Community Tours Sian Ka'an (CTSK) office in Tulum and met with all of our counterparts there.  Josh and I started work on the website and will be going back each morning to meet with our counterparts, present what we've done and get feedback.

The overwhelming impression I've had so far is that this is a place of incredible natural beauty.  It's no wonder there have been civilizations here for thousands of years.

Anyway, all the other groups have headed in various directions (many to do the tour in Punta Allen, Laura to Cancun, Kate to Belize with Art).  We go in a few minutes to meet with our counterparts at CTSK, then it's back to the hotel to make some good progress on the website for CTSK.

 megan