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"Excellent tour. This was the best of three tours I took while in Mexico. Steve Cerodio, CAN More reviews
"La Expedición rebaso mis expectativas, aprendí mucho acerca de la Cultura Maya" Sophie Williams, USA Más testimoniales
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Sustainable Development
Alltournative is the pioneer in ecotourism in the State of Quintana RooEcotourism is one of the best alternatives to attain true sustainable development in rural communities. Alltournative is the pioneer in ecotourism in the State of Quintana Roo; Mexico. Since 1999, Alltournative has developed eco-tourist projects that have benefited the economic, social and cultural development of various Maya communities.
The tourist-based economic sustainable development offered by Alltournative is of vital importance to the Maya Communities as an alternate occupation to adverse conditions of the land which allows only for poor subsistence agriculture.
In each ecotourism project, Alltournative has achieved significant economic sustainable development for the inhabitants, established programs for cultural and ecologic preservation as well as promoted the natural and cultural treasures of Mexico.
Alltournative through its work alongside the Maya communities seeks to:
- Increase Maya communities' income.
- Create direct jobs inside the community and avoid migration of the inhabitants.
- Improve life quality for the inhabitants.
- Education of the inhabitants in ecotourism practices.
- Preserve and rescue customs and culture.
- Preserve flora and fauna.
- Foment respect for traditional customs within the community.
- Offer the opportunity of cultural and professional development to the members of the community, primarily focusing on children and adolescents.
The sustainable development of the Maya communities is supported by the agreements made with community groups, or ejidos, where the communities inside this area of influence are committed not only to achieve social and economic development, but also to avoid logging and hunting in the areas visited by tourists and beyond.
Through these agreements protection and conservation of great areas of rain forest, middle perennifoliae and subperennifoliae jungle as well as the great diversity of endemic flora and fauna is achieved, such as spider and howler monkey, swamp crocodiles located in the lagoons of this area, five of six species of Mexican felines (jaguar, puma, ocelots, jaguarundis and margays), white collared peccaries, white-tailed and Temazate deer, a great diversity of birds, amphibians and other reptiles as well as different species of trees, bushes and epiphytes, just to mention some.
Currently, Alltournative supports three sustainable development projects involving six different communities: Pac-Chén, Tres Reyes, Rancho San Felipe and Kantenah, turning these areas into natural sanctuaries whose protection is based on the agreements and goodwill that exist between Alltournative and the members of each community.
The Communities
Pac-ChenA few decades ago the Pac-Chen area was only a working camp. The leader was Mr. Pedro Poot, who worked the chicle tree with a team of men and their wives until the market fell in the 1960’s. These jungle people then went back to their original town, Chemax, but found themselves without land and with no opportunities. Four courageous families returned to the jungle to settle and establish a community. They chose an area belonging to the federal government near an “inclined hole” which in Mayan is Pac- Chen. That is why their community, which was located 2.5 miles from where it is today, was given this name.
For 25 years the people of Pac-Chen lived far from civilization, deep in the jungle with no form of subsistence except for a meager harvest of maize, beans and vegetables, and some hunting for their own consumption. The nearest town was almost six miles away.
In the 1980’s, the government promised to build a road connecting Pac-Chen with the state highway if the community could be moved a little closer. By then there were 10 families who had emigrated to the lagoon that we now know as Pac-Ch-n. After 10 years, the government fulfilled its promise and built the road that connected them to civilization.
In 1999 Pac-Chen signed an agreement with Alltournative and incorporated tourism as an activity in their community.
Tres-ReyesTres Reyes is a town beside the highway. There is a Cenote called Chimuch 5 minutes away and another Cenote, an open one (a Cenote with a collapsed roof) within the town that drops down more than 65 feet. The community’s inhabitants used the latter as a refuge from hurricanes such as Gilbert in 1988 and Roxanne in 1995, and therefore decided to name it the Cenote of Life. It was later turned it into the town garbage dump.
In 2002, due to the great success of the sustainable expeditions to Nohoch and Pac-Chen, the government of the state of Quintana Roo offered Alltournative financial assistance to create similar expeditions to other destinations. It was at this point that Alltournative and the Tres Reyes community signed an agreement to jointly clean the Cenote of Life and operate the area for ecotourism.
Rancho San FelipeIn Rancho San Felipe, where Don Pedro Rodriguez’ family has lived for various decades and which is now a small community of roughly 30 people, there is a cenote called Puerta del Cielo (Heaven’s Door). There is also another cenote in the region whose name comes from Mayan: Nohoch Nah Chich, which in English means the large bird house. This cenote is 1.24 miles west of highway 307, between Cancun and the Tulum archaeological site.
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