On Intrepid’s new mountain climbing journey by means of Mexico’s mountains, author Meghan Morrison goes seeking guelaguetza – the Zapotec precept of mutual assist and reciprocity.
I’m standing in an previous kitchen in a Zapotec village within the Sierra Norte mountains of Mexico, watching a mom from Oaxaca’s age-old Indigenous group make tortillas from ears of corn grown on the encompassing land.
Violetta’s fingers mould the dough, working in time-honoured rhythm. Her fingers are robust, the strains like maps resulting in previous generations who’ve made this recipe earlier than her.
It’s day two on Intrepid’s five-day Climbing in Mexico: Oaxaca’s Indigenous Highlands journey and our small group is mountain climbing village to village, studying how this neighborhood lives right this moment.
The dust flooring crunches beneath my ft in Violetta’s dwelling. The odor of earth and wooden smoke fills the air. A single mild hangs from the rafters, casting a glow on her fingers as she works. This conventional single-room dwelling could appear easy. However right here in Mexico’s mountains, wealth isn’t measured by what’s owned, however what endures – ability, sustenance and connection.
Learn extra: 10 new Brief Breaks that go huge on journey
Energy in interdependence
Our journey by means of the mountains is led by Jonatan, a Zapotec information, who shares tales and Indigenous information as we go. Fairly than strolling by means of the panorama, we stroll with it, studying in regards to the crops used for medicinal functions, those the Zapotec eat and the way the land is cultivated.
‘We share work, happiness and disappointment. We share every thing.’ Jonatan tells us over a cup of early morning espresso, earlier than we head out on the following hike. ‘We maintain one another.’
The communities function as one. Not solely have they got a reciprocal relationship with the land, but additionally with one another. Merely put, their neighborhood operates with an ‘I provide help to, you assist me’ mentality. Collectivism is an easy idea, however for me, coming from the individualistic United States, it’s profound.
Jonatan explains how sharing work appears to be like one thing like this: ‘if it’s essential plant corn and I must plant corn, I’ll come assist in your fields first, you then’ll come assist with mine.’ Pleasure and sorrow belong to the entire neighborhood – when somebody marries, everybody contributes. When somebody passes away, everybody exhibits up, bringing beans, sugar, espresso or a rooster to the mourning household.
Their wealth grows from the bottom up, from the corn, the beans, the squash, the wild greens that fill the fields. Jonatan mentioned in two hours of strolling, you may discover every thing it’s essential eat, and their medication grows together with their meals. The land gives.
These are the Zapotec’s roots. They depend on the land and on one another, proof that interdependence is power, not weak point.
Learn extra: 10 new methods to attach with Indigenous tradition
The soul of the sierra
When travellers go to this space of Mexico, they typically keep within the metropolis of Oaxaca. It’s simpler to only persist with the guidebooks. However few let you know about these distant villages hidden away within the mountains. We had been with these communities as a part of an ecotourism mission: the Pueblos Mancomunados.
There’s no direct translation to English, nevertheless it primarily means the ‘Commonwealth of Villages’, composed of eight distant villages protected below one mission. These communities have been thriving collectively for greater than 400 years, nevertheless it was in 1998 they began bringing travellers alongside these trails and welcoming them into their properties, permitting them to indicate the world how they dwell and why.
We’re lucky to have Jonatan with us each step of the way in which. I ask him one morning in regards to the Pueblos Mancomunados and what they hope travellers will take away from this expertise. His reply is straightforward: ‘the soul of this place.’
Group as forex
In some elements of the world, wealth typically appears to be like like accumulation – more cash, extra possessions, extra effectivity. However in these mountains, wealth is rooted not in possession, however relationships.
The soul of this place is reciprocity and neighborhood. Strolling by means of the pine forests, throughout the fields and subsequent to the large agave crops, whereas studying in regards to the position all of it performs in Zapotec individuals’s lives, I slowly begin to realise the significance of those shared connections.
The mushrooms he plucks, the ability the crops have, the therapeutic properties of the bushes… The land isn’t simply one thing for us to take from, however to study from.
‘Within the metropolis, your land ends right here’, Jonatan says, holding his fingers in entrance of him displaying the hypothetical boundary. ‘My land ends so far as the attention can see,’ he continues, winging his arms out extensive as we flip our heads to comply with to all of the fields and forests carpeting the distant mountainside.
After a morning of mountain climbing, we cease by one of many neighborhood member’s properties for lunch. Once we get to the home, our host, Mr Eli, says it greatest: ‘that is our dwelling, it’s not a lot. However what we do have, is huge is in our hearts.’
Sitting round his desk consuming a meal furnished from their harvest, I perceive what he means. Right here, there’s a sort of wealth that doesn’t translate throughout currencies. It’s of mutual success and the nice fortune of time. The liberty to wake with the solar and relaxation when it units. The abundance of getting every thing you want inside attain – meals, water, medication and neighborhood.
Learn extra: 11 new adventures in Mexico and Central America
The wealth of time
The rain batters in opposition to Mr Eli’s roof, however we stay dry, content material and heat, huddled collectively over corn-silk elote tea at his desk. His smile reaches his eyes as he tells us to take our time, there’s no rush to depart. I hearken to the rain echoing off the home, odor the contemporary air flowing by means of the open door and watch the household sitting collectively on the sofa, shifting slowly and boiling tea on the range. Time strikes in another way right here.
At dwelling within the US, we’re time poor – trapped by clocks, schedules and the infinite chase for extra. We schedule holidays to flee from the pace of our personal lives.
Right here, the Zapotec are time wealthy. They’ve the liberty we appear to spend our lives chasing. Not the liberty to eat endlessly, however the freedom to dwell intentionally.
Freedom, I realise, is about solely needing what you might have and having sufficient time to plant, to interrupt bread, to share, to easily be. To wake with the solar, stroll by means of fields that present meals and prioritise individuals over possessions.
Rooted in reciprocity
Jonatan’s tales echo what we see in each dwelling we enter – a life constructed not round pace or accumulation, however round care. Every individual’s work is tied to a different’s, with each hand, crop and meal a part of a collective rhythm.
As we hike to at least one village, Jonatan tells us about guelaguetza: the Zapotec precept of mutual assist or reciprocity.
On our first morning collectively, he had laughed as we grew annoyed about leaving the town with out with the ability to discover an open cafe for a cup of espresso. Later, strolling alongside the path, he had turned to inform us he had a shock. Wanting round on the huge panorama with not a lot round besides properties and open fields, we couldn’t think about what it could possibly be. ‘One other 5 kilometres?’ considered one of us joked.
As if by magic, he shocked us with espresso – not from a restaurant, however from a house. Smoke rose from the chimney, the scent of contemporary bread and candy espresso filling the air. We walked by means of a small arched door right into a stone dwelling stuffed with individuals: Jonatan’s household.
His uncle, Nelson, had been baking bread all morning, as he does each Friday, in an oven constructed by his grandfather. Jonatan’s aunt poured the espresso – water, cinnamon, molasses and sugarcane – and we broke bread collectively. While you want one thing right here, somebody gives and after they want one thing in return, you reciprocate.
This lifestyle appears apparent while you see it in motion – that is how people are speculated to dwell. Fairly than fend for ourselves, we have to lean on one another, respect the setting that gives for us and work as a collective, quite than as people.
I anticipated to come back to the Sierra Norte and find out about agriculture and historic traditions. I didn’t anticipate leaving with a brand new outlook on life.
Strolling by means of the fields with Jonatan, watching Violetta’s gradual, regular fingers at work and breaking bread with Mr Eli confirmed me we’ve a lot to study from the land – and from one another. We simply must decelerate and take the time to hear. Asking the correct questions over a cup of espresso is simply the beginning.
Join with the Zapotec on Intrepid’s Climbing in Mexico: Oaxaca’s Indigenous Highlands journey and discover out what else is new for 2026 with The Items – a set of latest journeys and experiences to encourage a 12 months of journey.
