Life and Sustainability in Santa Maria Poniente

Its Sunday, so there's not much to do besides swing on my hammock and think about how awesome this place is. The view out my window pretty much says it all: a house made of wooden poles and thatched with palm leaves, a coconut tree, a stone wall overgrown with cacti.

The outside world could literally disappear and life here would go on without a blink. In fact, it might even improve for lack of alcohol and cultural imperialism. The forest would continue to produce enough poles for housing and palm leaves for roofing. Coconuts, limes, oranges, guayas, mangoes, and more would still grow in the front yards of those houses. And judging from the road out to the forest, you'd better believe there's enough stones to go around.

Beyond the home, the ejido is also essentially self-sufficient in terms of corn, beans, vegetables, spices (except salt), and even eggs and meat. Though most people say they don't get enough meat, there's plenty of chickens around. The town is full of animals, from chickens and turkeys (both wild and domestic breeds) to pigs and the occasional cow further out. The forest also provides in this regard, as twice this week one of the Canul brothers has come back from the milpa with a deer.

How many communities can claim that salt is the only thing they'd need if the world dissapeared?

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* "Need" can be a relative term, and most of the people of Santa Maria would tell you that they also need health care, education, electricity, and water, all of which do come in from outside. The main point is to compare this community to say, a standard US suburb, which could produce none of its food or building materials in the present configuration.

** This happens to be the 100th blog post I've written since embarking on this journey. WOOT!