TARAHUMARAS OF COPPER CANYON: An Endangered Species
By Karuna
Tarahumara women give birth holding on to a low branch delivering the baby into a nest of grass. A boy’s umbilical cord is buried in the fields to secure a future good farmer; a girl’s, next to the hearth.
New mothers go back to work 24 hours after giving birth. Fathers take off three days, lest their farming utensils be cursed and break down.
Tarahumara people live scattered in and above the canyons of northern Mexico’s Sierra Madre Occidental, where they retreated five centuries ago from invading Spaniards.
They are one of the purest and most unmixed of any Indian tribe in Mexico. Tarahumaras value people over things. Respect is essential in their culture. Disrespect is offensive and may cause illness. Healing is achieved only after correcting the erred attitude. They are loyal to their god, a father-mother figure, to their own traditions and their own culture.
They regard work as necessary but lacking intrinsic moral merit of its own, and secondary to spiritual obligations and other matters of the soul. The Tarahumara are reticent and private people. They speak only when necessary and without looking directly into the face.
Most of the world knows them only as long-distance runners. They have been known to irritate American ultra-marathoners by beating them while wearing huarache sandals and stopping now and then for a smoke. Tarahumara women wear multicolored skirts layered one on top of the next, giving them a flowery look.
In this spirit of intentionally supporting the betterment of the underpriviledged, “Luz de Malla,” a local Lakeside non-profit, does fundraising tours. We center our efforts on supporting fishermen families through educational and environmental programs. Luz de Malla our non-profit, believes that if yougive a person a fish you feed him for a day, but if you teach him how to fish sustainable, you feed him and his descendants for a lifetime. Luz de Malla’s Our fund-raising tours are aimed at the educated traveler who values the quality of the experience over the number of sight-seeing tours. We focus on getting a closer look at cultural traditions. We go out of our way to provide our travelers with direct opportunities to interact with indigenous groups who are on the verge of being overwhelmed by modernity. Luz de Malla Tours are high end tours, so expect the best in comfort and quality traveling.
Our Majestic Copper Canyon Tour is also for travelers who feel that intense contact with nature is the ultimate luxury. Join us to experience the grandiosity of CopperCanyon and the Tarahumara Indians in an ambiance of comfort, where attention to detail counts.
With proceeds from this tour, travelers will support a recently formed 35-fishermen cooperative in Chapala. These fishermen are changing from traditional wild-caught fishing practices to fish farming, the harvesting of fish in a controlled environment inside the lake. Our fishermen are eager to adapt to 21st century fishing techniques!
