Pachico Mayoral was featured on NBC Nightly News on March 21 2008.

The Mayoral family are amongst the pioneers of whale watching in the whole Baja Peninsula and started running whale trips in the San Ignacio lagoon in the the mid/early-seventies.

Don Pachico is an ecological defender who in the 90s fought against a big salt extraction development project near San Ignacio lagoon to protect the gray whale’s breeding environment. His whale watching tours are ‘harass-free’ and focused on conservation.

Watch the NCB video

The last calves are now ready to leave San Ignacio lagoon for their for the northbound migration. This is the last chance to see them, and the best time to start planning an amazing encounter with the friendly gray whale for the next season.

One of the best experiences of my last stay in Chiapas has been the tour to the communities of Naha and Metzabok, both located in the Lacandon jungle, about 3 hours from Palenque.

Vittorio, one of the local guides I work with, told me about his intentions of including these 2 villages in a new itinerary focused on nature and community tourism, and I immediately expressed my enthusiasm about pioneering this route with him.

Both villages are on the shore of amazing lagoons, which you can explore by boat. As the route is definitely off the beaten tracks, we did not meet other tourists and our two canoes were the only ones in the lagoon. By listening to the splashing of the oar in the water, the only sound breaking an astonishing silence, and seeing our local guide wearing his traditional white tunic and long loose hair I really felt like I was transported back in time.

One of the tour highlights was the meeting with Don Antonio in his temple in Naha. He is the spiritual heir of Chan K’in Viejo, the last religious leader of the Lacandones who died in 1996. Although I had to sit a few meters away from the ‘men only area’ - where he keeps his clay gods - and stand the sarcastic smile of victory of the men in our group, I was really hanging off his lips while he was telling us about his ancestors’ believes and their visions of the world, so incredibly simple and at the same time so powerful. He also showed us how he prepares the Balche` - the traditional drink used during the religious rites – and the way he burns the copal while getting in touch with the gods with songs and prayers.

It is difficult to express Don Antonio’s incredible charisma and vitality with words… I still can not believe his age (84 or 86…he was not sure himself), since he is walking straight and fast, and does not have a single grey hair.

Longevity is not unusual amongst the Lacandones; Chan K’in Viejo lived for more than a century, and two of his wives are still up and about in the village of Naha. (Well, one of them is still quite young, as when they married she was in her 30ies and he was almost 80!)

The older wife is a small lady who at the age of 80-something welcomed us while running around the kitchen trying to kick the dog out. She also had a good laugh when she finally managed to ‘whip’ him with the kitchen towel. I felt quite weird at the idea that the woman who was cooking us breakfast was the same one I had seen the night before on a 1950s black and white video documentary. She was filmed together with her husband and other members of the community by the archaeologist Franz Blom and his wife, the photographer Gertrude Blom, at the time of their expeditions of the Lacandon jungle and of their first contacts with the local Mayan population.

While she was cooking our eggs on banana leaves on an old open fire stove, wearing toucan’s feathers in her braids her grandchildren were ready to drive off to the fields on their shiny SUVs, thanks to the many government subsidies… another controversial topic we will probably go on about soon…

Many of our Eco-tours in Chiapas take people to the Lacandon jungle, but few visitors know the story of the biggest rainforest in the country, and of its inhabitants, the Lacandon Mayas.

We always suggest travellers to visit the Na Bolom Museum in San Cristobal before heading to the jungle, to get some information about the region they are going to visit. However, if you do not have the chance to go to the museum, you can read a brief excerpt of the jungle’s history below.

Since the end of the 18th Century, the Lacandon Maya have lived in the Lacandon rain forest. Until the 1920’s the forest was virtually impenetrable, allowing their culture, whose very heart and spiritual life is based on the rain forest and everything that exists within it, to develop in near isolation.

But today the rain forest is changing and so are the Lacandones - at times because they have to, at times because they want to.

In the 1950’s the Mexican government realized that the Lacandon rain forest offered many valuable natural resources, and in order to establish better political and social control, they began building roads into the forest. For example, the road to the ruins of Bonampak was just completed in 1997.

Roads have made the rain forest more accessible to tourists, the military, anthropologists, journalists and missionaries, who bring with them new ideas and ideologies. These views affect the traditional social, economic, and religious structures of the Lacandones.

From the 1950’s the government opened the forest to colonization as a solution to land scarcity in the highlands of Chiapas and as a result other indigenous groups (Choles, Tzeltales and Tzotziles) have settled there with more and more arriving each day.

To support their families they farm using methods which are not suited to rain forest soil and some are working the land which by government decree belongs to the Lacandones. This has created tension between the various indigenous groups.

With intensive logging, slash and burn farming and cattle ranching, over 80% of the Lacandon forest has been destroyed. In efforts to preserve what remains, the Montes Azules Biosphere Reserve - in which the community of Lacanja-Chansayab is located - was established in 1978.

Today also the people of Naha are exploring the possibility of developing an ecological reserve.

For the Lacandones the repercussions of deforestation are very serious, as the basis of their existence, culture and spirituality lies in the forest. Their spiritual leader - Chan Kin Viejo from Naha - died in 1996. He was the keeper of the Lacandon ancient traditions, a vital part of which was lost upon his death. Some of his sons remember the stories told by their father, and continue practicing some of the traditions.

All these changes have led the Lacandones to think of ways to balance their ancient traditions with the influences from outside. Change is within any culture and we ourselves are a product of change. We accept and reject change on a daily basis. The same is true for the Lacandones. Where the changes will lead them is uncertain, but the richness of their culture is not lost.

It is hard to believe we are already at the end of the year - maybe because of the sunny weather here in Chiapas - and together with the Christmas and New Year festivities Mexico is also poised for another thrilling whale watching season.

Although at gloCal we promote several whale watching tours and cruises around Baja California, my favourite spot is the San Ignacio Lagoon; a splendid sanctuary with eco-tourism camps and operators who organize amazing encounters with the largest mammals on earth.

For me, San Ignacio is a much nicer base for whale watching than Guerrero Negro; which is more of a place to get a refill of petrol and cash (and for some great meals at Malarrimo’s restaurant).

The San Ignacio Lagoon offers a charming camping area on the beach, and after your trip you can stop at the village, visit the beautiful mission, and maybe stay an extra few days for a trip to the rock painting in the Sierra de San Francisco…

But let’s get back to the whales!  We receive many requests for whale watching tours, almost all year long, and we have realized most people don’t know much about whale migrations and the mating season.  They always ask which is the best time to book and to join a whale watching trip, so I thought it would be useful posting some information about what’s going on in the San Ignacio Lagoon during the winter months.

Gray whales begin their southbound migration towards Southern California around November, and at the end of the month you see the arrival of the first whales in the lagoon, although they do not stop and proceed further south. Migratory birds start arriving to the lagoon’s shores.

The majority of the whales begin arriving in December. Pregnant cows are checking out the area while adult males enter the lagoon and display courtship behavior.

30% of the season’s calves are already born by the end of January, which is a great time to experience both the explosive courtship behavior for which gray whales are known and the gentle interactions between new mothers and calves. Bird watching is also spectacular in this period.

Mating activity of the males and non-birthing females reaches a crescendo in February. This is the time when ‘friendly’ encounters are most commonly experienced and when the highest population of gray whales in the San Ignacio Lagoon is typically recorded. There is often so much activity that is it hard to decide where to look! Many resident and migratory birds are now nesting and you will see eggs hatch into chicks before the end of the month.

March is the time when male whales, exhausted and satiated from mating, and juvenile whales (yearlings and sub-adults) begin the northbound migration to their cold water summer feeding areas. Cows with calves seem to relax and the newborn calves gain strength and awareness, making them more willing to play. March offers the highest chances of an encounter with a cow/calf pair. Additionally, the weather is typically warmer, sunnier, and somewhat less breezy. Migratory birds begin their northbound migration and resident juvenile chicks are taking their first flying lessons.

April brings wonderful weather and the lagoon is left with just a couple of dozen cows and newborn calves. The remaining calves are now ready for the northbound migration. While all of the major activity is over, the month provides good bird watching with young birds now able to catching their own food, and a special late spring atmosphere.

In the past month I have been following an interesting poll on the Ecoclub forum posing the question: Is Hunting Tourism part of Ecotourism?

I am quite shocked about the current results. After over a month from the publication of the poll, against 14 ecotourism operators who voted ‘Never’ 16 members actually voted ‘Depends’ (there is also one who voted ‘always’ but I like to think he either pressed the wrong button or joined the wrong club).

You can read yourself the reasons of the ‘depends’, I personally found them all pretty poor, but then – I have to admit – I am a bit of a hypocritical myself… I am supporting organizations for the protection of animals, but I am not vegetarian and – most important – I have published fishing tours in my catalogue!

Is fishing ‘more acceptable’ than hunting? I don’t think so; I have never even liked the expression ‘sport fishing’… what sort of sport is that? It does not keep you fit and still involves capturing and killing wild animals.

The only time in my life I went fishing I did not like it. It was in Bahia LA, Baja California, where I was invited to a fishing trip. I accepted because I liked the idea of a sunrise boat ride, and I did not think I would try holding the fishing rod, but I eventually did.

The guy who took me on tour was very nice and I enjoyed his company, but when I caught my first fish and I saw him taking it on board and sticking a hook in it, the blood dripping from that fish still flapping around produced a very unpleasant sensation at the bottom of my stomach. I know, this is again hypocritical, because I love fish and seafood and I certainly enjoyed that Bonito for dinner. How do I think they fish those dead bodies I buy in the market?

But I have decided I will take fishing trips off my website. Some of them are offered by ecotourism guides I know personally and I am 100% sure about their commitment to the conservation of the environment, but in the end that feeling in my stomach warned me that what I had just done was not exactly an ‘eco’ practice.

I think our oceans are being over-fished enough without the necessity of us promoting ‘sport fishing’ as a holiday entertainment.