| | |  News from Around Banderas Bay | October 2008 
Yelapa: An Indigenous Community on Our Bay, But Outside of Time
 Carolina McCall - PVNN
| | For more information about special week-long Yelapa cultural and ecological tours, please visit YelapaAdventureTour.com. | | |
Hop on one of the many daily boats from Los Muertos pier in Puerto Vallarta and spend a fast 40 minutes traveling back a century or two. Yelapa is an enchanting community - outside of our time in many ways, but blessedly inside of the Bay and accessible to all. Ever wonder how and when it got here and what it's like today?
Yelapa actually predates Vallarta as a settlement. The earliest maps I found in the famous Bancroft collection at the University of California at Berkeley showed settlement as early as the time of the Conquest in the 1500's. Locals say five families came down to the coast centuries ago from the parent village of Chacala, up near the ancient town of El Tuito.
Since the same five families (plus a few more) are still there, it's always "old home week" in Yelapa, in that everyone is related to everyone else in one or more ways. This contributes to the family feeling, closeness, and overall historical harmony, experienced there by old and new residents alike.
The first recorded contact with outsiders was a military party led by Francisco Cortes, cousin to Hernan Cortes, the famous conqueror of Mexico. In 1524, Francisco Cortes led a party down the coast from Tepic to the Bay of Banderas, home to present day Puerto Vallarta and Yelapa.
We have accounts of this hot and weary army bludgeoning its way through the valley, finally climbing into the mountains near El Tuito. There they were met by a procession of apparently friendly natives wearing feathered headdresses and holding up white crosses.*
These natives pleaded with Cortes to remove his army from their lands, stating that they were a peace-loving people wishing only friendly relations. Cortes was apparently taken aback by this overture of friendship. He subsequently laid down his arms and took advantage of their hospitality.
The historical accounts speak of feasting and dancing and the Spaniard's praise of this tranquil and happy place. He then left the area untouched and free, thus sparing this group of Indians the fate of enslavement and even death that fell to most of their compatriots in Mexico.
In 1581, King Philip II of Spain formally recognized the rights of these people to remain on their lands, designating their community of what is known today as Chacala as a communidad indigena, where the original people still live and control in common their own lands. This special status, shared by only a few others in all of Mexico, is maintained and protected in Article 27 of the Mexican Constitution of 1910.
Here in Yelapa this past and present merge. Residents live much as they have for centuries on lands they hold in common. Just a short boat ride away is Puerto Vallarta, nearly totally claimed and developed by foreign and corporate interests.
Can Yelapa remain a true collective trust, or will its own inhabitants choose rather to sell or lease their lands to foreign developers, as did some of their indigenous neighbors in Puerto Vallarta just a few decades ago?
Article 27 was changed in the administration of Carlos Salinas, and many ejidos have as a result privatized their lands, but no communidad so far has taken this step. Indeed, the method of doing this is not spelled out and may be difficult or even practically impossible.
There is always the chance that the Mexican government itself might appropriate some of this land for development without even giving its people a say. These struggles are those of indigenous peoples the world over, and the outcomes bear import for us all.
Meanwhile we are fortunate to have this historically significant community right here and available in the Bay of Banderas. Here you can still get hand-made tortillas, swim in crystal waters, and hike for miles without seeing any cars or development. This remains truly a tropical paradise in many ways.
Since about five years ago, in fact, not a completely primitive one either. Yelapa now boasts electricity and the Internet. With the developing of the Internet, the world is learning about this tiny community. Now many families and expatriates have vacation rentals and are able to advertise these worldwide.
This is contributing to the overall welfare of the community, in that as families become more and more prosperous, more and more of their children (to state just one example) are able to go on to college.
Yelapa now has a few graduates and more and more students at the University of Guadalajara. These young urban sophisticates with their cell phones and pagers have formed a support group for their community, helping to get recent amenities, such as the paved paths which stretch into most of the pueblo.
So if you come to Yelapa, please remember: This is not just another little dusty Mexican village by the side of the road. It is a place of pride and rich history. If you come to visit or stay, know that you are a special guest of a unique indigenous community.
* For more historical details and for the references used for this history, please see PalapaInYelapa.com.
 This year Carolina McCall and Donna Wolper, long-term residents of Yelapa, are sponsoring several special week-long cultural and ecological tours in which you can learn more about this unusual and pristine community, as well as enjoy its many many pleasures and amenities. Please go to: YelapaAdventureTour.com for rates, dates and info and/or contact us at caro(at)jeffnet.org and donnawolper(at)hotmail.com |
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