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Pablo Naboso's avatar

Thats new to me! I once stumbled upon a self-governed territory in the mountains of south Mexico. Didn’t know about Guna Yala, thank you!

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Ashleigh at Travel Bugg's avatar

Thanks, Pablo! Were you in Chiapas? I definitely recommend a visit to Guna Yala :)

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Pablo Naboso's avatar

some mountainous area near Oaxaca. Pueblos Mancomunados. It was long ago, I don't know if this exists still. In the era when I visited, they went as far as creating their own time zone, which does not exist on any official map but if you didn't know, you missed the bus!

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Jeanine Kitchel's avatar

Our oceans are so fragile. An important post Ashleigh as a reminder to us all.

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Ashleigh at Travel Bugg's avatar

Absolutely Jeanine, marine conservation is so important and closely linked with Indigenous traditions.

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Jeanine Kitchel's avatar

Agreed. The Great MesoAmerican Reef in Puerto Morelos, QRoo Mexico (second largest in the world, right after Great Barrier) since 1999 has protected status. But sad to say, the amount of fish has certainly declined. It was so flush with everything just 25 years ago.

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Ashleigh at Travel Bugg's avatar

Jeanine, I’ve been looking at some marine protection programs and diving volunteer opportunities in that area! Heartbreaking to hear how it’s declined over the years

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Jeanine Kitchel's avatar

UNAM (Natl Autonomous University in Mexico) in Puerto Morelos specializes in marine biology. It's on the smallish side, and not sure if they take volunteers, but you might check them out.

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Ashleigh at Travel Bugg's avatar

amazing, thank you!

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Jeanine Kitchel's avatar

Very welcome.

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Justin's avatar

What a unique experience! It reminds me of the Geechee off of the Carolina Islands.

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Ashleigh at Travel Bugg's avatar

That’s a good point, Justin. I think we forget how linguistically diverse the U.S. is, especially in the south!

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Daniel Catena's avatar

It’s refreshing knowing that people like Gilbert exist to help maintain this language. Thanks for this eye-opening piece!

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Ashleigh at Travel Bugg's avatar

Dan, absolutely. Also, Gilbert’s cousin and mom were very kind to sit with me and go over some basic vocabulary words and their Spanish equivalents. I found a decent dictionary online as well! https://www.gunayala.org.pa/diccionario%20guna.pdf

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Cornel's avatar

Visited these islands in 1991, arriving in a small mail-carrying plane. There was no electricity on the islands then and tourism was not prevalent. Slept in a simple hut with a petrol lamp and ate with a few families what we had caught earlier in the day. It was a simpler life then but alcohol dependency had already created quite some ravages

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Ashleigh at Travel Bugg's avatar

Glad you were able to visit before tons of tourist influence, Cornel. Eating fresh-caught fish was a highlight for me.

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