December 19th
, 2011
SO, WHATS UP.. continued from page 17
be brewed into tasty teas. There is plenty of grass in the Laguna, which feeds the deer and the famously large Spanish cows and bulls. These beasts were brought over by the Spaniards 500 years ago, and over time have escaped their ranches to run free, mingling with assorted other escaped cows, horses and burros. The marvelous landscape is also home to wild pigs, pumas, coyotes, and birds. There are fields of daisies, oak trees and pine forests.
The core biosphere area covers 126 square miles, while the entire area covers 434 square miles. Almost 312 square miles are in the buffer zone, including the 2.35 square miles where you can play the eco-tourist game. The water is crystal clear, falling from the sky and coming from underground sources, flowing down the
extensive arroyos. From the highest point, at 6,924 feet, you can see La Paz on one side and La Ribera on the gulf coast and even Cerritos beach on the Pacific Ocean just south of Todos Santos. It is the only place in the Baja where you can get a true per- spective of this rich, Eden- like environment surrounded on three sides by the sea. In an effort to help the people preserve both the land of the Sierra, and the culture of the ranchers, locals like Don Catarino have been en- couraged by the government to become licensed guides. They have been trained in sustainable eco-tourism. It isn’t just about business though. This strange land is about the survival of a soci- ety where one lives off what the land has to offer. These people have very little money, and what money they have is used to keep the ranch ve- hicles going, to maybe add a solar panel, and to send their children to school. Ranch children are taken down the
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hill to live at their school dur- ing the week, returning home on weekends. This modern education has led to a loss of transferred skills handed down from their parents and grandparents and the result is a culture which is in danger of being lost.
Some ranches specialize in making machaca (a kind of dry beef) or cheese. They engage in leather work and carpentry using scavenged local wood. They do not cut trees.
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year, and the ranchers are worried. The state govern- ment is also concerned, as it just declared Baja California Sur in a state of drought. The drought will have an immedi- ate effect on the families be- cause they cannot count on the now very dry vegetation, which is food for themselves, their horses and burros. In San Dionisio many of the
This has been a drought
ranchers plant gardens, so their gardens will suffer. During the growing sea- son, ranchers will feed you amazing garden products and fresh poultry, pork and beef, or whatever the ranch pro- duces. Currently you can find organic oranges that defy de- scription; but they are the definition of what a sweet or- ange should taste like. Many
ranchers grow a variety of citrus fruits, avocados, water- melon, and other fruits and vegetables such as corn, beans, and a super food that grows all year round, called purslane.
An abundance of mangos are grown, and local sweets are produced from these to be sold. Guides offer their continued on page 29
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