Pre Ghost?

Saturday night we drove up into the highlands of Jalisco to visit Temacapulin, a town nestled in hills along the Rio Verde actively resisting relocation because of a dam.  I am personally very interested in dams and their many social, economic, and political implications, so I have read a lot of literature on the topic.  Nothing prepares you for pulling into a town you know could be inundated within a few months.  It’s like seeing a ghost before it’s a ghost, but knowing it’s going to be a ghost soon - most likely.

On the other hand, it is so inspiring to witness an entire village rise up, and cover it’s walls and doors and plaza with statements of defiance and pride.  In a land of machismo, I loved meeting with women who were in their 90s and fired up.  I can’t imagine possibly losing your home after that many years.  The youth leave to work in Monterrey and Guadalajara, and this resistance has reconnected the younger generations in the struggle.  It was good to find so much beauty in this movement, and my sentiments upon leaving were much more hopeful.  All in all it was a surreal experience.

I’m going to write about this issue and experience on Adapting to Scarcity, so please visit that site to learn more about the history and deeper context.

Inside their newly founded museum, they mixed recent movements with their town’s history.