Explore the Tehuelibampo Eco Museum

The Eco Museum at Tehuelibampo

Tehuelibampo, Sonora, Mexico

The pueblo of Tehuelibampo, Sonora is the location of an archaeological site and eco-museum of the Yoreme Mayo culture and local natural environment, located on 25 acres of land near the Mayo River about 18 miles northeast of Navojoa, Sonora. The location derives its name from the word Tehueli-ba in the language of the Mayo, which means “blue water.”

The museum is located across the river from the road where it is accessed from Barrio Cantúa, Sonora. From December to March it can be accessed by a rowboat that is guided by a cable to the museum’s dock, and for the other eight months of the year there is a spot where the grassy riverbed is accessible on foot.

The Tehuelibampo Eco Museum is a marvelous building constructed of native stones that fits perfectly into the scenery of the terraced rock hill it sits atop of. Inside are beautiful ceiling murals painted by local muralist RV Payan, and the stone walls are adorned with paintings that depict ancient cave wall art and symbols depicted in petroglyphs carved into rocks around the area. There are also faux stone depictions of the local rock art that add a realistic accent to the place.

The museum is used as an educational site for groups of students to learn about the ancient and recent history of the Yoreme Mayo and the plants, animals and other features of the beautiful Southern Sonora river region environment where it is located.

Behind the museum is a nature path through a wooded area, where as you walk you can hear the calls from a variety of birds that are native to the region, or may be making a visit during their biannual migratory route.

The path leads to an opening between two large rock walls, where you will hike back into ancient history, observing the variety of more than 100 rock-art petroglyphs along the side walls that were carved into the rock between 2,500 and 3,000 years ago by the Proto-Mayan peoples.

The hike along the ravine ends at the Well of Enchantment, a local legend that promises clarity of mind and a personal learning experience if the person spends three nights at the well.

I want to thank my guides for showing me this marvelous place – Señor Atalio Jusacamea of Tehuelibampo and Señor Martin Soria, President of the Office of Conventions and Visitors (OCV) in Navojoa, Sonora. If you are interested in the ecology, history and culture of Southern Sonora, I would definitely recommend that you visit this marvelous place.

To arrange a visit to this unique, spiritual place, contact OCV Navojoa, call +52 (642) 421-5531 or +52 (642) 422-7260, or send them an email. All of the contact information listed is in Spanish, if you do not speak Spanish you may contact us, and we can help to arrange a visit.

Eco Museo de Tehuelibampo, Sonora, Mexico

Traditional Fiestas of the Holy Trinity in Southern Sonora

Traditional Fiestas of the Holy Trinity

El Júpare, Huatabampo and Etchojoa, Sonora, Mexico

Fiestas Traditionales de la Santisima Trinidad en Sonora, Mexico

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The feast day of the Holy Trinity has one of the longest histories on the liturgical calendar – it has been celebrated for more than 1000 years. And this Christian tradition is a major traditional religious event for the Yoreme Mayo of Southern Sonora and Northern Sinaloa. The festivities begin on the weekend of the Sunday of the Pentecost, which is 50 days after Easter and one week before the Sunday of the Holy Trinity.

Pentecost is celebrated as the day that the Holy Spirit descended upon the Apostles and other followers of Christ in Jerusalem, as they were observing the Feast of Weeks. A peregrination of the faithful begins in the pueblo of El Júpare, Sonora and walks to the Church of the Holy Spirit in Etchojoa, Sonora, Because of this, the weekend activities are also known as the Peregrination of the Holy Spirit of Etchojoa.

On the early Saturday morning of Pentecost weekend, a procession led by matachin dancers followed by a likeness of the Holy Trinity and hundreds of the faithful on foot and on horseback leaves the Church of the Holy Trinity in El Júpare, Sonora.

The procession continues to Huatabampo, where a morning mass is celebrated at 6:00 a.m. Following the mass, the procession continues to the town of Etchojoa, where another mass is held before the fiestas of the Holy Spirit begin.

On Sunday, the caminantes and horse riders begin their return trip to Huatabampo, where they arrive in the afternoon for a mass and a traditional farewell ceremony known as “La Despedida,” where all of the representations of saints that have been borne by the caminantes are brought together to say goodbye before the procession begins the final leg of the Pentecostal weekend peregrination to El Júpare.

The following weekend’s festivities are in El Júpare, where there are fiestas on Saturday and masses on Sunday to celebrate the feast day of the town’s patron saints.

Iglesia de la Santisima Trinidad - El Júpare, Sonora

Leaving El Júpare

Arriving in Huatabampo

Huatabampo Morning Mass

Arriving in Huatabampo from Etchojoa

Los Matachines – Traditional Dancers

La Despedida – A Farewell

2017 Pitic International Festival in Hermosillo

2017 Pitic International Festival

Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico

Fiestas del Pitic

This year was the 15th year of this cultural, arts and music event to celebrate the founding of the city of Hermosillo, and it was a big party in the city center from May 25 to May 30, 2017.

The city was originally known as Pitic, and Hermosillo started the party in 2003 as the Fiestas del Pitic. Last year the name of the event was changed to the Festival International de Pitic, to make the gathering more of an international happening.

The festival is quite a remarkable event that transforms the areas around Plaza Zaragoza and Plaza Bicentenario, and other areas in the city, into a huge street party. Vendors of all kinds of Mexican and international cuisine, desserts, arts and crafts, bacanora and a variety of cold brewed beverages line the plazas and streets,

In addition, different sized stages set up throughout the downtown area as venues for music, theater plays and other entertainment that goes on continually throughout the afternoon and evening, and the streets were also filled with individual performers doing magic and performance art, reading fortunes or just posing for photos in exchange for a few pesos.

The main stage had a major performer or group every night, this year’s popular headliners were the Mexican duo Jesse y Joy. And to make this a truly international event one of the headliners this year was Christopher Cross, who I had last seen opening for the Eagles way back when. The festival also featured a variety of music genres from opera to rock, traditional and contemporary Mexican music, and even country and western.

And there are also fun, impromptu events and the Festival del Pitic. I was walking in the downtown area on the afternoon of the last day of the fiestas and joined with a crowd that was following actors, musicians, dancers and other performers in a walking history and music presentation that was very entertaining and informative.

To be honest, I had heard of the event but was not aware that it was in progress until I arrived in Hermosillo on May 30, the last day of the 2017 festivities. I am going to mark my calendar when the dates for next year’s festival are announced and will be sharing information for the 2018 Fiestas del Pitic, because the Festival is a very fun, relaxing, entertaining and delicious event.

So if you are interested in having a great intercultural experience among some of the most beautiful sights of the capital of Sonora, Mexico, I would recommend that you come to Hermosillo, Sonora to enjoy the Festival Internacional del Pitic. Stay tuned, we will post dates and information for the 2018 festival when they are announced.

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The Capilla de San Francisco Xavier in Magdalena

The Capilla de San Francisco Xavier

Magdalena de Kino, Sonora, Mexico

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The Capilla de San Francisco is located near the Santa Maria de Magdalena church on the Plaza Monumental in Magdalena de Kino. The image of San Francisco Javier had been located in a chapel on one side of the church, but is now on display inside of this impressive building.

San Francisco Javier has been a revered saint in Sonora since he was introduced to the region by Jesuit priest Father Eusebio Francisco Kino in the late 1600’s.

Thousands of people come to visit San Francisco every year, including pilgrims who travel to Magdalena on foot, on horseback and in vehicles to visit the saint during the Fiestas de San Francisco (also known as the Fiestas of October) held every year in late September and early October.

Read more about the Fiestas de San Francisco.

The Capilla de San Francisco was opened on March 10, 2013, after it was blessed by Father Ulises Macías Salcedo, the Archbishop of Hermosillo. It is a must-see for visitors to Magdalena de Kino, Sonora, Mexico.

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The Museum of Popular and Indigenous Cultures of Sonora

Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico

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The Museum of Popular and Indigenous Cultures of Sonora is a center of education and displays related to the indigenous cultures not only of Sonora, but of Mexico and the world. The museum, which is located on one side of Plaza Bicentenario in downtown Hermosillo, features information and exhibits related to the eight established Sonoran indigenous groups.

Seven of the groups were original inhabitants of Sonora:

Cucapá
Tohono O’odham, or Papago
Makurawe, or Guarijío
Yoreme, or Mayo
Comcáac, or Seri
Yoeme, or Yaqui, and
O’ob, or Pima.

The eighth indigenous group, the Kikapú, are of migrant origin but have had a presence of more than 100 years in Sonora.

The building that houses the museum was originally a home designed by renowned local architect Plutarco Diaz for German immigrant Herr Grürinig, who along with his partners Dr. Alberto Hoeffer and James Schusley established the Cervecería de Sonora brewery in Hermosillo in 1898. The house was completed in 1904, and after Grürinig’s death the house was passed on to his partner Dr. Hoeffer, who later sold it to the state of Sonora. It is still known as the Casa de Hoeffer, or Hoeffer House.

On October 15, 1997, the Hoeffer House was officially opened as the Museum of Popular and Indigenous Cultures of Sonora. The museum has five exhibition rooms, organized according to the geographic locations of the various native peoples. The rooms contain information about the history and cultures of the various ethnic groups, along with photos, paintings and displays of items that tell a unique story for every cultural group.

The building’s courtyard features a mural by the extraordinary artist Ethel Cooke and murals by Arte Facto del Sol and Enrique G.

The upstairs area is office space for the Sonoran Institute of Culture’s Regional Unit of Popular Cultures, the Information and Documentation Center, and research areas. The second-floor hallway also features more fabulous murals and messages by Ethel Cooke providing amazing visual depictions of the indigenous peoples of Sonora.

In addition to serving as a museum, the Museum of Popular and Indigenous Cultures of Sonora is also a center for research and provides educational programs for all ages of learners, from preschool students to post-graduate researchers. It has been a source of information for many television programs such as the Discovery Channel and Televisa, and has provided information for master’s and doctoral theses prepared by academics from Mexico, the United States, Germany, France and Peru.

The Museum of Popular and Indigenous Cultures of Sonora is a must-see cultural learning experience for your exploration of Hermosillo, to better understand the richly diverse and fascinating history and cultural landscape of the state of Sonora.

Museo de Culturas Populares - Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico

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The Metal Monuments of Navojoa

Navojoa, Sonora, Mexico

When driving around the city of Navojoa, you may see some interesting pieces of big, metal artwork that has been placed in the island between lanes on boulevards and other thoroughfares.

The imposing and beautiful iron figures are from four to 10 meters in height, and their shapes represent patterns from nature, prehistoric Latin culture, African influences, Sonoran cultural symbols, and curved and geometric modernist combinations of shapes from the creator’s fertile imagination.

There are hundreds of these marvelous works on the property of a church, in a quiet neighborhood on the north side of Navojoa. The gigantic pieces whose surface oxidation only contributes a hue to their imposing beauty sit quietly on display, some in a garden environment and others in a second storage area that is a field of dirt punctuated by brown-orange creations.

The monuments are not for sale – the artist from Guadalajara who created them will only donate them to worthy recipients. He hires people who have had setbacks in life, like addictions, to assist him in creating the art, teaching them valuable work skills like welding and metal fabrication.

In the meantime, these beautiful pieces stand in collections that make their resting place a garden of iron, a truly fascinating place to walk among them and enjoy the variety of shapes and admire the creativity of the person who created them.