In early January I visited Susana Valadez, an anthropologist who has been living with the Huichol people in Mexico for 30 years and is the director of the Huichol Cultural Center in Huejuquilla El Alto in Jalisco state. She has helped the Huichols find markets for their exquisitely detailed and colorful artwork made of small beads and yarn. At present the cultural center is in a rented space, but they have purchased some land just outside of town and have almost completed the new cultural center there. The site is off the electric grid and they want to remain independent of the town utilities. With this in mind I designed a moderate-sized solar electric system (costing about $4000) covering lighting, energy-efficient refrigeration, and power for office needs, and water pumping. The major components of this system are available from a domestic supplier, Energia Alternativa de Mexico in Reynosa. Susana is now working on finding the funding for the project.

In addition, they had already built a cistern at the new center that will hold about 6000 liters of water. I pointed out that by routing some PVC pipe from the nearby roof, the cistern would be ideal for collecting rainwater that runs off the roof during the monsoon season from May through October. If the cistern remains covered and light-tight (to avoid algae growth) it will provide about 35 liters/day of clean water for drinking and cooking throughout the dry season.

I really appreciated Susana’s hospitality and the warmth of the Huichol people. I hope to return to install the solar electric system when the project is funded.

[Note: Thanks to grants from Onaway Trust and the AMB Foundation, Plenty’s Soy and Nutrition Education Project with the Huichols will resume in March under the direction of Louise Hagler.]