| MEXICO
-- With a big smile and lively, rapid-fire Spanish, Aurora Hernandez
Blancarte, rattled off her history of living in a small wood "shack"
to owning four bright orange concrete-block rental units and home
of her own. "Well, the floor of my house is still concrete,
I haven't put the tile in yet, but little by little I get it done."
Little by little is how the Techos de Mexico program evolved from
its roots in 1996. The idea was conceptualized by José Enrique
de Valle, an engineer and owner of the upscale Majahua hotel, restaurant,
and spa. In the early 1990s he was watching Americans and Canadians
come to the once remote fishing village of Chacala,
Nayarit
and buy lots from residents for US$6,000 for their winter homes.
(Today the same lot sells for US$60,000). Having little future vision
when trying to support a family on meager fishing incomes, some
Chacala families would sell because they needed the money. They
would then move "up into the hills a little bit further."
He watched this displacement go on time and time again -- the fishing
village was changing to a tourist destination like many of Mexico's
west coast villages. Meanwhile, many of the men in the village,
eager to feed their families, would set off for the United States
looking for work. Locals were losing their land and their families.
Techos de Mexico was created to help people become part of the burgeoning
tourism industry rather than simply becoming subservient to it.
José Enrique called a meeting to introduce the idea of lending
money to local families to build rental units above their homes.
The funds would come from outside sources -- including foreigners
who stayed in his hotel. The guest houses would consist of one bedroom,
one bathroom, and an open terrace kitchen, often with a view of
Chacala Bay. The idea was to avoid the pitfalls of interdependent
co-operatives where members are reliant upon one another in a co-ownership
situation. Rather, the notion was to develop a "cellular"
program of independence where families could develop their own quality
businesses by taking out small loans and by contributing sweat equity,
much like a Finnish talkoot, or in the U.S., an 18th century barn
raising. The idea -- technically a consumer building co-op in cooperative
economics theory -- was scoffed at in the beginning, interesting
only 29 of the 300 or so households in Chacala. To qualify families
must own their lot and subject themselves, their families, and their
homes to being ranked on a point system to establish who would qualify
and who would receive assistance first. A few of the more well off
families opted not to participate once ranked. Some families went
on to build their own rental units without the help of the new program.
Since the inception of the Techos program funding has been granted
by several sources including Continental Airlines and The Gap, however,
contributors gave more than money. Their employees were required
to visit Chacala to contribute labor alongside participating families.
Likewise, a family who contributed 150 hours of work for another
family could then be put in line for assistance in the program.
Once a rental unit was built, the owner would rent it out. The family
keeps 50% of the profit and gives 50% back to the Techos program
in payment of their loan. Aurora told me she was booked nearly solid
from October to March in all of her rental units. Her micro loan
is paid off and little by little she continues to improve her units
and her own home.
To avoid the overhead costs associated with a formal organization
the Techos de Mexico program is not incorporated or registered as
an Asociación Civil (A.C.), an incorporated non-profit in
Mexico. Rather, the funds are held in a joint bank account that
requires two Techos member's signatures to make withdrawals.
As of today seven Techos de Mexico guest house projects have been
completed. Rates range from US$28 per night to US$50 per night.
Many are booked well in advance with repeat clients from Canada,
the United States, and several European countries during the winter
months. Still lacking though is the Techos de Mexico Web site with
many of its pages "under construction." Making reservations
ahead of time is somewhat like the Techos de Mexico program itself
-- it depends upon the assistance of others. For instance an American
woman who has lived in Chacala for three years has visited the guest
houses, among other places to stay in Chacala, and has written descriptions
of each of them in her blog. She includes photos of each of the
guest houses and will help with reservations through chacalabudgetrentals.blogspot.com.
She told me she does this because she is friends with
many of the women who operate the Techos guest houses and likes
to contribute. In fact, Mr. de Valle noted that the Techos program
is a "women's program," meaning that it is driven
primarily by a network of women. Their husbands are usually out
at sunrise to fish, they return to clean their catches, work on
nets and boats most of the day, then return to the sea each evening
to re-set their nets. They leave their wives to tend to the rooms
and the guests.
Guest house reservations can be made online through a booking agent;
however, the agent receives up to 15% of the rental rate, effectively
reducing the profits of the Techos owners. For example, a US$50
per night room only returns the owner US$21.25, when booked through
an agent. When you consider that a day's worth of fish (about
a milk crate full) yields a fisherman only about US$16, each dollar
a family's guest room earns can buy another liter of boat
gas or food for the family.
Little by little is how the Techos de Mexico program has become
established. One house at a time in a fast-growing community that
currently has over 30 construction projects -- many by foreigners
-- is how Chacala residents are becoming part of the tourism industry,
rather than being overtaken by it.
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