“ColoreAndo Río Lagartos” is a socio-artistic project that seeks to promote the ecotourism development of Río Lagartos, Yucatán, through the promotion of sustainable mobility. This socio-artistic intervention is carried out in joint collaboration between the Government of the State of Yucatán through the Secretary of Tourism Promotion of the State (Sefotur), the City Council of Río Lagartos, the social impact program Comex for a Well Done and Collective Mexico Tomato.
“Two of the great pillars of our social impact program are the cohesion of the social fabric and awareness about caring for the environment, which is why we found in ColoreAndo Río Lagartos the necessary synergy to contribute from our trenches actions that contribute to strengthening of the communities, demonstrating that we can all live together and live in a safe and inclusive public space surrounded by art and culture,” said Mai Hernández, director of the Comex program for a Well Done Mexico.
During the project, 26 socio-artistic workshops were carried out, the purpose of which was to stimulate community participation, generate collective trust, and promote sustainable mobility in Río Lagartos. Some of the workshops were “Mural of Colors”, “Biciescuela”, “Tourism Meeting”, “Nonviolent Communication”, among several others that promoted dialogue, encounter and connection between people in the community.
For her part, the head of State Tourism, Michelle Fridman Hirsch, commented that giving continuity to the instructions of the Governor, Mauricio Vila Dosal, for the Tourism Decentralization Plan, these activities are part of the actions that have been implemented by the campaign “Yucatán is color”, which is not only a promotional campaign but has allowed communities to unite through murals and color interventions, which are tourist attractions in more than 12 locations in the state and which will now be reinforced with the appointments of the new Magical Towns, “this also complements a series of actions, such as in Río Lagartos, to promote tourism through the new Puerto Maya tourist region and to contribute to other actions such as attracting investment, training,improvement of infrastructure and social development”.
ColoreAndo Río Lagartos carried out road interventions that covered 427.8 m2 with color at the intersections of Calle 9 with Calles 10, 12, 13, 15 and 17. This painting promoted community participation and triggered the appropriation of public space. In addition, with the collaboration of 5 artists, 13 murals were painted that tell the stories of the community and address issues of sustainable mobility; This process involved a pint of 411.2 m2 on different walls in the town. Both in the road intervention and in the mural, a total of 320 liters of paint were used that gave color to Río Lagartos.
“Río Lagartos is made up of all of us. We thank the citizens of this great port, because without their participation one of the main objectives of the project would not have been possible: the active participation of women, men, girls, boys and the elderly. Thus, with the union of all of us, we will continue making our home the pink dot of the Yucatecan coast”, commented Floricely Alcocer Marfil, municipal president of Río Lagartos.
The project was carried out in a total of 59 days and had the support of 23 volunteers and 9 families who, with their efforts and collaboration, brought the stories of the community to life. This socio-artistic intervention directly benefits 226 people and 385 indirectly.
“The wonderful community of Río Lagartos welcomed us on its streets to stimulate ecotourism development and opened the doors of their homes to promote sustainable mobility. Now, the inhabitants of this beautiful municipality experience its streets in ways that do not involve motorized vehicles. We thank our alliances and the entire community for their generous collaboration,” said Guillermo Milano, executive director of Colectivo Tomate.
Yucatan is a state full of color, from those provided by nature, those that are shown in its constructions of archaeological zones, monuments, museums, mansions and haciendas, to the very gastronomy of the region, which is why the realization of these murals , complement and highlight the attractions of each of the municipalities where they have been carried out. Let us remember that the state is divided into six tourist regions, in which in each one, you can find attractions and activities that complement the cultural, historical and gastronomic richness of each one of them, being able to visit not only Magical Towns of great beauty, but unique archaeological sites, hundreds of kilometers of coastline with emerald green and turquoise blue colors, mangroves, cenotes, pink pools and much more.
In this way, civil society organizations, private initiative and government agencies join efforts to strengthen the social fabric of communities in the personal, social, cultural, environmental and economic spheres in a sustainable and collective manner.
