In the heart of the Potosí highlands, the sacred territory of Wirikuta, located in the municipality of Catorce, San Luis Potosí, represents one of the most complex, diverse, and culturally significant arid ecosystems on the planet. Its area—just over 140,000 hectares—may seem modest compared to the immensity of the Chihuahuan Desert, but its biological density […]

Dawn takes its time in the Chihuahuan desert. By the time the first light brushes the hills above Wirikuta, Wixárika pilgrims are already moving, with gourd bowls and candles in hand, and stories carried in footsteps along a 500-kilometer thread of sacred sites that ties mountains to springs, desert to sea, and families to their ancestors. Last month, UNESCO wove that thread into World Heritage. 

On the night of March 18, 2022, a full moon rose over the Cerro del Quemado, the mountain known to the Wixárika people as the Birthplace of the Sun, to reveal an unforgettable sight. Hundreds of Wixaritari – elders, youth, children, mothers and fathers with babies in their arms – encircled the concentric rings of […]

Ancient stories are responsible for giving continuity and direction to the human adventure on Earth, connecting the community with its sacred center. For the elder Wixáritari brothers and sisters, the desert plateau in San Luis Potosí, México, known as Wirikuta, is the cosmic origin, the foundational center that organizes the spiritual ecology of the world. […]

I was witnessing the first stone in a long-term project that seeks to restore and regenerate the desert in what many have come to call the “botanical garden” of Wirikuta. And as I watched this dream come to life, I was reminded of the symbolic Candles of Life, renovated every year in the pilgrimages carried out by the Wixárika people for whom this land holds a central place in their cosmology.

When it rains in the high plateaus of San Luis Potosí, Mexico, the dampened earth releases a scent that showcases its unique biodiversity. During the rainy season, greasewood bushes, mesquites, yucca and a wide variety of cacti flower and give their fruits, while the locals plant their cornfields that grow according to the nourishment they […]

“Wirikuta is not for sale!” Wixarika leaders and activists take the stage at Wirikuta Fest to the chants of 60,000 fans. Story and photos by Tracy L. Barnett It was a long time coming – but it was worth the wait. Nearly two years ago, more than a dozen of Mexico’s biggest performing artists came […]

Canadian author and activist Maude Barlow atop the Cerro Quemado with Wixarika leader Santos de la Cruz. (Tracy L. Barnett photos) REAL DE CATORCE, Mexico – From the moment Maude Barlow passed under the crumbling stone arch and saw the first nopalera laden with red cactus fruits, she knew she was entering another dimension. Accompanied […]

MEXICO CITY – The old Mexico met the new one Saturday at the massive Foro Sol and together, in an explosion of rhythm and light and living energy, they danced the night away. Wirikuta Fest, a lineup of nearly 20 big-name recording artists, was as much a celebration of Mexico’s indigenous roots and living heritage […]

Editorial note: This historic pilgrimage occurred on Feb. 6, 2012. After much pressure from the Wixárika people and civil society, and a favorable court ruling, the mining projects were put on hold — but only time will tell how this will end. Story and photos by Tracy L. Barnett. REAL DE CATORCE, Mexico – They […]

By Tracy L. Barnett MIRANDO CITY, TEXAS – It was an unforgettable meeting of cultures: Lakota and Navajo, Chippewa and Cree, Coahuiltecan and Chichimecan and more, joining hearts and minds wth their Wixaritari brothers in a hogan in South Texas. “Never in my life did I imagine that this moment would come,” said Efren Bautista […]

As this year comes to a close, we find ourselves pausing — not because the work is finished, but because reflection is part of responsible storytelling. At The Esperanza Project, the past year has been one of sustained listening: to communities defending land and water, to artists preserving memory, to women carrying ancestral knowledge forward, […]

Thick clouds covered the unusually lush, green lands of San Luis Potosí as campesinos and their Wixárika guardians gathered at the edge of the barbed wire. Back home in their adobe kitchens, women prepared huge skillets of scrambled eggs, steaming pots of beans and warm, fresh tortillas. Those savory flavors of the Wirikuta region would […]

Dear Friends of The Esperanza Project, As we reflect on 2024, we’re once again struck by the profound wisdom and resilience demonstrated in communities across the Americas. From the sacred waters of the Andes to the Black Hills of South Dakota, from Mexico City’s threatened Bosque de Agua to Colombia’s Sierra Nevada, this year’s stories […]

At the request of the Mamos, the spiritual guides of the Sierra Nevada, please share this message far and wide. From the mist-shrouded peaks of Colombia’s Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, I’m witnessing an unprecedented gathering of Indigenous leaders and environmental defenders who have come together from five continents to protect a river sacred to […]

Para leer este artículo en Español ir a Defendiendo lo Sagrado en Colombia: Un Llamado a la Acción Today I write to you from the “Heart of the World,” the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, Colombia, where Indigenous communities—the Arhuaco, Kogi, Wiwa, and Kankuamo peoples—are facing intensifying violence after decades fighting to defend their land and […]

By Tracy L. Barnett and Angélica AlmazánWith collaboration by Noelle Romero and Martín Buen Viaje Alberto Ruz Buenfil, the inspiration for The Esperanza Project* and many other initiatives to create the better world we know is possible, passed away on Dec. 7, 2023, after a courageous three-year “transit through the Tropic of Cancer” as he […]

It’s been nearly three weeks since I left the suffocating conditions of a Mexican heat wave to land right in the middle of another one in Missouri. This one was a little cooler — 94 degrees instead of 98. Along with the Southwestern US, Mexico is suffering a brutal heat wave — but with a […]

This weekend has been a frightening one for many here in Mexico — at least among the people who care about the land and our Indigenous peoples. The social media networks were on fire after it was announced that a longtime friend, Wixárika land defender and attorney Santos de la Cruz Carrillo, had disappeared on […]

Last year was a tough one, on many counts. A pandemic that wouldn’t let go; devastating heat waves, wildfires, storms and floods around the globe; spiraling inflation and economic hardship; the war in Ukraine, with heavy worldwide impacts. Sometimes it was hard to see the silver lining.  But behind the headlines, good things were happening […]