Cienegas De Lerma - De marco antonio lopez - fotonarrativa Diploma and new media 2013

In ancient times this area had spectacular natural landscapes with lakes, islands and marshes. Vast expanses of cattails and rushes covered the waters, home to animals unique to this zone and a temporary ground for other species from faraway regions. However, this all changed recently. This is the story of a fascinating place, unknown even to most inhabitants of the Valley of Toluca. Ciénagas de Lerma. Echoes of the past. The context. Ciénagas de Lerma is located around ten minutes from the city of Toluca, at the foothills of the mountains separating the valley from Mexico City. In times gone by, dozens of springs and streams poured down from nearby mountains and flowed into three bodies of water, which during the rainy season formed an immense lake of up to 300 km². They are also the source of one of Mexico’s longest rivers, the Lerma. Sedge and other aquatic plant species provided food and shelter or fish, reptiles, amphibians and countless birds and insects. Over half a million migratory birds used to spend the winter here, including ducks, herons and pelicans. The peoples who originally lived on this land developed a way of life that relied almost entirely on the lagoons. Despite the Spanish conquest and the successive social movements experienced by Mexico, the lagoons and their inhabitants managed to coexist harmoniously until 1950, when the water and the entire way of life of this place disappeared. Only a few, elderly witnesses of this event now remain. They are the heirs to a rich river lifestyle, which has virtually disappeared from the center of Mexico. The witnesses. We would bathe and wash in the spring. They were springs, not like this. They were beautiful. We had known the marshes since we were children, because we lived from hunting, fishing and sedge. There were canoes, harnesses for the fishermen and trajineras (traditional boats). The canoes were enormous harnesses for the fishermen and trajineras (traditional boats). The canoes were enormous far more impressive than those at Xochimilco! You should have seen how much water poured out of here, in Tescuapa. Vast quantities of water, here in Tescuapa. and in Tecalco. People would come here to wash their clothes, and perform many other tasks. Fishermen would fish all night, then the next day we would buy all kinds of fish, axolotl, toad, white fish and tadpoles. From around 1937 or 1938, various government bodies came to carry out studies, but neither the people from Almoloya nor the municipal authorities knew why. Later, they learnt that the lagoon had to be maintained by an intelligent system devised by the engineers. People here never imagined that they would take it away. It was too large. They would go out there in their canoes –they couldn’t walk there- and wait. They would transport the wood here on rafts, for whatever work they were doing in Almoloya. The engineers came to indicate where they had to dig trenches and lay tubes. They would transport the wood here on rafts, for whatever work they were doing in Almoloya. The engineers came to indicate where they had to dig trenches and lay tubes. They had no need to blow up the sources of water and springs in Tecalco and Tescuapa. On June 23, the eve of San Juan, we suddenly heard a commotion. We went down, and to our surprise… they had taken away the water. In the blink of an eye it had all gone. When we arrived, all that was left were fish wriggling on the sea bed, but no water. Just like this mud here. It is still upsetting, because we spent so much time in the river. Adults and children would cry over the water that we had lost. It was such a sad thing to happen. They would cry and cry, and some would mourn in front of their houses. Those were unhappy times for us. When the water disappeared on the morning of the 24th, the villagers told us to pray and ask the priest to bless the water, to make it return. I went to pick up the little fish flailing away in Tescuapa. I felt as though I had lost a relative or a very old person. It was no longer the same. But no one paid any attention to a young boy in short trousers and a calico shirt. They would push us aside, and so we were never able to express ourselves. Who could possibly stand up to the Government? No. We lost all hope. It was all over. No. And none of the water returned. It had gone forever. The crisis. In 1962, ten years after the operation to transport the water to Mexico City began, the three centuries-old lagoons had almost entirely disappeared. All that was left was a few small pools and thousands of dying animals and plants. Large expanses of sedge were cut down and burnt to free the land for agriculture, industry and urbanization. It was not only an ecological but also social and cultural disaster. Indeed, the extinction of the lagoons and springs forced the local inhabitants to abandon their past way of life and find another way of surviving. Many of them left and started up businesses, and some recently became tailors. They have many workshops. We began to grow lettuce, cabbage and spinach on the lagoon. All kinds of vegetables. My grandfather taught my father and uncle, and my father taught me, then I taught my children. I did not teach them to fish as the lagoon had disappeared. They did not see them and now know nothing about that way of life. Our children have been brought up very differently to the way we were. Many people migrated, and now a lot of them are in the United States. Those years of adaptation were difficult and painful, but we had no choice. The call. When almost everything had been consumed, the unthinkable occurred: the water returned. The three lagoons gradually filled up, recreating a place almost lost in collective memory. As a result, life returned to this region. However, these marshes are still on the verge between life and death, threatened by urban and industrial growth. Numerous garbage trucks and drains empty waste directly into the water. There is also lead pollution, due to the cartridges used for duck shooting, and the deforestation of the mountains poses a risk for the aquifers. However, the most alarming factor is the lack of knowledge and indifference displayed by the inhabitants of the Valley of Toluca. Sixty years have passed since this devastating project virtually eliminated the lagoons and snatched away the river culture of the inhabitants. The current landscape, while spectacular, is only a shadow of its former glory. It valiantly clings to life and requires our help. Today, we are the protagonists of this story, and we represent the last hope to preserve forever this natural system so close to the city of Toluca, yet so far from our consciences. It is a duty to Nature as well to ourselves and our children In memory of the traditional way of life that provided a home and wellbeing for our ancestors. I still dream of the river, of coming to wash and bathe in it. I have never stopped dreaming – not every day, but occasionally, as I sleep. Now that I am older, I will leave this earth happy because I still feel love for what used to be the lagoon.