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For current information about the Land and Water Revisited documentary film, please visit www.LandandWaterRevisited.org

Thank you,

Kirk French

Este documental fue grabado en 1961 por el finado William T. Sanders, un profesor de antropología de la Universidad de Pensilvania State. Fue usado como una herramienta educativa exclusivamente desde hace 60 años. Hasta el verano de 2018, el film estaba narrado en inglés, ahora con fondos de la Universidad de Pennsylvania State, el documental ha sido remasterizado, digitalizado, y narrado en español.

Se muestra los métodos de agricultura por mano que eran usados por muchos siglos en el pasado. Hoy en día, a causa de los cambios drásticos del medio ambiente en esta región, muchos de estos métodos ya no se practican. Ha habido cambios enormes en el Valle de Teotihuacán desde 1961, como pasa en muchos lugares a través del mundo. Se disfrutan imágenes de la tuna, la fruta más abundante en el valle, la producción de pulque en Rancho Huixcoloco (Metepec), los muchos usos del maguey, ¡y mucha más!


Land and Water (Tierra y Agua) is a documentary made in 1961 by the late William T. Sanders, a professor of anthropology at the Pennsylvania State University. It was exclusively used as a teaching tool for the last 60 years. Until the summer of 2018, the film was narrated in English. Now with funds from the Pennsylvania State University, the documentary has been remastered, digitized, and narrated in Spanish.

It shows the methods of agricultural production by hand that were used for centuries in the past. Today, due to the drastic environmental changes in this region, many of these methods are no longer practiced. There have been enormous changes in the Teotihuacán Valley since 1961, as is the case with many other places around the world. Enjoy images of the tuna, the most abundant fruit in the valley, the production of pulque at Rancho Huixcaloco (Metepec), the many uses of the maguey, and much more!

 Para descargar / Download

Por favor venga a la próxima proyección pública y gratuita

el lunes 9 de julio a las 6 pm (18h) en

el centro de Santa María Coatlán.

 

 Primera vista

Miércoles, 4 de julio a las 17h

Avenida Adolfo Lopez Mateos #10

Casa Ejidal de San Juan Teotihuacan

y sus barrios

Comisariado, Felix Alarcon Cardenas

Land and Water (Tierra y Agua)

Un estudio ecológico del valle de Teotihuacán de México

Un documental de William T. Sanders

En 1961 el antropólogo William T. Sanders grabó un documental acerca del valle de Teotihuacán.

Desde prácticas agrícolas hasta la producción de pulque, el documental es un recordatorio de cuán rápido nuestro paisaje y comunidad pueden cambiar en tan sólo 60 años.

¿Estás interesado en ver cómo era el valle en 1961? Ven a una de nuestras exhibiciones GRATUITAS

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Day 5 - An Early Return

During breakfast, Maria and I decided it best to go check out a few more of the pueblos from the documentary and head back to Mexico City a day early. We had accomplished more than I thought possible in the short amount of time we had been in the Teo Valley. In addition, I realized I could save several hundred dollars by checking out a day early and returning the rental car.

We first went to Oztotecpac looking for the old train station. Luckily we found it (see photo). On the way to Mazapa we saw a freshly planted field of nopales. Nopales are the only succulent planted in the area today, as maguey cultivation is all but extinct in the valley due to the decline in pulque demand. Nopales are grown for their leaves (pencas) and their fruit (tunas).

Next we stopped off in the zocalo of Mazapa to take a few photos.

Lastly, on our way back to Mexico City we stopped to take advantage of the extremely clear day to take a few shots of Popocatepetl and Iztaccihuatl.

I believe we have enough footage and stills to hopefully convince funding agencies of the importance of redocumenting the Teotihuacan Valley.

Day 4 - La Especial and a Cute Little Lamb

The morning was spent catching up on field notes and writing questions to ask Don Luis and his friends. We left the hotel around 11:30am and went over to Rancho Huixcoloco to tell Gustavo that we would not be able to meet with him later in the day. We were told that he does not work as a guard at the hacienda anymore. He had been moved. We assume that he got into trouble yesterday for letting us into the hacienda. We felt pretty bad. But we soon got over it.

We arrived in San Juan Teotihuacán around 12:30pm and took some footage of the zocalo. We soon mosied into La Especial and met with Don Luis, Don Humberto Pineste Montemibio (Don Luis's cousin), and Maurilio Vega Suarez. Don Humberto remembered Sanders and crew very well. Maurilio is a local historian who had a bag full of pictures (photo copies of photo copies of photographs). He did not know Sanders but was very interested in talking to Maria about everything. He showed here about 5 million photographs. Again, I felt kind of bad about this. And yet again, I soon got over it. The tequila helped.

Next came the barbacoa. And this barbacoa had all the trimmings (kidneys, liver, lungs, etc.). Maria and I sucked it up and had 6 tacos of each of this amazingly grotesque, but delicious, cute little lamb.

I then set up the camera and filmed these old timers watch Land and Water. It wasn’t the reaction I was hoping for. It was in a bar and there were a lot of distractions. They seemed more impressed with the outtakes. Maria thinks this has something to do with the English narrative in the film versus the silence of the outtakes. We also interviewed each of them after the film to get their reactions.

After the film, we drank and talked, and drank, and laughed, and drank a little more. It was a great afternoon and making those contacts is invaluable.

We ended the day in true Norte Americano style by watching the New Orleans Saints spank the Indianapolis Colts in the Super Bowl and ordering a pizza from Don Mincho's Pizzeria.

A fine day.

Day 3 - Killer Bees and a Low Speed Chase

Trying to find our way up Mt. Malinal (Malinalco) Maria asked the military how to get there. Although they told us we couldn’t go through San Juan Teotihuacan, they told us to go through Cozotlan. We followed that road and started to go around and up mount Malinal. We drove on a dirt road through several ejidos and met Porfirio Medina who gave us permission to hike through his land (which was covered with nopal). He told us about the military fence that would not let us go all the way to the top. We hiked up until we found a water tank and a sign warning about the presence of breeding killer bees hives. We then proceeded quietly to take some pictures and decided to hike back down and encountered another hive of killer bees in a maguey that had been “castrated” for pulque production. We found another path that seemed to go around the mountain. We followed it and came to the military fence that went up the mountain again. We filmed from the top and also noticed springs as we hiked down. We then missed the path to the car and started walking in the appropriate direction. While walking we found a possible site, loaded with fine orange pottery and obsidian, and promptly recorded its location with GPS. We hiked up a tiny hill and found the location of the car. But to get to it we had to climb over a fence. We were spotted by someone who yelled at us and then saw a red pick-up truck hauling ass down the mountain towards us. We ran and jumped into the car and fled in our super Chevy Aveo.

We drove to San Juan to investigate the zocalo and get a beer. After locating one of the principle buildings from the original film, Maria noticed a bar across the street called La Especial. She remembered this name from one of the photographs. We walked inside and ordered micheladas. We began talking to the bartender, Oscar, and he told us that this bar had been here since 1942. We showed him a little of the footage and he was very impressed. He soon called the owner and told him what was going on. Moments later the owner of the bar, Don Luis Cano Garcia (aka “El Pollo”), walked in. He was shy at first but Maria went to talk to him. He immediately warmed up and told us that he remembered all the people from the Penn State project (Sanders, Charlie Fletcher, Joe Marino, Bill Mather, Barbara Price, and many more). He said there were 15 of them in all. He said that this was the bar they all hung out in everyday. He said, that in 1961 “La Especial” was an “elitist” bar. Only generals, captains, commanders, Spaniards, and Sanders were served here.

We showed Don Luis some of the footage and the entire bar became a buzz. Everyone was so excited to see their town of San Juan as it was 50 years ago. Don Luis even called the mayor, Senor Sanchez, on is cell phone. Turns out, the mayor is a relative of Juan Sanchez from Atlatongo. Don Luis also said doing a public showing of the film is a great idea and getting permission would not be an issue.

Next, Don Luis said he would have a party in our honor the next day starting at 12:30. He said he was going to invite a few other old timers. He agreed to be interviewed on camera. Hopefully we can interview several people. We did not tell Don Louis but have decided to show Land and Water at the bar and film people’s reaction. I am looking at this as an opportunity to show, on a much smaller scale, the reactions that people are going to have when they see the film at one of the public showings in August.

After having more drinks with Don Luis, the asshole that was with Ana Maria Vasquez (a nice lady who offered us a place to stay during the project) became extremely jealous and abrasive, insulting Maria and myself. He was beyond drunk and things started getting out of hand. We promptly closed our tab and told Don Louis that we would see him tomorrow.

An adventurous and productive day to say the least.