We’d been waiting for quite some time to hear back from the powers that be in the presidencia about whether the application to change La Yacata zoning from agricultural to residential was approved. At the last meeting, the board said they wanted to wait for the well-study results. So once we turned them in, we were hoping for a speedy response. But then, I don’t know what we were thinking. This is MEXICO, after all, and nothing is speedy.
Super Prez, somehow or other, was there at a regidores (board) meeting when La Yacata came up, although it didn’t seem the meeting had been called specifically for that. One of the committee members got up on her soapbox to oppose the change in zoning because La Yacata was full of pre-hispanic artifacts. She said that whenever someone plowed up a field, they found arrowheads, pottery shards, and other trinkets, remnants of an ancient civilization. Super Prez and the guy from Desorrollo Urbano looked at each other in disbelief.
So later, Super Prez asked me if I’d ever come across any of these artifacts in the 18 years that I’d lived in La Yacata. My husband has been involved with building at least 10 structures here and has sharecropped another several hectares. We have NEVER found anything like what the self-elected defender of the culture described.
When I asked my husband if he knew of any pre-conquest artifacts found by others, he said that the guy who kept his herd of cows in the section above La Yacata reported “night rainbow” sightings on his walks home at twilight. These glimmering lights are believed to appear where treasures, such as buried gold or money, were hidden underground, left by their owners to be retrieved later.
I asked for more information on this phenomenon, and he told me that even if a person is granted the “night rainbow” vision, guardian spirits may prevent them from retrieving the treasure if it is not destined for them. Only those for whom the treasure is meant will be able to find it.
I had a sinking feeling hearing this story and decided I wouldn’t be the one to share it with los Regidores because then they’d never grant the zoning change.
But back to the archeological finds, the only thing that we found remotely interesting was this dinosaur foot imprint. It has both the impression and the relief on the opposite side. There are other rocks scattered about out there that also have fossiled impressions, which weren’t as neat, so we’ve left them be. This one we dragged back to the house and used it as a garden ornament. There is also some neat-looking pumice stone in La Yacata, indicating that this area was an active volcano site at one time. Geologists and paleontologists may be interested in these finds, but not archeologists.
What we do have in the way of archeological interests is La Yacata, and I’m all for preserving it as it stands. One year, the school I worked at brought students here to see this structure on a field trip. Las yacatas were stone mounds built by the Tarascans as watchtowers. The hollow center at the top would have been filled with wood. The wood would be lit as a signal when there was an attack. Our yacata could be seen from La Barranca, a town on the cliffside, and the lookout would light another fire there, passing the message along over the mountain. The Tarascans were one of the few tribes that were never defeated by the Aztecs, in large part due to their organizational defense, including the series of las yacatas found in the region.
The man whose family owns several hectares above La Yacata once had a smaller yacata on his property. He says he hired some workers to remove the mound and that when he came to inspect the site, there seemed to be an area that might have held a body. There were probably some funerary or ceremonial items surrounding the body, which was most likely a sacrifice. The workers had taken whatever items they uncovered, and the owner knew nothing more about them.
After doing a bit of research, I found that the Tarascans practiced human sacrifice, but not on the same scale as the Aztecs. Sacrifices were deeply tied to their religious beliefs and thought necessary to appease the gods, ensure agricultural fertility, and maintain cosmic balance. The Tarascans performed sacrifices during specific religious ceremonies, often involving war captives. These rituals were usually conducted by priests and were accompanied by prayers, offerings, and other religious rites.
I’d bet my bottom dollar that at least one war captive was sacrificed and buried beneath each military outpost yacata and that if we’d a mind to dismantle the yacata in our neighborhood, we’d find a body and some ceremonial objects. I have no interest in seeing that happen, though. If that happened, we would not be granted the zoning change!
Super Prez and I talked about having an expert from Guanajuato City inspect the area, including the yacata, if need be, to prove that there were no archeological sites in the areas that were designed for human habitation. We decided to wait to see what the regidores’ next meeting would determine.
When that meeting finally came about, archeological obstacles to the change in zoning were not mentioned again. Instead, we received a letter acknowledging our request and a list of requirements.
These included:
- Solicitud elaborada, firmada por el propietario o representante legal (Completed application, signed by the owner or legal representative)
- Resolutivo de Impacto Vial emitido por la Jefatura de Movilidad (Traffic Impact Resolution issued by the Mobility Department)
- Resolutivo de Evaluación de Impacto Ambiental emitido por la Jefatura de Medio Ambiente (Environmental Impact Assessment Resolution issued by the Environmental Department)
- Visto Bueno de Protección Civil (Approval from Civil Protection)
- Constancia de Suficiencia de Servicios emitida por SMAPAM (Certificate of Service Sufficiency issued by SMAPAM–this is for the water and sewer)
- Levantamiento topográfico del predio (Topographic survey of the property)
- Confirmación de un 12% del área total como área de reserva (Confirmation of 12% of the total area designated as a reserve area)
Now that we had the go-ahead to apply, we’d need to obtain these items and then turn them into Desorollo Urbano for the cambio de uso de suelo. We already had the topographic survey and the designated área de donación. Super Prez submitted the applications to la Jefatura de Movilidad, la Jefatura de Medio Ambiente, and Protección Civil for their review in October. He also submitted an application to SMAPAM (the municipal water department) for us to be declared independent when it comes to utilities, which means we won’t need to ask Moroleon to run water and sewer lines to La Yacata. Instead, we would provide our own well (which we completed water analysis studies in early 2024) and waste treatment facility (which has yet to be planned).
So much to do yet!
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Curious about the beginning of this saga? Check out La Yacata Revolution–available on Amazon.
Surviving Mexico 