Teresa de Jesús Cen Requena is washing burgundy okra and a rainbow of freshly dug carrots at Mestiza de Indias, a regenerative agricultural project hidden down a dirt track in the jungle near the Maya village of Espita. "You used to be able to live from your milpa," the farm worker said, referring to the traditional smallholding. "But now many people from the village go to Cancún because they want modern luxuries.
"You can't buy a mobile phone with a bag of beans but I don't care - I am connected to this land."
At first glance, life appears largely unchanged in this village on Mexico's Yucatán peninsula. Women wearing huipiles (embroidered tunics) steam tamales (stuffed maize dough) over open fires in houses thatched with palm; men melt into the jungle with guns over their shoulders to hunt deer.
However, instead of the traditional maize, their milpas (farms organised on a pre-Hispanic land system) are more likely to be sprouting a new crop: smouldering mounds of plastic. With the community no longer self-sufficient, those left in Espita have to rely on the local supermarkets, and with no rubbish collection in this remote area of the Maya Forest - the second largest in Latin America - packaging, including the plastic, is often burned.
The exodus of people looking for work in the ever-expanding tourist resorts along the Riviera Maya has put milpa farm production under severe strain, and experts fear this could intensify when a new and controversial Maya train launches in December, doubling the number of tourists expected to visit the peninsula.
"It will prove very damaging when it comes to preserving the milpa tradition in the mid and long term," said Dr Javier Orlando Mijangos Cortés, senior researcher at the Yucatan Scientific Research Center.
This story is from the {{IssueName}} edition of {{MagazineName}}.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the {{IssueName}} edition of {{MagazineName}}.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
Starlink's conquest of the Amazon leaves Brazil in a dilemma
The helicopter swooped into one of the most inaccessible corners of the Amazon rainforest. Brazilian special forces commandos leaped from it into the caiman-inhabited waters below.
Dalai Lama's mountain town feels the strain of tourist boom
SUVs and saloon cars pass slowly along McLeod Ganj's narrow one-way Jogiwara Road, blaring horns at pedestrians and scooter riders and playing loud music.
'I am all the world' The brutal rule of a West Bank settler
Palestinians tell ofblacklisted Yakov's reign across the Jabal Salman valley and heisjust one of many violent bosses
Stormy waters New flashpoint emerges in South China Sea dispute
Hopes that tensions in the South China Sea might ease have been short lived.
'Justice delayed' Why trust in public inquiries to bring closure is fading
After the final report of the Grenfell fire inquiry was published, Hisam Choucair, who lost six family members in the blaze, said: \"We did not ask for this inquiry... It's delayed the justice my family deserves.\"
Celeriac soup with almond pangrattato
I'm not ashamed to say that as soon as September hits, my stick blender comes out. Just as I embrace salads when the clocks go forward in the UK, I wholeheartedly throw myself into soup season once the summer holidays end. Autumn is approaching in the northern hemisphere and I'm ready with my ladle. Celeriac is one of my favourite soup heroes, because it gives the creamiest, silkiest finish with little effort. You don't have to make the almond pangrattato, but it is a wonderful addition.
Are smoke signals telling me to make an oil change in the kitchen?
Should you that is, not can you) cook with extra-virgin olive oil? Antonio, Atlanta, Georgia, US
Going underground
A darkly humorous encounter between an American spy-cop and the members ofan eco-commune she is hired to infiltrate
All work and no play
Hard Graft, a powerfulnew London exhibition, focuses onworkers’ exploitation, from the ruined hands ofa washerwoman to mothers forced to sell their bodies
What the princess and the shaman tell us about hereditary privilege
It should have been an Instagram-perfect wedding image, but it turned out to be something more embarrassing.