Xochiquétzalli is a tourism project that I want to set up in my community in the Sierra Gorda region of the state of Querétaro. I know first-hand about the shortages and lack of job opportunities in the mountains, where my grandparents and parents worked in the mines many years ago. They worked long hours for low wages, with no benefits, and were unable to live a dignified life. Currently, there are several communities with large populations that migrate, resulting in delays and shortages of many things.

My paternal grandparents and parents decided to migrate to Mexico City to survive, starting from scratch in this big city, where I was born. However, during school holidays, my parents would take us to the communities where they were born; they never forgot their roots and taught me to visit family and share food with them.

I grew up in Mexico City, attended public schools and completed a degree at the IPN. I worked and developed myself in this beautiful city, but I never forgot that I could do something to help the community from which my roots come. There, my grandparents told me that there are still people who speak the original languages of the Otomí and Chichimeca cultures, which existed in the pre-Hispanic era.

I have gained a variety of skills and knowledge that have helped me to understand different areas of the business world. I have worked as an accountant and held positions of responsibility in the management departments of companies in various sectors: banking, services, commerce and manufacturing. I have been responsible for accounting, legal, tax and administrative departments, first as an assistant and then as a manager.

I am currently retired and interested in learning about ancestral traditions, especially in the field of traditional medicine through herbalism. This interest stems from my childhood, as my mother and grandmothers used to cure us with herbs that they collected in the mountains or grew and harvested themselves.

As I delved into the world of ancestral herbalism, I discovered a fantastic world and an ancestral heritage that our cultures knew about. The herbal medicine that Mother Earth provides is connected to the spiritual universe. The more I learn, the more I realise how little I know about all that our ancestors and pre-Hispanic cultures have bequeathed to us. That is why I continue to study, and I will never learn everything, although I hope to learn at least a small percentage of what they left us.

 Xochiquétzalli was born with the purpose of teaching what I have learned about our ancestral traditions to children and young people in nearby communities who wish to learn, as well as creating a project that generates income for the community where this project will be carried out.

The Sierra Gorda de Querétaro is a mountainous area where you can see the cordillera that divides the neighbouring states. Its mountains have impressive shapes that make you forget the city, as there is no hurry or clocks. Life is lived among forests and mountains, free from pressures and noise.

Xochiquétzalli es un proyecto turístico que quiero poner en marcha en mi comunidad de la Sierra Gorda, en el estado de Querétaro. Conozco de primera mano las carencias y la falta de oportunidades laborales que se viven en las montañas, donde mis abuelos y mis padres trabajaban en las minas hace muchos años. Lo hacían en jornadas pesadas y con salarios bajos, sin prestaciones y sin poder llevar una vida digna. Actualmente hay varias comunidades con mucha población que migra, teniendo atrasos y carencias de muchas cosas.

Mis abuelos paternos y mis padres decidieron migrar a la Ciudad de México para sobrevivir, empezando desde cero en esta gran ciudad, donde yo nací. Sin embargo, en vacaciones escolares, mis padres nos llevaban a las comunidades donde ellos nacieron; nunca olvidaron sus raíces y me acostumbraron a visitar a la familia y a compartir alimentos con ellos.

Crecí en la Ciudad de México, asistí a escuelas públicas y terminé la licenciatura en el IPN. Trabajé y me desarrollé en esta hermosa ciudad, pero nunca olvidé que podía hacer algo para ayudar a la comunidad de la que proceden mis raíces. Allí, los abuelos me contaron que todavía hay personas que hablan las lenguas originales de las culturas otomí y chichimeca, que eran las que existían en la era prehispánica.

Tengo diferentes conocimientos que me han ayudado a conocer diversas temáticas del mundo empresarial. He trabajado como contable y he ocupado puestos de responsabilidad en las áreas gerenciales de empresas de varios sectores: bancario, servicios, comercio y transformación. He sido responsable de departamentos contables, jurídicos, fiscales y administrativos, primero como auxiliar y luego como jefa y gerente.