Mexico is just one of the many countries around the globe that encourages ecotourism as an important source of revenue. Ecotourism is generally understood to be responsible and sustainable travel in partnership with local communities. Ecotourism is focused on conserving the environment and improving the well-being of local people.

Jungles, coral reefs, natural springs, important archeological sites of the ancient Maya civilization, observing dolphins and sharks in their natural habitat or biking through the Yucatan Peninsula are all available through ecotours.

The variety of Mexican folk art is astonishing. Items of charm, humor, and beauty are created out of just about anything. You can find "paintings" made from yarn; bread-dough figures; tin tree ornaments; bands of straw musicians; cornhusk dolls; fantastic wooden creatures; intricately carved gourds; enormous devils and angels of papier-mache. If you search you may even find a colorful Lady of Guadalupe made from the pod of a tree.

And there are countless clay items-from skull magnets to flamboyant trees of life to flowerpot mermaids, holding combs for their flowing hair.

Victor Fosado of Oxaca helped make people aware of the energy and grace of folk art, as did the painter Chucho Reyes. Maestro Gorky Gonzales Quinones, a potter from Guanajuato, is renowned. Because his work is of such high quality and because, apart from original pieces, he re-creates historical designs, Gorky is considered a national treasure.

There is no end to Mexican creativity!

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