With almost four decades collecting waste in glass, clay, metal, ceramics, stones and other items, Doctor Miguel Ángel Cortés Martínez has an impressive house of recycled material open to the public in Capilla de Milpillas, just East of Guadalajara.
The interesting thing is how this doctor developed his creativity to not only build each space with broken objects and trash, but had a meaning according to the rituals and teachings of our pre-Hispanic culture.
He says that with the waste, he has been given the task of building replicas of pre-Hispanic cultures of the country, in order to consider what our ancestors left and continue their wisdom when taking into account the sun, the moon and nature, especially be respectful with the environment.
He indicated that he applies the ancestral wisdom “to contemplate the universe, to live in harmony with the brothers, water, trees and birds, is what I try to teach to those who visit us, to know that we receive a lot, that it is not a heritage of our grandparents but a loan of this world, then we have to return it better”.
To start with this dream, he remembered that he built his house on a plain of a hill to take advantage of the sun’s energy. “It’s wonderful that it’s one of the houses that first receives the sun and the last that says goodbye because we’re on a mountain.”
Cortés Martínez commented that just being on a mountain is a place that inspires reflection, to be inside you and to meditate. “You dominate the whole panorama, there is a lot of peace and tranquility, the orientation of the house is from the south towards the north, to have a recharge of energy”.
“I come from the mountains of Oaxaca, from a place called Puerto Escondido, in San Pedro Mixtepec, and there my Zapotec brothers are very creative; for them, nature is elementary, they ask permission to cut the fruit of a tree, to bathe in a river or in the sea.”
Having many characteristics of his family history, he decided to give a bonus to visitors to the Museum House, customs of their land such as the steam bath in a temazcal, healing with plants and above all, spreading respect for nature and the fauna.
Cortés Martínez offers free workshops on recycling and water culture, as well as on a healthy coexistence and teamwork for child education, including university students, to whom he always says: “When you want to listen to the song of the birds, do not buy a cage but plant a tree. ”
He stressed that children are very creative and intelligent and always get the messages, so try to teach them how to care for and respect nature, how to reuse elements that people consider waste, and also to be good companions with their school friends.
He added that the idea is that visitors have a contact with Mother Earth, through a gratifying steam bath that is the heritage of our ancestors; As children, learn in workshops to recycle, to work as a team, to be inclusive, as well as to be better students and children in the home.
by Lucía Lizárraga Castro
