Unique Nayarit Hotel’s Mission Is to Eradicate a Town’s Poverty John Pint - Mexico News Daily
go to original May 7, 2022

I started out looking for a good hotel on the beach and ended up finding out how to make the world a better place: not bad for a weekend aimed at escaping from work!

The beach I chose was the little Bay of Chacala in the state of Nayarit, located a relatively short three-hour drive from Guadalajara.

The hotel is called Mar de Jade (Sea of Jade), well-known for its yoga and meditation classes, as well as healthy food.

That’s from the point of view of their clients. The hotel’s neighbors see Mar de Jade in quite a different light: a source of jobs and training that has given great numbers of them a new lease on life.

Among the hotel’s projects are a Waldorf-Montessori school for the Chacala village kids and vocational programs at Tao de Jade, their organic farm and training center.

The hotel’s view on sustainability has been to make rather than buy whatever it needs. Its staff teaches youth everything from organic agriculture, maintenance and beekeeping to industrial cooking, sewing and carpentry — where, by the way, local youth produce quality furniture for the hotel as well as its curtains, bedding and all the staff uniforms.

The founder of both Mar de Jade and Tao de Jade is Dr. Laura del Valle, M.D., of Mexico City who now runs both projects with her daughter Angélica.

For decades, Del Valle gave local vocational training to the people who were working with her and wanted to extend that opportunity to other youth who were unemployed and out of school.

Del Valle is now working on strengthening the marketing and entrepreneurship of each trade so they can be self-sustaining and serve as a model for graduates of the trades.

Read the rest at Mexico News Daily

Related: Midsummer Magic in Mexico: Mar de Jade Yoga Retreat (WeTravel)