Ciudad Obregon, Mexico: Vacations and travel info

Description

Ciudad Obregon is the most prominent city in Cajeme County and features an array of cultural and leisure activities for tourists. Besides having fertile lands, breathtaking landscapes and a fine reputation as a business destination, it has managed to preserve its cultural heritage, while forging a promising future for its people by strengthening the workforce and investing money in education.

With its excellent location, Ciudad Obregon is an easy point of access to nearby stunning natural attractions and picturesque towns: beautiful beaches on the coast of the Gulf of California and the Sea of Cortes, the Sierra Madre Mountain Range to the east, the Valley of the Mayo to the south, Port Guaymas and the beaches of San Carlos, approximately 81.40 miles (one and a half hours) away. The charming historic town of Cocorit, where the Yaqui people first settled, lies just 10 minutes from the city.

A thriving hotel industry, flourishing agriculture, prosperous trade and strong cultural roots, along with diverse, breathtaking natural features and a high level of education are all things which best describe the Ciudad Obregon of today. It offers a blend of culture, traditions and modernity. It also has the production capacity for large-scale farming, raising livestock, fishing, with the capacity for trade and tourism as well.

History

Ciudad Obregon is proud of its Yaqui roots. The city began to flourish in the early 1900s, when the Sud Pacifico Railway Company opened a warehouse there. It was built to supply materials for the construction of the railroad system that was to join the Valley of the Yaqui and the Valley of the Mayo. This brought many investors to the area and initiated the construction of several settlements throughout the new region.

Little by little, more people came to the frontier settlement, including immigrants from Europe and the United States. Even people from the neighboring towns of Cocorit and Esperanza came looking for work in the valley's fields. The opening of an American automobile dealership spurred the rapid growth of Cajeme, as well as the opening of Obregon and Company, started by General Alvaro Obregon right after he had finished his presidential term. This created more jobs and further encouraged the economic development in the region. In 1928, the town became the second largest city in Sonora and was named Ciudad Obregon in honor of the general's efforts to bring prosperity to the area.

The Yaqui People

The Yaqui people and their traditions are an important part of Sonoran culture, especially in Ciudad Obregon, where people take pride in their traditions, beliefs and language, as well as their bountiful homeland. The Yaqui people consisted of 8 tribes: the Cocorit, Bacum, Vicam, Potam, Torim, Huiviris, Rahum, and Belem, each with its own chief or ruler. Cocorit is also the name of a city, only 15 minutes from Ciudad Obregon, and which actually means "chili pepper" in the Yaqui language (called Cahita). It was the first to have a city hall in all of Cajeme.

Yaqui people are faithful to their traditions, customs, and rituals, a fact that can be appreciated in their famous "Deer Dance," where a group of dancers reenact a deer hunting scene. The Yaqui consider the deer to be a sacred animal and this dance has been passed down from generation to generation.

The rituals observed by the Yaqui are closely related to the seasons of the year and aid them with the planting and harvesting of their crops. During the Porfirio Diaz' presidential term, the Yaqui were forced to leave their homeland and were taken to the Yucatan Peninsula to work in the sisal plantations. Because they were considered to be the strongest men in Mexico, they were forced to carry out the most strenuous of jobs. Many died but most managed to get back to their homeland. As a result, this has become a tight knit community with a strong cultural identity rooted in their traditions.

Nowadays, the Yaqui people are not only respected in Ciudad Obregon but in all of Sonora. A lot is being done to promote and preserve the Yaqui communities, their language, music, art, as well as their folk dress. The government has been investing time and effort in education and keeping their customs and traditions alive. Clearly Ciudad Obregon wouldn't be such a prosperous city without the hard work and dedication of the Yaqui people, who take pride in their historical heritage and have turned this city into a land of opportunities.