There’s a coastal region in Mexico that you’ve probably never heard of called Costa Chica. It’s the bedrock of small towns like Puerto Escondido, Chacahua, and Cuajinicuilapa, scattered between Oaxaca and Guerrero. It’s home to communities dripping with traditions rooted in African-indigenous culture.
You won’t find these towns listed on any mainstream “Top 10 destinations” lists, but if you’re someone who’s interested in exploring parts of Mexico that are rarely seen, or if you prefer making cultural connections while traipsing these travel streets, then consider joining I Got Your Black for “an immersive, local led, and intentional travel experience through Afro-Indigenous Mexico,” says Diva Green, CEO and founder of the budding travel community. “Our goal is to use travel as a medium to connect the African diaspora worldwide.”
Green debuted her first I Got Your Black adventure last year, during the celebration of Dia de Los Muertos. Guests were treated to an art, food, and music journey through the Costa Chica corridor. There they learned how to make tortillas atop a wood-fired comal, stomped out the spirits of slave owners using Artesa dance steps, listened as Silvestre Tiburcio Noyola strummed Chilena tunes on his guitar, and toured the Museum of Afromestizo Cultures with Señora Angelica Sorrosa – keeper of the history, tasked with passing the stories on to future generations.
Griots like Sorrosa and Noyola are the ones who lead these experiences. Green believes she’s merely a liaison, the person ushering guests through the trip, and that the residents are stewards of their own culture. Before a launch, she spends a great deal of time forging relationships with locals in the area. One of the first questions asked is are they open to visitors, and she says the answer is always an overwhelming yes.
“Then I’m like okay, who are the community organizers, who are the people of African descent who own businesses? Who are the keepers of the history, the musicians, the artists? That’s how I navigate,” she says. “My role is to be respectful and thoughtful in each and every culture that I experience and to tell the stories of people in these various cultures.”
Green’s passion and esteem for other cultures comes from growing up in Brooklyn, New York. As a young Afro-Latina with two Panamanian parents, she spent her early years balancing life in the borough with family summers in Panama, soaking up the language, lifestyle, and customs. This rotating ritual, paired with her time at P.S. 189 The Bilingual Center – a predominantly African, Latin, and Caribbean-American school – proved instrumental in shaping her global values.
“We had folks that spoke Creole and Spanish, whether they were Puerto Rican or Dominican or in my case Panamanian. So, it really shaped my world to have all of these cultures in one particular place,” she says. “When I ultimately came up with I Got Your Black, I wanted to use travel to reflect my worldview. To show people all the beautiful communities that I’ve known all my life.”
That “when” was December of 2014, during a time of racial turmoil. New Yorkers had taken to the streets in protest of the Staten Island grand jury that decided not to prosecute officer Daniel Pantaleo for the killing of Eric Garner. Green – whose response to Black trauma often manifests as physical illness and angst – was at a studio with friends. Feeling a little guilty and struggling with her reluctance to join marches, she began drawing a Black power fist. “I infused it with this Panamanian design referred to as mola,” she recalls. “My friend asked me what it was, and I said it shows my Panamanian culture, my solidarity to the African-American community that’s dealing with this oppression. It’s kind of like saying, ‘I got your back.’ Then it hit me, like a ton of bricks, and I was like I got your Black.”
“That’s literally how the words came to me, like an immediate download,” she continues. “I knew exactly what I wanted to do from there. I didn’t have to march. I’d use travel as my ministry to connect the diaspora worldwide. This is what I’m supposed to be doing.”
Green’s dedication to showcase African-Indigenous communities and businesses has earned her the 2023 Creator of the Year award from Black Travel Summit. And with 2024 trips planned for Fiesta de Santiago Apostòl in July, and Dia de Los Muertos in November, the travelpreneur is excited about what the future holds for I Got Your Black.
“I really want to scout the next place where there’s a need,” she says. “Spend a few months in Peru and Colombia, if possible, some time in Salvador, Bahia in Brazil. Figure out the next destination that I’m going to offer folks. Places where there is less representation because they need to be brought to the forefront.”
