Yary Caicedo Quiroz (Pasto, 26) belongs to a line of powerful, yet anonymous, women. “All the women in my family have been and continue to be fighters,” says the director of Ruta Lunaris, winner in 2024 of the Community Tourism Innovation Challenge in the Women and Youth category, from the UN Tourism Executive Board.
A descendant of Mercedes Muñoz, an illustrious unknown who played a leading role in the Thousand Days War in Nariño, Caicedo grew up in an all-female household, since her father was assassinated when she was eight years old. Her mother was responsible for raising her two daughters. “My mother was my inspiration,” Yary says. “She is a systems engineer and in Chachagüí, where we arrived years after my father’s murder, she is recognized as a community leader.
This example inspired her to transform Ruta Lunaris, Encanto Natural y Ancestral into a thriving project with a positive impact on her town, a mountainous municipality of 16,000 immersed in the basins of the Pasto, Juananbú and Bermúdez rivers, which nourish native forests. There, located 26 kilometers from Pasto, Caicedo works with 60 community, peasant, artisanal and youth associations in what she calls “an innovative community tourism route for young people and women that combines natural beauty with the cultural wealth of the municipality.”
What she and her collaborators have put in place is responsible tourism with the ecosystems and ancestral traditions of the territory. Mountains, birds and rivers instead of swimming pools and environmental deterioration.
– Why is it called Lunaris?
– It is a recognition of the ancestral nature of the territory, of the Quillancinga population.
– Did the word have meaning for this indigenous community?
— Not literally, but “quilla” means moon and “cinga” means nose. Then they reunite and Lunaris emerges.
A life project
“I was always remarkable, a good student. I really liked archeology and medicine,” says Caicedo. After graduating, she joined the association as facilitator of a literacy process for elderly people in Chachagüí. Shortly after, he entered the graphic design program at the María Goretti Graduate Center, in Pasto, and joined the university’s research group. Knowing the region and committed to the communities, she decided to carry out her diploma project in a rural area of her town. He focused on the El Charmolán nature reserve, a biodiversity paradise with no signage or information. He understood that he could apply a design and communication strategy to make visible the beauty of the territory, its thousands of birds, its forests and streams, as well as the artisans who transform toquilla straw into baskets and espadrilles.
And that’s how, without looking, he found his life plan. He decided to name it Lunaris. They partnered with different community, tourism and craft organizations and together chose the tourism products to promote: bike rides through coffee plantations led by local guides, hiking, bird watching routes, gastronomic experiences, visits to El Cundur hill and the El Charmolán nature reserve, accommodation in rural houses. They work hand in hand with Kevin Morales, director of the Joven Despierto group, which promotes the preservation of the environment and cultural heritage of the territory. “Yary is a great leader, she is inspiring,” he says.
Thanks to Nariño’s government, Lunaris joined the Rutas del Galeras project, which offers tours of ecological trails and other attractions around the volcano. They brought to the market the Ruta Lunaris coffee, produced and harvested by the women of Chachagüí and work with the artisans who produce the pieces of Pasto varnish (also called mopa mopa), proclaimed by UNESCO as an intangible heritage of humanity.
As the recognition he obtained from UN Tourism had the support of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Tourism and Fontur, Caicedo received training in natural tourism and formalization, as well as mentoring on financial matters, among other aspects that helped him strengthen his business. Among his projects is that of perfecting his English, because he understood that for his dream to continue to grow, he had to show it to the world; For this reason, he plans to study international relations.
Caicedo is also a representative of the Chachagüí Table of Victims, where victims of the armed conflict from all over the country arrived. Concerning the murder of his father, a farmer by trade, he says he does not have many details. Nor the armed group that took his life, apparently because he owned several properties. “I was a girl who didn’t understand death,” she remembers. “Until the years passed and I came to understand the impact of this loss.”
Hand in hand with his mother and sister, Yary Caicedo continues to radiate light and peace for community tourism in Nariño. The heroine’s heiress, Mercedes Muñoz, demonstrates daily what the women in her family are made of.
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