San Pancho (as the locals call it) or San Francisco (as it appears on maps) is the type of Mexican beach town where you don’t need to wear shoes, everyone is related to everyone else, and there is nothing to do after the last corner store closes at 11pm. In recent years, this sleepy town has been entirely transformed by the introduction of Entre Amigos, a combination arts collective and children’s library that offers free after school arts, reading, science and theater classes to local children.

Slowly, the dedicated efforts of those who run Entre Amigos has trickled into the entire town. Colorful message-boards now dot the town, and the town has begun one of Mexico’s first recycling programs, providing jobs and helping to keep the beach clean.

ClimateChangesArt volunteered to paint a mural for the children’s library. In a series of murals depicting local plants and animals, labeling them to promote awareness and pride in the diversity that surrounded the town. One particular environmental issue in the area was endangered sea turtle egg poaching. To raise awareness about this (and to show kids how cute baby turtles are) ClimateChangesArt organized a local hatchery to bring over some baby sea-turtes for the kids to draw. Each student then painted a turtle on the mural and got to name it. This inspired a real sense of pride in the library, and each student began to feel a sense of ownership, and a stake in the project. Another wall of the mural had students paint their houses, complete with families and pets, to create a painted village – flourishing beneath a beautiful tree of books.

      Entre Amigos continues to thrive, and was recently awarded a large government grant and has moved to a larger facility nearby.