Commentary: How an international collaboration led to the creation of a hidden treasure in Baja California

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Set us as preferred ENSENADA, Mexico — In a parched hillside village southeast of Ensenada, where electricity and plumbing are scarce and roaming dogs are plentiful, a treasure can be found on the grounds of an elementary school.You can’t see it from the street, where the town palette runs from dusty brown to cinderblock gray.But traipse past the principal’s office, scale a short incline, and you’ll be rewarded with an 80-foot-long mural that explodes with color.Just as impressive, though, is how the creation of the mural united cultures, bridged age gaps and erased borders.I found out about the treasure of the village known as El Paraiso en Maneadero several weeks ago from a pickleball pal named Tom Wiley.

He and his wife, Dana Bonda, are retired attorneys who have spent decades escaping to the coast south of Ensenada, where they’ve become involved in various local causes.Wiley showed me a book, hot off the presses, called “Proyecto de Mural.” It tells the story of how the project came to be, with photos of the 12 young artists at work.One of them, 13-year-old David Vasquez Garcia, says in the book that his Mexican folk art creation was one part bull, one part cucaracha, and one part imagination.I liked what I saw, and I headed south to have a look at the mural.Wiley and Bonda laid out the backstory for me.

Bonda was volunteering at art classes set up by French expat Bernard Brunon and his American expat wife Nancy Ganucheau.Bonda also volunteered at a mobile library project started by expat Debra Blake and Carol Woodruff, who splits time between Southern California and Baja.The mobile library program was at the campus that houses both the Escuela Colosio and the Escuela Bocanegra.

On her visits, Bonda noticed that the bare cinderblock wall along the patio could use some livening up.How about a mural, she th...