Don Chuy Ep 1

Don Chuy is a vochero from Nezahualcóyotl, Estado de México, one of the countless Mexicans whose life orbits around the Volkswagen Beetle. He is also a member of Club Kollegen Wagen, a vocho club based on the outskirts of Mexico City, where the car culture runs as deep as anywhere in the country.

In this short documentary, photographer and filmmaker Rodrigo Gaya Villar spent a day with Don Chuy and his club as they prepared for and made the trip to the Cuernavacazo Vochero, one of Mexico's beloved regional vocho events held in the state of Morelos.

What unfolds is less about the event itself and more about the ritual of getting there. The early morning preparations, the convoy forming on the highway, the conversations at rest stops, the texture of what it actually means to be part of this community. The Volkswagen Beetle is the common thread, but the story is about the people.

This mini documentary was produced as part of the broader Vochos Unidos project, five years of documentary photography and filmmaking across Mexico City, surrounding mountain towns, and pueblos mágicos, all in pursuit of the vocho and the vocheros who keep it alive.

Don Chuy, Ep 1 is the first in a series of short documentary portraits of vocho culture. It was shot on location in Estado de México and Morelos.

Vochos Unidos, the photobook, is available now at CarraraBooks.com.