A Mexican family will be the lucky winner of a brand new car which was built in the Ojinaga town square earlier this month. But they will be given this gift after 50 years. Dubbed “El Viajero Del Tiempo” (The Time Traveler), the car was bought by members of the local association which is in charge of organizing the yearly “EI IV Reencuentro Ojinaguense” festival.
To make this year’s event special, they decided to put up a small amount of money to buy a new car and hold a raffle with only one winner. After that, they buried the car as a time capsule. The Time Traveller was filled up with photographs, handwritten letters and few things from 2018 for the people to discover. Finally, the car was lowered into a concrete-lined hole in the town square using a crane. The hole was sealed in concrete in front of the crowd.
The unusual raffle and subsequent time-capsule burial started controversy in the community after its announcement three weeks ago. People in Ojinaga who can afford a used car said that the civil association could have donated the car instead of burying it in the ground for 50 years. A man who claimed to travel between Ojinaga and Chihuahua daily for the past couple of years for the treatment of his son said that he could have probably used the car better than someone who will dig it out in 50 years.
Some people complained to the local authorities about the burial of the new car and the authorities responded that it was the initiative of a civil association and that nothing can be done about it. Despite all the criticism which was coming from the public, the organizers decided to go ahead with their plan to bury The Time Traveler. The winner of the raffle is now counting years until he/she can finally dig out their prize.