On our first tour day, we make our way to Ometepec, Guerrero, where we spend the first night on the road after traveling north on MEX 200, the coastal highway to Acapulco and beyond. Early the next morning, after breakfast, we travel about a hour northeast to the tiny village of Zacoalpan where we meet Jesus Ignacio and his family.
Ignacio was educated as an engineer and graduated with a four-year college degree but could not find work without moving far away from his family, something he didn’t want to do.
So, he picked up his smart phone, started an Instagram page, and that’s how I found him four years ago. Visiting him, his mother Porfiria, and his aunts is a highlight of our tour. They are humble, and are one of two families in the village who still grow their own cotton. They weave glorious cloth.
The women pick, clean, beat, hand-spin, and weave this native cotton. Ignacio has researched ancient designs, collected pieces of huipiles that have survived over the last fifty years, and the family has introduced them into their iconography. While it is possible to purchase directly from him from the IG page, seeing the garments in person, as well as hearing the weaving stories in the family, makes this a special visit.
Let us know if you want to come with us in 2025. We will be scheduling this tour again soon. Send us an email to express your interest.
Our first stop in Pinotepa de Don Luis is at the small home and workshop of weaver Sebastiana Guzman. Her work is always very fine — she uses the finest cotton from the best mill in Puebla state, as well as hand-spun coyuchi brown, white and green cotton. The village is known for its work using purple snail dye, too, and Sebastiana uses touches of it in her weaving to accent the iconography of the region: the double headed eagle, crabs, corn fields, and mountains.
She is the recipient of many awards throughout Mexico, and has many first-place prizes to her name!
After talking with her about her weaving passion, we have an opportunity to see the work she has made. She introduces us to her aunt who spins, and another who weaves and contributes to what is offered for purchase. Sebastiana’s brother Antonio is a gourd carver and he brings pieces of his work including bowls, bracelets, and earrings.
We have visited Sebastiana over the last five years and in this time she has earned enough money to make enormous progress on the construction of her house, which is down a steep dirt, stair-stepped incline to a platform that overlooks the hills below. it is always a treasure to be with her.
Let us know if you want to travel with us here in 2025. We will be posting tour information soon.
At the end of a winding road about an hour-and-a-half up the mountain from MEX 200, the coastal highway leading north to Acapulco and beyond, is the Mixtec village of San Juan Colorado. Here, almost all the women weave and there are over thirty registered cooperatives. One of our favorites is Las Sanjuaneras. Why? They spin native cotton, make thread using the drop spindle (malacate), and use natural dyes.
About five years ago, two Oaxaca designers, Ana Paula Fuentes and Maddalena Forcella, got a grant to work with the cooperative to teach them natural dyeing and to introduce a weaving technique to create a lighter weight huipil that would be more comfortable in the hot, humid coastal climate. Of course, they still used traditional iconography in their textiles, telling the story of the village and traditions. The innovation has been successful and many collectors value what they create.
This is the fifth year we have come to visit them. When we arrived, the clothing was strung along lines between concrete posts, but before jumping in to the fray, we sat to hear about the cooperative and each woman’s story — when they started weaving, who they learned from, their hopes and dreams for themselves and their families.
So many are supporting their families because they are able to bring in a cash income from the sale of their textiles. This goes to pay for medical care (many of the elderly are sick, have problems with blood pressure or diabetes), educational costs for children and grandchildren, and food that supplements what the men are able to grow in the fields.
The cooperative is getting smaller. There were fifteen women last year. This year, two died. The eldest member of the coop is age 78 and the youngest in in her thirties.
They prepared a delicious lunch for us of caldo de pollo (chicken soup), homemade tortillas hot off the comal, grilled tasajo (seasoned beef), and lots of agua de jamaica (hibiscus water). Muy rico. I was so hungry, I forgot to take photos of the food.
And then, we got to put our hands on the glorious textiles!
Come with us in 2025! Send an email to say you are interested.
Photo by British photographer Tessa Bunney, who traveled with us
We invited Las Sanjuaneras coop members to choose the piece that was their favorite, and that they were most proud of. This was a wonderful way to see the range of colors and garments.
Above left, cooperative president Camerina Contreras, is finishing a huipil, dyed with jicara gourd, indigo, and embellished with native, hand-spun pre-Hispanic white cotton.
The oldest member of the coop speaks to us in Mixtec. Camerina translates to Spanish, and our cultural anthropologist guide Denise translates to English.
On the right, women wear the traditional wrap-around skirt of the region call a posahuanco. Today, it is made with synthetic dyes. It used to be dyed with indigo, cochineal, and purple snail dye. If you find one that is, it will cost 30,000 pesos. So rare.
Tixinda is the Mixtec word for the purple snail, also known as caracol púrpura in Spanish. It produces a rich purple dye used for ceremonial clothing in the Oaxaca coast village of Pinotepa de Don Luis. The weavers here make beautiful garments on the back strap loom using touches of this rare dye in the supplementary weft designs they create representing ancient symbols important to their culture.
Today we visited 83 year-old Don Habacuc Avedano, who has been dyeing native cotton with tixinda since he was a boy. His son Rafael is following in his footsteps, searching the tide pools along the rocky coast for the illusive snail that is now almost extinct.
This is one reason why the huipiles and blusas are more costly. Another is that it usually takes two months to make a huipil. First the cotton is cleaned, hand-spun, then dyed. Usually they use natural dyes like indigo, cochineal, jicara gourd, wild marigold, mahogany bark, and other plants. Then, the loom is prepared with complementary warp threads.
After a delicious lunch of chiles rellenos in the dirt floor courtyard of the humble family home, we had an opportunity to talk, learn, and understand the traditional culture and weaving process. And, then there was the chance to look at the beautiful work and buy if we wished.
Rafa kept a skein of snail dye in the refrigerator in preparation of our visit and we saw the oxidization process as the color of the cotton changed from yellow to green to blue then to purple when exposed to the sunlight.
It was a magical day.
Let us know if you want to go with us in 2025. We will be making an announcement soon. Send us an email.
Posted onWednesday, January 17, 2024|Comments Off on Hot, Humid on the Oaxaca Coast. Heading North on the Costa Chica. Day One.
Last night was amazing. The bioluminescence in the Manialtepec Lagoon was the most spectacular I’ve ever seen in the eight or so years we having been coming to Puerto Escondido for the start of the Oaxaca Coast Textile Study Tour. (We are scheduling this again for 2025, so please tell us if you want to go.) We experienced this after participating in a Ridley turtle release, then an alfresco fresh fish dinner on the beach followed by toasting marshmallows over an open fire. The bioluminescence is impossible to photograph, so I have it leave it to your imagination that the fish are irridescent, you can see them jumping as if they were illuminated, and when you raise your arms from the water, your skin sparkles like diamonds.
There are thirteen travelers (a lucky number), me, Eric, and cultural anthropologist Denise joins us today as we explore back strap loom weaving villages.
The bird watching on the lagoon was amazing — so many species to see.
We participated in a Ridley turtle release at sunset, followed by a fresh fish dinner on the beach.
Yes, there are crocodiles, but Lalo Ecotours took us to swim where it was safe and secure.
We know the culture! We are locally owned and operated.
Eric Chavez Santiago is Zapotec, born and raised in Teotitlan del Valle, Oaxaca.
Norma Schafer has been living in Oaxaca for almost 20 years.
We have deep connections with artists and artisans.
63% of our travelers repeat -- high ratings, high satisfaction.
Wide ranging expertise: textiles, folk art, pottery, cultural wisdom.
We give you a deep immersion to best know Oaxaca and Mexico.
Creating Connectionand Meaning between travelers and with indigenous artisans. Meet makers where they live and work. Join small groups of like-minded explorers. Go deep into remote villages. Gain insights. Support cultural heritage and sustainable traditions ie. hand weaving and natural dyeing. Create value and memories. Enjoy hands-on experiences. Make a difference.
What is a Study Tour: Our programs are learning experiences, and as such we talk with makers about how and why they create, what is meaningful to them, the ancient history of patterning and design, use of color, tradition and innovation, values and cultural continuity, and the social context within which they work. First and foremost, we are educators. Norma worked in top US universities for over 35 years and Eric founded the education department at Oaxaca’s textile museum. We create connection.
OCN Creates Student Scholarship at Oaxaca Learning Center Giving back is a core value. Read about it here!
Why We Left, Expat Anthology: Norma’s Personal Essay
Norma contributes personal essay, How Oaxaca Became Home
We Contribute Two Chapters!
Click image to order yours!
Meet Makers. Make a Difference
Oaxaca Cultural Navigator LLC has offered programs in Mexico since 2006. We have over 30 years of university, textile and artisan development experience. See About Us.
Programs can be scheduled to meet your independent travel plans. Send us your available dates.
Designers, retailers, wholesalers, curators, universities and others come to us to develop artisan relationships, customized itineraries, study abroad programs, meetings and conferences. It's our pleasure to make arrangements.
Select Clients *Abeja Boutique, Houston *Selvedge Magazine-London, UK *Esprit Travel and Tours *Penland School of Crafts *North Carolina State University *WARP Weave a Real Peace *Methodist University *MINNA-Goods *Smockingbird Kids *University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Oaxaca has the largest and most diverse textile culture in Mexico! Learn about it.
When you visit Oaxaca immerse yourself in our textile culture: How is indigenous clothing made, what is the best value, most economical, finest available. Suitable for adults only. Set your own dates.
One-Day Custom Tours: Tell Us When You Want to Go!
Ruta del Mezcal One-Day Tour.We start the day with pottery, visiting a master, then have lunch with a Traditional Oaxaca Cook who is the master of mole making. In Mitla, we meet with our favorite flying shuttle loom weaver, and then finish off with a mezcal tasting at a palenque you will NEVER find on your own! Schedule at your convenience!
October 27, 28, 29: People and Place Photography Workshop in Teotitlán Del Valle with Luvia Lazo, featured in The New Yorker Magazine. Portraits and Street Photography, recipient of Leica Women Foto Project Award Winner 2024. This is an insider's Street and Portrait photography experience. We visit families in their homes to arrange photo sessions, we take you on the back streets where tourists rarely go.
October 30: Day of the Dead in Teotitlan del Valle--Altars and Studio Visits. A one-day immersion into culture, traditions, and meaning in Teotitlan del Valle. In this traditional village, where the native language is still spoken, we take you to meet local artisans who also explain their personal family traditions including who and what is on the altar and why. P.S. We know Teotitlan. We live here!
November 1: Day of the Dead Magic in Mitla--Visit the cemetery with our local host, understand the meaning of the pre-Hispanic altar, help honor the ancestors with offerings, enjoy a traditional meal of mole negro, a feast day speciality in Mitla. A one-day immersion experience.
January 11-19, Oaxaca Coast Textile Study Tour. Visit five remote weaving villages on the Costa Chica--Pacific Coast. See backstrap loom weaving, natural dyeing with rare purple snail dye, diverse language, culture, food. Discover Afro-Mestizo roots. This is one of our more Amazing study tours! We will not offer this tour in 2026! Don't miss it.
February 6-15:Guatemala Textile Study Tour: Cloth and Culture. Discover Antigua, Lake Atitlan and Panajachel, Chichicastenango Market, and visit Coban where they weave fine gauze cloth called pikbil. SOLD OUT
March 12-17: Deep Into the Mixteca Alta: Oaxaca Textile + Folk Art Study Tour 2025. This is cultural immersion at its best! Following the Dominican Route, we visit potteries, churches, Triqui weavers working in natural dyes, a cooperative in Tijaltepec that makes smocked blouses, the expansive Tlaxiaco Saturday Tianguis. Experience another side of Oaxaca.
We require 48-hour advance notice for map orders to be processed. We send a printable map via email PDF after your order is received. Please be sure to send your email address. Where to see natural dyed rugs in Teotitlan del Valle and layout of the Sunday Tlacolula Market, with favorite eating, shopping, ATMs. Click Here to Buy Map After you click, be sure to check PayPal to ensure your email address isn't hidden from us. We fulfill each map order personally. It is not automatic.
Dye Master Dolores Santiago Arrellanas with son Omar Chavez Santiago, weaver and dyer, Fey y Lola Rugs, Teotitlan del Valle
