Category Archives: Textiles, Tapestries & Weaving

Guatemala Textile Study Tour 2025: Cloth and Culture

Posted on Saturday, December 16, 2023 | Comments Off

Registration is now open. A $750 non-refundable deposit will reserve your space. We offered this tour first to those who expressed interest a couple of months ago, and we have filled seven out of fourteen spaces. We hope that if you want to go to Guatemala with us in February 2025, you won’t hesitate to tell us and send your deposit as soon as possible!

Guatemala Textile Study Tour: Cloth and Culture will be held February 6-15, 2025, nine nights and ten days. Join Olga Reiche, Eric Chavez Santiago, and Norma Schafer to explore Maya hand weaving, natural dyeing techniques, markets, and remote artisan villages where women work on back strap looms.

We begin first in Antigua, Guatemala’s colonial city where the Spanish conquest left its mark on art, architecture, food and culture. Antigua, founded in 1524, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. After settling into our hotel, we meet Olga, visit her Indigo studio where she dyes threads with natural plants that she provides to weavers with whom she works in the Coban region where they make fine gauze textiles using the pikbil technique. Later in the tour we will visit this region, off the beaten path where few venture.

We also visit master weaver Lidia Lopez, who Norma met at the Santa Fe Folk Art Market this year. Lidia also attended and exhibited at the 2023 WARP annual conference. Her rendition of flower gardens in her weaving is nothing short of extraordinary.

Of course, we travel to Panajachel, take a boat launch across Lake Atitlan, and visit weaving cooperatives there with whom Olga has relationships. Before going to Lake Atitlan, we spend time at the famed Chichicastenango market. I was there in the mid-2000’s and was amazed by the indigenous Maya culture, mysticism practiced in the church — a testimony to syncretism that blends ancient beliefs with Catholicism, and one of the most vibrant outdoor marketplaces in Latin America. The abundance of textiles is beyond belief! As we meander, we will have expert guidance on textile iconography, region, quality, and rarity.

Amalia Gue at Santa Fe International Folk Art Market

From Chichi, we travel to Coban to meet Amalia Gue, who many collectors know as being one of the greatest weavers of fine gauze cloth. Amalia has exhibited at the Santa Fe Folk Art Market, the Museo Textil de Oaxaca, and we have invited her to Oaxaca Cultural Navigator expoventas at our Taller Teñido a Mano dye studio and weaving workshop in Teotitlan del Valle. In addition, we spend several days in this area to discover other talented artisanbs who also work in the same pikbil gauze weaving technique.

We make our way back to Antigua via Lake Atitlan and Panajachel to explore villages accessible only by boat, where women are also weaving huipiles and blusas using naturally dyed threads.

Preliminary Itinerary: February 6 – 15, 2025, 9 nights, 10 days

Day 1, Thursday, February 6: Arrive to Guatemala City, travel to Antigua before 4 p.m. by airport shuttle (at your own expense) to avoid traffic. Check in to our group hotel. Dinner included.

Day 2, Friday, February 7: Drive to San Antonio Aguas Calientes to visit the town and Lidia Lopez home with a textile weaving demonstration. Then, we visit Olga Reiche´s Studio at San Juan Del Obispo, with natural dye demonstration and discussion about natural dyes. Lunch at La Cascade Marc in San Juan Del Obispo. The afternoon is free to explore Antigua. Breakfast and lunch included. Dinner on your own.

Day 3, Saturday, February 8: Antigua morning tour, with visits to places of interest. Breakfast included. Lunch and dinner on your own.

Day 4, Sunday, February 9: Early departure to Chichicastenango Market – Visit the market and have an early brunch at Hotel Mayan Inn. We then depart to nearby Santa Cruz del Quiche to visit artisans and then go on to Coban, Alta Verapaz. Our travel time is approximately 3-1/2 hours by luxury van. Arrive at Coban Alta Verapaz in mid-afternoon. Dinner at Restaurant Casa Acuña. Breakfast and dinner included.

Day 5, Monday, February 10: After breakfast, drive to Samac to visit famed pikbil weaver Amalia Gue who participates in the Santa Fe International Folk Art Market. We will invite other nearby weaving groups of Coban to an expoventa at our hotel. Dinner at X’Kape Coban with a local food. Breakfast, lunch and dinner included.

Day 6, Tuesday, February 11: One more day in Coban to visit other weaving groups or return to Amalia’s or visit and tour orchid farm. Breakfast, lunch and dinner included.

Day 7, Wednesday, February 12: After Breakfast, visit Coban’s market and depart mid-morning. Travel to Panajachel, Lake Atitlan. Afternoon free to wonder around the shops on Santander Street. Breakfast included. Lunch and Dinner on your own.

Day 8, Thursday, February 13: Visit De Colores Studio in Panajachel, with an explanation of the work they do. Cross the lake on a private boat to Santiago Village and visit Cojolya Cooperative of weavers. Continue to travel by boat to San Juan La Laguna to visit artisans that practice natural dyes, with demonstrations. Return to Panajachel. Breakfast and lunch included. Dinner on your own.

Day 9, February 14: Return to Antigua, free afternoon to visit museums and galleries. Grand finale dinner. Overnight in Antigua.

Day 10, February 15: Departure to Guatemala City airport. Please schedule flights to depart after 11 a.m. It will take 1-1/2 hours to get there, and you need to be there two hours ahead to check in to international flights.

On your own options are to arrive a day or two earlier or stay a day or two later to visit Guatemala City. The Archeological Museum there has an extensive textile collection, and next door is a vast Craft Market which has a nice selection of artisan made craft from different regions of Guatemala.

Price $4,395 shared room. $5,195 single room. Deposit to reserve $750 (non-refundable). Please complete this Registration Form and return to Norma Schafer at norma.schafer@icloud.com to participate. Please read Registration Policies and Procedures. Thank you.

Space is limited to 14 travelers.

Olga Reiche and Leslie Roth at Santa Fe International Folk Art Market

About the Tour Leaders

Olga Reiche is a Guatemala textile artisan, dye master, and social justice advocate who has worked with local artisans and indigenous groups for over 30 years to train them to use natural dyes. Her concern for environmental and artisan sustainability is a driving force in her work around Lake Atitlan and in the northern Coban region of Guatemala.

She has been an invited participant at the Santa Fe International Folk Art Market for many years, teaches natural dyeing and weaving, has written numerous articles about natural dyes and sustainability, indigenous culture, and continuity.

She mentors weavers, developing new designs and products, teaching them how to manage a business, and how to competitively market products in the international arena.

Olga heads the sustainable eco-fashion brand Indigo that works with craftspeople from different regions to create clothing from recycled and reused materials. The name of her brand is inspired by the rich blue pigment which comes from the native Guatemalan indigo plant.

Olga is the lead designer and produces naturally-dyed threads that are used by a team of weavers with whom she collaborates—mostly women working out of their homes. They make pieces according to Olga’s instructions, weaving almost exclusively on backstrap looms, incorporating patterns and symbols inspired by their shared Mayan heritage. Once the pieces are fabricated, they are returned to Olga for assembly into comfortable and luxurious handmade garments that have been featured in Harper’s Bazaar and Vogue Mexico.

Eric Chavez Santiago is a fourth-generation weaver and natural dyer from Teotitlan del Valle, Oaxaca. He is fluent in Spanish and English, and is managing partner of Oaxaca Cultural Navigator. He joined OCN in 2021. Eric was founding director of education at the Museo Textil de Oaxaca, where he organized artisan-led programs for eight years. After that, he was asked by the Alfred Harp Helu Foundation to open and direct the Oaxaca folk art gallery Andares del Arte Popular, which he did for six years. Eric is knowledgeable about all aspects of weaving and naturally dyeing, having developed over 100 different shades of cochineal before the age of 21, and is deeply embedded in the folk art and craft culture of Mexico.

Norma Schafer founded Oaxaca Cultural Navigator LLC in 2007, and has been offering educational programs, workshops and tours since then. She served for thirty years in university leadership roles, and has a keen personal interest in artisan economic development, all things textiles and folk art.

.Reservations and Cancellations. A $750 non-refundable deposit (first payment) is required to guarantee your place. The balance is due in two equal payments. The second payment of 50% of the balance is due on or before August 1, 2024. The third payment, 50% balance, is due on or before November 1, 2024. We accept payment using Zelle cash transfer or a credit card with Square. For a Zelle transfer, there is no service fee. We add a 3.5% service fee to use Square. We will send you a request for funds to make your reservation deposit when you tell us you are ready to register. Please tell us how your account is registered (email or phone number).

After November 1, 2024, there are no refunds. If you cancel on or before November 1, 2024, we will refund 50% of your deposit received to date (less the $750 non-refundable deposit). After that, there are no refunds UNLESS we cancel for any reason. If we cancel, you will receive a full 100% refund.

Required–Travel Health/Accident Insurance: We require that you carry international accident/health insurance that includes $50,000+ of emergency medical evacuation insurance. Check out Forbes Magazine for best travel insurance options. https://www.forbes.com/advisor/travel-insurance/best-travel-insurance/

Proof of insurance must be received at least 45 days before the tour start date.

About COVID. Covid is still with us and new variants continue to arise. As of this writing (December 2023), we request proof of latest COVID-19 vaccination and all boosters to be sent to us 30 days before departure. We suggest that you test two days before traveling to the tour. Please bring Covid test kits with you in the event you feel sick during the tour. Face masks are strongly suggested for airport and air travel, van travel, densely populated market visits, and artisan visits that are held indoors. We ask this to keep all travelers safe, and to protect indigenous populations who are at higher risk.

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Posted in Clothing Design, Textiles, Tapestries & Weaving, Travel & Tourism, Workshops and Retreats

Tagged Amalia Gue, Coban, Guatemala, Lidia Lopez, Olga Reiche, textiles, tour, travel

Shop Small SALE Continues to December 1

Posted on Sunday, November 26, 2023 | Comments Off

We pride ourselves on buying direct from artisan makers. We know them and the quality of their work. We believe that by supporting makers we are contributing to the well-being of their children, families and communities. Many live in remote regions of Mexico where they have little or no access to those of us who appreciate and can purchase their work directly. In many communities, the men are subsistence farmers who raise the three sisters: beans, corn, and squash to feed their families. Women are able to find markets for what they make and can then raise the cash to pay for the cost of education, health care, and additional food to sustain them. When we bring small groups to visit, what we purchase is a benefit and a blessing. As we continue to give thanks in this season for the abundance in our lives, making a purchase here helps women and their families survive and thrive.

Use Discount Code thankful2023 when you make a purchase at shop.oaxacaculture.com

IMG_0405 Download

We’ve just added these beautiful handmade bags to the shop. More than 75 items are listed, including handwoven, naturally dyed rugs and wall-hangings by Eric Chavez Santiago, Teotitlan del Valle, Oaxaca. Perhaps there is something you would like to embellish your holiday wardrobe or for gifting something special!

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Posted in Clothing Design, Shop, Textiles, Tapestries & Weaving

Tagged back strap loom, Chiapas, Embroidery, handbags, Oaxaca, sale, Small Business Saturday

Scott Roth on Rug Weaving Art History in Oaxaca, Mexico–Part 1

Posted on Tuesday, April 25, 2023 | 4 comments

Scott Roth and I have been friends for about 15 years. I met him a few years after I first arrived in Teotitlan del Valle, Oaxaca, in 2005. Scott is a legend. He is one of the early adventurers who identified the weaving talent in the village, and intuited that blankets and rugs could be repurposed into beautiful floor rugs with just a few modifications. He began working with a few weavers on designs and dyes for export to the USA to meet the nascent interest in what became known as Southwest Style. I want to tell his story, because it is an important part of the history of what Oaxaca is today. I’ll be publishing his writing in segments along with his photos.

1970’s Transition from Wearable Serapes to Floor Rugs

These are Scott’s words!

I first visited the village in January 1974, and returned in August and November that year to continue investing in their two-piece blankets (serapes) and wall hangings. At the time, there was only one man, Ismael Gutierrez, making textiles we would consider rugs today, with the tightness of weave that we find suitable for heavy foot traffic.

Above: Blanket, Scott Roth Collection, era 1974

The big surge of popularity of these weavings was just around the bend, when the Southwest design trend came on strong in 1980. In 1974, there were only two other Americans regularly coming to Teotitlan as exporters, but shortly thereafter ten fellow hippy boomers discovered the village, and found a way, like myself, to fund a romantically adventurous lifestyle.

Above Left: Flor de Oaxaca. Above Right: Escher tapestry

As is now in Teotitlan del Valle, most households strived to become financially independent, creating for the marketplace a unique wool textile through design, size, function and color palette. There was a wide range of images displayed by Teotitecos at the weekly Sunday Tlacolula Market, and also at Saturday’s market in Oaxaca city, which was a block from the Zocalo, on the streets facing the Benito Juarez Market.

Above: Aztec Calendar, 1930’s

In 1974, some of the prominent themes depicted in the tapestry weaving were based on the 1910-1920 Mexican Revolution, during which time greater civil rights and land reforms uplifted indigenous groups. These themes included figures from pre-Hispanic carvings of anthropomorphic gods and the very popular rendering of the stone-carved Aztec Calendar. These themes originated in the 1930’s and remained well into the 1970’s. Weavers of this era learned from their grandfathers who were the serape makers during the mid-1800’s when colonial period Saltillo-style serapes were in vogue throughout Mexico. A pattern from that pre-Revolution era, named Flor de Oaxaca, was the singular most popular design for the 5′ x 6-1/2′ two-piece serapes in 1975. It was a simplified version which fit in with mid-century modernist aesthetic.

Above: Saltillo-style serape, Flor de Oaxaca design, Teotitlan del Valle

Early 20th century European modern art readily translated to tapestries, with many interpretations of Miro, Picasso, M.C. Escher, and Matisse found alongside pre-Columbian figures. Isaac Vasquez (who died in 2022) told me how he wove commissioned tapestries for Rufino Tamayo, at the time Mexico’s most famous living artist. In the early sixties, Tamayo brought along his good friend from Paris, Pablo Picasso. Picasso drew for Isaac a simple design of fish stacked in opposing directions like canned sardines. The design, Pescados Modernas, became one of the village’s most enduring best sellers.

Above: Picasso’s fish interpreted for Teotitlan del Valle tapestries

Above: Matisse tapestry, Teotitlan del Valle, 1970’s

Pre-Hispanic figures from two books by Mexican anthropologist/designer Jorge Enciso, called escaletos, were the subject of favored small wall hangings, in black and white wool. If you know the 1980’s New York City pop artist Keith Haring, you know the power of tightly balanced positive and negative figurative work. I suspect Haring was influenced by the pre-Hispanic figures in Teotitlán’s Escaleto tapestries.

Above: Jose Enciso designs replicated in Teotitlan weaving

There was a remarkable contrast between the bare minimum of material goods in any household and the highly spirited social exchanges one observed on the street. Everyone slept on the dirt floor of their one-room adobe house, unrolling a petate every night. There was only one car in town, no running water or plumbing, no paved streets, most women over age 50 went barefoot, and people over 40 had a very limited grasp of Spanish. Electricity had arrived in 1965, but was used minimally. I enjoyed visiting two households in which one weaver would, unaccompanied, sing songs for hours while he and other family members continued working on their looms. A lively and cheery work environment! A few years later the Teotitecos could afford cassette stereos, and this tradition of singing disappeared.

Above: 1950’s-60’s Modernist home with Flor de Oaxaca rug on the floor

The next post will cover the decade of the 1980’s, when everything changed materially. In retrospect, I observed in the 1970’s that much of the Zapotec lifestyle here had been as it was through the colonial period. A good, but hard to find, anthropological study of the value system of the Oaxaca Valley Zapotecs was published in the late sixties titled Zapotec Deviance. It contains insights as to what has helped maintain their cultural identity and sustainability this last half century.

Here is a video interview with Scott you may enjoy!

Norma’s Note: I’ve lightly edited Scott’s narrative and photos, and inserted a few more details, like the recent death of Isaac Vasquez, innovative master weaver. Also of note, the colorful rugs shown here were made with churro sheep wool and chemical (synthetic) dyes, popular at the time, because they were cheap and easy to use. Before the industrial revolution in the mid-1800’s, serapes here were either made from the natural sheep wool (blacks, grays, beige, white, brown) or with natural dyes from local plant sources (cochineal, indigo, wild marigold, tree bark).

Above: This is master weaver Adrian Montaño from Teotitlan del Valle. He wove a vintage Covarrubias design in the 1960’s that I purchased in 2020. It hangs in my Teotitlan del Valle casita. Other examples from that era are included, and woven by him. The last photos is a traditional design created by Eric Chavez Santiago’s great grandfather Venustiano, popularized throughout the village. All in natural sheep wool.

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Posted in Teotitlan del Valle, Textiles, Tapestries & Weaving

Tagged 1970's, art history, designs, history, Mexico, Oaxaca, rug making, Scott Roth, serapes, Teotitlan del Valle, textiles, weaving

On the Oaxaca Coast, It’s About the Cloth, Not the Cut

Posted on Sunday, February 5, 2023 | Comments Off

On the Oaxaca Coast, it’s about the cloth, not the cut. Why? Because lengths of cloth meticulously woven on the back strap loom are never cut. They are squares and rectangles that are joined together at right angles to create a garment. The garment construction never has darts, either. Nor is it form-fitting. Plus, the finish work is all done by hand. Women who weave on the Oaxaca coast and elsewhere in Mexico believe the cloth is a reflection of their souls and has spiritual, mystical symbolism. A cut in the cloth is a travesty that would never be acceptable. In thinking about this, I recall it’s been about fifty years since I’ve seen a self-made button hole on any garment in the USA. I learned to make these in junior high school home economics, but it seems the skill may be lacking now or that fast fashion prevents this attention to detail. I don’t attend the Paris Couture shows, so don’t know if a multi-thousand dollar jacket even has button holes or how they are made!

Years back, for her thesis, the Mexico City designer Carla Fernandez wrote a book, now out of print, Taller Flora, in 2006. If you can find a used copy somewhere and you are interested in indigenous clothing construction and design, you might try to find this online, though the price will be hefty!

So, to go with us on the Oaxaca Coast Textile Study Tour is to go deeply into indigenous weaving and natural dyeing culture that includes how ancient garments, still made and used today, are made. I’m writing this because in Western fashion, we are so concerned with fit and the shape of our form. If something doesn’t fit right, we are inclined to be self-critical about our body shape rather than the inherent beauty of how it is made. Here, we can focus on the quality of the weaving, the meaningful designs incorporated in the cloth using a weaving technique call embordado or supplementary weft, and the drape of the cloth, rather than if it hugs our body (for good or bad!). This clothing frees us to focus on something else rather than body image.

Often, when people first look at a handwoven textile, they think the design embedded in the cloth is embroidered, a surface design technique of stitching on a piece of plain weave. Not so here! Cloth is woven on a loom that is warped with thread. Then, the weft, or horizontal threads are added row by row. This is a long process and it can take several months to make two, four or six wefts or lengths of cloth to construct a huipil, depending on the desired width of the finished piece. The designs integrated into the cloth are part of the weaving process. Individual threads are added, again row by row, to form a pattern that women keep in their heads. I think it is part of their DNA, something learned from mothers and grandmothers and great grandmothers. The cloth is their heritage.

2024 Oaxaca Coast Textile Study Tour coming soon! Get on the list. Send an email.

Almost all these garments are cotton, though some can be made with wool. The Spaniards brought sheep to the Americas and native peoples loved the warmth the cloth provided. Before that, everything here was pre-Hispanic native cotton, which we find cultivated and used in villages along the Oaxaca coast foothills. Becoming more rare now is the coyuchi (native brown cotton the color of a coyote), green cotton (pale mint or military green), and creamy white cotton.

All of these must be grown, harvested, picked clean of seeds, beaten to separate and soften the fibers, hand-spun using the malacate (drop spindle), formed into balls, wrapped onto spindles, and then woven into cloth. Even before the weaving begins, this is a labor-intensive process. Often, the white cotton is dyed with natural materials: wild marigold, indigo, cochineal, tree bark, squash pulp, caracol purpura purple snails, leaves and seeds of various fruits and vegetables. The dye materials need to be collected and prepared in dye vats. It is alchemy and chemistry. Then, according to the choice of each artisan, the threads are dyed before weaving or the garment is dyed after it is completed.

As we plan for our 2024 Oaxaca Coast Textile Study Tour, I write this to give you a sense of the importance of keeping this weaving culture viable. Very few indigenous women, except those in remote communities, continue to wear their distinctive clothing on a daily basis, instead saving them for fiestas and other special occasions. The garment they wove for their wedding will go to the grave with them. This is the reason very few vintage garments exist.

Appreciators and collectors of handmade textiles are doing much to revive interest and support the economy that gives women an opportunity to monetize their skills, encouraging them to continue the traditions. Most often, it is the women who are able to earn a cash income to supplement the work the men do as subsistence farmers. The men all grow the same food — corn, beans and squash — so there is no selling opportunity unless they take their produce to a regional market. It is the women who pay for the education and health care of their children, grandchildren, and aging parents. There is no social security in Mexico. Each family is responsible for taking care of their own.

We wrote a blog earlier this week about being a Oaxaca Fiberista. You might want to look at this for examples of garments, too.

Oaxaca Cultural Navigator : Experience Connection

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Posted in Clothing Design, Textiles, Tapestries & Weaving, Travel & Tourism

Tagged Clothing Design, fashion, Mexico, Oaxaca, Taller Flora Carla Fernandez, textiles, tour, travel, weaving

What is a Oaxaca Fiberista?

Posted on Tuesday, January 31, 2023 | 4 comments

My friend Carol Egan from Savannah who has wintered in Oaxaca for almost 20 years uses the term Fiberista to describe those of us who love and wear (and who demonstrate cultural appreciation for) clothing made on the back-strap loom by the very talented indigenous weavers of Oaxaca. Carol is a graduate of RISD (Rhode Island School of Design) and she has an impeccable sense of color and style. Maybe Fiberista is an adaptation of Fashionista, a word that has been part of the Urban Dictionary vocabulary for a while, though likely applied mostly to those who follow haute couture. Fiberistas have an affinity for the handmade textile. We are sewists, knitters, dyers, designers, spinners, embroiderers, crocheters, weavers, photographers, artists, and artisans or we just appreciate the texture of beautiful cloth. We know we have something to learn from indigenous cultures.

Our mantra on the Oaxaca Coast Textile Study Tour is to gain a greater cultural appreciation for the women and men who make garments from scratch — the talented people who grow native Oaxaca green, white and coyuchi (brown) cotton that goes back to before the Spanish Conquest. This is why we visit remote mountain villages — to see the traditional techniques, uncover the designs (or iconography) in the woven patterns that are an integral part of the cloth, and to show our support by being able to purchase directly to put much needed funds into the hands of the makers.

Next Oaxaca Coast Textile Study Tour will be in mid-January 2024. Get on the interested list! Email us!

We don’t believe that we are appropriating another culture by wearing the garments they make. We believe we are supporting and sustaining women and families. Without our admiration and support, their ancient back-strap loom weaving art form will be lost to future generations. Today, not many women in traditional pueblos are wearing traditional traje (costumes). They have adopted Western-style dress, which enables them to fit in and assimilate into the larger, dominant community. This clothing, usually made with synthetic fibers, is easier to wash and dry, too. So, the huipiles we have gone in search of are brought out only for special celebrations. That is why our visits are so important.

It takes an extraordinary amount of labor to make one of these garments. First, the seeds are picked from the cotton bolls, to save for the next planting. Then, the cotton is beaten with sticks after it is laid on a rolled woven straw mat inside of which is stuffed corn stalks and leaves. It is then hand-spun with a malacate or drop spindle. If it is green or coyuchi cotton, both quite rare, it will be woven in its natural state and not dyed. Sometimes, the native white cotton is dyed with natural pigments — indigo, cochineal, wild marigold, or tree bark, for example. Fine commercial threads, purchased from the last cotton mill in the State of Puebla, will also be dyed. Then, it will be the man’s task to warp the back-strap loom. It usually takes a women three to four-months to make a complete full-length huipil, weaving five to six-hours per day. She will tie one end of the loom to a post or a tree, tie the waist harness around her, get on her knees or sit cross-legged, moving her body to create the weaving tension, swaying back and forth in a gentle motion.

We bring eye glasses with us to distribute. If the brocade or supplementary weft of the designs in the woven cloth is intricate, this takes a toll on a weaver’s vision. So many say they now have difficulty seeing. So, it is a blessing to be able to give reading glasses to the many groups in five communities we visit along our route from Puerto Escondido, Oaxaca, north to Xochistlahuaca, Guerrero.

Think of fashion as an art form, extolls one source I researched. This is not difficult to do on the coast of Oaxaca, where diversity of weaving techniques, colors and designs tell stories of ancient myths and beliefs. Look at the stars, animals, sun, moon, plants woven into the cloth to learn about how rooted these communities are in the natural world and their social history. We embrace this as the world has become more commercialized, mechanized; as our attention spans have shortened with instant information and gratification, as we cannot leave our smart phones behind for even a minute. However, we are careful not to romanticize. The economic poverty is palpable. The talent is immeasurable.

We go deep into Mixtec, Zapotec, Chatino and Amusgo territory. We hear languages uncommon to our ear. We travel to villages where few who look like us dare to venture. Not because it isn’t safe, but because it takes hours to reach a remote destination. The Spanish friars never penetrated deeply into these mountain towns until the 18th century because they were so inaccessible. We are intrepid travelers who are interested in discovery!

What we find are people who want to educate their children, provide them with good food and health care, access to opportunity, who are not interested in out-migration unless all other options are closed to them. They want the same things that we do for our own families. And, this is what connects us.

Traditional indigenous clothing is not form fitting. It is lengths of squares or rectangles that are sewn together using a needlework joining technique called a randa, that looks a bit like embroidery. This means, the garment is not tight-fitting. It is loose and airy, and will drape beautifully if the woven fabric is lightweight. This is style we come to appreciate since this is a different look than we are used to. Sometimes, the skirt or dress can be tied with a belt. In all instances, the stand-out quality is not so much the structure of the garment but the weaving techniques used to create designs woven as an integral part of the cloth. The more complex and dense the design, the more costly a garment will be. Price is often related to the quality of the materials used — finest cotton and natural dyes are what we are looking for.

The experience broadens our view of how we dress ourselves. We know that the New York and Paris runways are not the only source for beautiful inspiration.

The day before our tour ended, we gathered under the palapa by the upper pool at Hotel Santa Fe, for a show and tell. We each brought three pieces we purchased along the way, and we wore one more. We then talked about the experience of where we got these, who wove them, what dyes were used, and what designs were incorporated into the cloth. It was a way to review our visits and to see others’ choices. Being Oaxaca Fiberistas!