Few people make Tonina, the classic Maya archeological site just beyond Ocosingo, Chiapas, a travel destination. Instead, they choose to go between San Cristobal de Las Casas and Palenque directly, bypassing the most vertical site of the ancient Maya world. It’s another three hours by road to reach Palenque, which demands at least one overnight stay. (Do you see us at the top?)
From San Cris, Tonina can be navigated in about a day-long round-trip, giving you several hours at the site. We left at seven-thirty in the morning and planned to return to San Cris by seven in the evening, including a one-hour stopover in Oxchuc to stretch and see textiles.
It’s a long and winding road. We traveled from seven thousand foot mountains studded with pines to lowlands bordering the Lancandon rain forest filled with tropical vegetation, banana palms and adobe huts with thatch roofs. The mountains fall fast to almost sea-level over this almost three-hour journey, so the road curves sharply. Ginger is a great antidote.
This is EZLN territory, and Zapatista politics for and by the people prevail here. It is not unusual to come across an occasional roadblock demonstration. This is a common method for anti-government protest in both Chiapas and Oaxaca. There are grievances here. Sometimes for a donation, vehicles may pass. Other times, it’s important to know alternate secondary routes and have a full tank of gas when passage on the main highway isn’t possible.
At Tonina, we had an on-site Maya guide who participated in site excavations ten years ago. He played here as a child. Our multi-lingual guide who traveled with us from San Cristobal, anthropologist Mayari (meaning Maya princess), fluidly translated between Spanish, English and Tzeltal, the regional Mayan dialect.
There were at most ten other people at Tonina. From the top of the Pyramid of the Sun there is a spectacular view of the Ocosingo valley. Mayari tells us that Frans and Trudy Blom would fly in a single engine Cessna to Palenque and the Lancandon rainforest in the early 1950’s. She made that trip, too, with her archeology father as a child.
After most of us climbed to the top (not me this time, because of my new knee), we enjoyed a picnic lunch back at the site entrance, where a small, excellent museum hold pieces excavated from the site. When I was in Mexico City recently, a huge exhibition (now closed) on the Maya world at the Palacio Nacional prominently featured treasures from Tonina.
Then we back-tracked to Oxchuk.
Oxchuk weavers work on a back strap loom and then embroider the textiles by hand. If you turn off the main highway and venture onto the town’s main streets, you will find family run shops supplying huipils to the women of the local community. The quality is first-rate and the price is about half of the cost as in San Cristobal. Definitely worth a deviation. We were a curiosity since I suspect not many tourists make a stop there.
By now it was dusk and as we approached the intersection beyond Huixtan to turn onto the highway just about fifteen miles from San Cristobal, there was a roadblock demonstration. We turned around, bought two five liter jugs of gas at a roadside stand, asked a local man and his son to go with us (for a fee), and set off on an alternative back road through the mountains that would take us into San Cristobal. They carried official local papers authorizing travel across mountain communities.
We arrived back at our hotel only an hour later than we had planned. For reassurance at the outset, I called our hotel to tell them our whereabouts and route while our very competent guide Mayari notified ATC Tours to track us on GPS. Risk of danger? Little to none.
One of our participants said this was definitely an adventure story worth retelling! It was the last day of our two week Oaxaca and Chiapas art and archeology study tour. What a grand finale, wouldn’t you say?
Chiapas Notebook: Tenejapa Textiles and Thursday Market
Tenejapa, Chiapas is a regional center in the highlands of Chiapas about an hour- and-a-half beyond San Cristobal de las Casas. It’s a regional administrative center, about midway between the city and the remote village of Cancuc, past Romerillo. Most roads splay out from San Cristobal like spikes on a wheel hub, dead-ending down a canyon or mountain top at a remote village where traditional weavers create stunning cloth.
Tenejapa supplementary weft on cotton warp, with handmade doll
There are two reasons to go to Tenejapa.
Tenejapa market scene, the perfect village tianguis
First is the Thursday market that covers the length of four to six blocks (depending on the season) where everything needed to maintain a household is sold, including fresh roasted and ground coffee cultivated from bushes on nearby hillsides.
Rich, roasted, fresh ground coffee in the market, locally grown
This includes fresh dried beans, ground and whole chili peppers, ribbons and lace for sewing, seasonal fruits and vegetables, and an occasional textile find.
See highlights from 2017 Chiapas Textile Study Tour.
We will offer this Study Tour again, from February 13-22, 2018. Contact me if you are interested in itinerary and price. Taking a wait list!
Beautiful handwoven bag, a market find, random delights
Most of the textiles on the street are woven for local consumption. So, fabric and the materials to make it reflects the current fashion tastes of traditional ladies who weave to adorn themselves and their neighbors. Cotton takes longer to dry, so cotton thread has been replaced by synthetic. Now, the shinier the better.
Chili peppers, whole or ground, take your pick
We see this throughout the villages in the Chiapas Highlands where glittery threads are incorporated into the weft and warp, and polyester gives the textile a sheen that is now preferred.
Inspect carefully. Bright colors can be synthetics, as are these. Glorious, nevertheless.
Where to find the traditional textiles of five, ten, twenty years ago? Sometimes, you can find them hanging from ropes strung from wall to wall inside the shops along the market avenue. Sometimes, they are folded under a stack of the more contemporary pieces that Tenejapa fashionistas like.
Corn for sale, displayed in traditional handwoven ixtle market bag
The second, and perhaps more important reason to visit Tenejapa is to spend time in the cooperative operated by Maria Meza Giron. The building is next to the church, across from the zocalo and municipal building.
Sheri Brautigam, author and our textile tour resource, chats with Maria Meza
Maria and her son Pedro Meza, are co-founders of Sna Jolobil textile cooperative with anthropologist/friend/guide Walter “Chip” Morris. We bumped into him there that day as we were deep into textile heaven.
An amazing ceremonial cloth, hand-woven, snatched up by Kathleen
These textiles — huipils, ponchos, purses, blankets, rugs, shirts, belts, woven ixtle bags, skirts and ceremonial garb — are the finest examples with the most traditional quality of weaving found in Tenejapa.
What will this become? Textile in progress on back strap loom.
Some pieces are dense with wool supplementary weft woven onto a one hundred percent cotton warp. All created on the back strap loom. Garments are always as wide as the loom they are woven on.
Barbara looks at fine detail work on this Tenejapa sash
It was hard to choose. Hard to focus. Hard to pull away and say goodbye when the time came. The examples available for sale would sell for twice the price in San Cristobal de las Casas in finer galleries. It was well worth the trip for this, and for the experience of mingling among the people.
Tenejapa woman shopping for a comal — clay griddle
Just a note: Not many visitors come here. We were the only foreigners walking through the market. People are resistant to having their pictures taken. Photographs of fruits and veggies are okay. I always asked if I could take a photo (the people, not the vegetables). Most said no. Once, I shot from the hip and felt guilty.
Handwoven bags on display stand for sale.
Our anthropologist guide advised us to never photograph inside a village church. We didn’t. I did not shoot from the hip there. I attended to watching where I stepped. Lit candles blazed on the floor in front of altars to saints. As a consequence, you will see lots of textiles, tomatoes, oranges, and shoes.
Zocalo is also the taxi station, constant round trips to San Cristobal
The people who travel with me tend to be those with a deep appreciation for Mexicans and their creativity. Folk art or popular art in Mexico is made one piece at a time, one thread at a time. By coming here, we gain an understanding for craftsmanship that is passed down from mother to daughter, father to son.
Our guide explains Maya-Catholic Church traditions and what we will see inside
There is no magical way of being appreciative, warm and gracious. The feelings between visitor and host are reciprocal. We value the inspiration, hard work and dedication to keeping hand-made craft alive. Those who make and sell value our support and appreciation for what they do. It’s a bonus if we buy.
Being a locavore isn’t trendy, it’s a way of life
But shopping isn’t everything and that’s not why we are here. We are here because creative people are tucked in every corner and behind every hillock, using their open hearts and strong hands to bring color and joy into the world.
Beautiful, intricate Tenejapa huipil, wool weft for the design on cotton
We will offer this Study Tour again, from February 13-22, 2018. Contact me if you are interested with itinerary and price.
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Posted in Clothing Design, Cultural Commentary, Photography, Textiles, Tapestries & Weaving, Travel & Tourism, Workshops and Retreats
Tagged back strap loom, Chiapas, culture, fiber, ixtle, Maya, Mexico, San Cristobal de la Casas, study tour, supplementary weft, Tenejapa, textile, traditions, travel, weaving