Oaxaca Coast Textile Study Tour: Discover the Mixteca Baja
Arrive on Tuesday, December 2, and depart on Wednesday, December 10, 2025 — 8 nights, 9 days in textile heaven! Home in time for winter holiday preparations. Please send us an email to tell us you are ready to join! December is a perfect time to visit the Oaxaca coast. The weather is at its […]
Deep Into the Mixteca Alta: Oaxaca Textile + Folk Art Study Tour 2025
5 nights, 6 days, March 12-17, 2025 — Starting and ending in Oaxaca City We go deep into the Mixteca Alta, a mountainous region of the Sierra Madre del Sur in the north of Oaxaca state that is situated between the capital city and the Oaxaca coast. This area is home to Mixtec-speaking and Triqui […]
In the Triqui Village of Chicahuaxtla, Mixteca Alta, Oaxaca
Our friend Shuko Clouse captures the essential emotion and experience of being in the Triqui village of San Andres Chicahuaxtla in the Mixteca Alta as she traveled with us this past weekend on a textile exploration seven hours beyond the city of Oaxaca. She writes a blog called Our Universe that is part of her […]
At Original, Textiles from Chiapas Tell Stories
A group of us spent five days at Original this past week. This is a textile extravaganza in Mexico City that honors indigenous weavers and designers from throughout Mexico. With over 1,000 artisans showing and selling what they make, to say the event was mind-boggling is an understatement. The show also featured pottery, lacquerware, copper, […]
Deep Into the Mixteca Alta: Oaxaca Textile + Folk Art Study Tour
5 nights, 6 days, March 7-12, 2024 We go deep into the Mixteca Alta, a mountainous region of the Sierra Madre del Sur in the north of Oaxaca state that is situated between the capital city and the Oaxaca coast. Home to Mixtec-speaking people and other language groups (among them Chatino, Zapotec, Triqui). This tour […]
2024 Chiapas Textile Study Tour: Deep into the Maya World
At Oaxaca Cultural Navigator, we aim to give you an unparalleled and in-depth travel experience to participate and delve deeply into indigenous culture, folk art and celebrations. The Maya World of Chiapas, Mexico, spans centuries and borders. Maya people weave their complex universe into beautiful cloth. Symbols are part of an ancient pre-Hispanic animist belief system. […]
In Chiapas: The Language of Cloth
Clothing speaks to us. We are drawn to the texture of cloth, the cut, the fit, the drape, the patterns and what this might say to us. Here, in the Chiapas Highlands in the city of San Cristobal de las Casas, and beyond into the surrounding pueblos where Maya women work on the back-strap loom, […]
In Chiapas: The Language of Cloth
Clothing speaks to us. We are drawn to the texture of cloth, the cut, the fit, the drape, the patterns and what this might say to us. Here, in the Chiapas Highlands in the city of San Cristobal de las Casas, and beyond into the surrounding pueblos where Maya women work on the back-strap loom, […]
2024 Oaxaca Coast Textile Study Tour
Arrive on Saturday, January 13 and depart on Monday, January 22, 2024 — 9 nights, 10 days in textile heaven! We go deep, and not wide. We give you an intimate, connecting experience. We spend time to know the culture. You will meet artisans in their homes and workshops, enjoy local cuisine, dip your hands […]
Interlude: Road to Venustiano Carranza, Chiapas
This week is one of rest! Hahahaha! I scheduled myself for a calming week between our two Chiapas textile tours. In between, eating, sleeping, walking around and getting super-fixed with shiatsu massage from Kentaro, I asked our guide Gabriela if she would take me to the distant weaving village of Venustiano Carranza. I have never […]
All Soul’s Day, Dia de los Muertos, Oaxaca 2021
Today is the day, November 2, that the souls of the departed visit their loved ones here on earth. Our Oaxaca Day of the Dead Culture Tour is immersed in the traditions of the small weaving village of Teotitlan del Valle. We have also spent time in San Pablo Villa de Mitla, the Zapotec City […]
2022 Oaxaca Coast Textile Study Tour
Arrive on Saturday, January 15 and depart on Monday, January 24, 2022 — 9 nights, 10 days in textile heaven! Starting at $2,895. ONE SPACE OPEN! We are hopeful for 2022! This tour is strictly limited to 10 participants –6 single rooms and 2 shared rooms. At Oaxaca Cultural Navigator, we aim to give you […]
Chiapas Textile Study Tour 2021: Deep Into the Maya World
The Maya World of Chiapas, Mexico, spans centuries and borders. Maya people weave their complex universe into beautiful cloth. Symbols are part of an ancient pre-Hispanic animist belief system. In the cloth we see frogs, the plumed serpent, woman and man, earth and sky, the four cardinal points, moon and sun, plus more, depending on […]
Oaxaca Coast Textile Study Tour 2021
Arrive on Saturday, January 16 and depart on Monday, January 25, 2021 — 9 nights, 10 days in textile heaven! Trip is limited to 12 participants–6 single rooms and 3 shared rooms. To register, please complete the Registration Form and email it. Cost is $2,795 per person shared room or $3,395 per person for private […]
To the Villages with Shuko–Backroads Oaxaca
Shuko Clouse is here. She opened Mano del Sur recently, a beautiful online shop that combines her Japanese aesthetic — simplicity and quality — with Mexican handcraft excellence. Shuko came to Oaxaca to restock the shop. She takes her time. She curates each item. She meets the makers and engages with them. She holds an […]
Tribal Art and Georgia O’Keeffe: New Mexico Study Tour
Tuesday, September 1 – Wednesday, September 9, 2020 – 8 nights, 9 days New Mexico was originally part of the Spanish land grant known as New Spain. It calls to me in a way that reminds me of Oaxaca: Vast vistas of mountains and desert punctuated by red and purple skies, stately organ-pipe cactus and […]
Jeweler’s Studio: Kewa-Santo Domingo Pueblo, New Mexico
Under the Palace of the Governors portal sit Native American artisans, displaying their craft. They may sit on small camp stools or cross-legged on a blanket waiting for us. Their hang tags tell their name, their pueblo, and authenticate what they sell. This is a juried system. The portal at the Palace of the Governors […]
Oaxaca Discovery Study Tour: Textiles and Folk Art
January 31 to February 7, 2020, 8 days and 7 nights. Come with us to explore the Oaxaca we know and love by going deep and personal. We offer you an unparalleled and eclectic cultural immersion travel experience by introducing you to the artisans we believe offer some of the finest examples of folk art and […]
Chiapas Boundaries, Borders and Cloth: Cultural Tourism
Long before the Spanish conquest of the Americas beginning with Mexico in 1521, Maya land was contiguous. Maya peoples spanned what we now know as Chiapas, the Yucatan Peninsula, Guatemala, Belize, Honduras and El Salvador. While spoken dialects differ, the language of cloth tells a similar and familiar story of the universe and creation: corn, […]
Oaxaca Coast Textile Study Tour 2020
Arrive on Saturday, January 18 and depart on Monday, January 27, 2020 — 9 nights, 10 days in textile heaven! Trip is limited to 11 participants. 7 spaces open. Cost is $2,795 per person shared room or $3,295 per person for private room. See details and itinerary below. This entire study tour is focused on […]
Where Flowers Grow on Cloth: Flor de Xochistlahuaca
The Amusgo people span the states of Oaxaca and Guerrero in the mountain region of the Costa Chica between Puerto Escondido and Acapulco. They are back-strap loom weavers of an extraordinary garment called the huipil. This particular textile is fine gauze cotton, a loose weave, to offer comfort to the hot, humid climate. Even in […]
Podcast: Tixinda Dreamweavers Plus Our Oaxaca Coast Textile Study Tour
Listen to the WEAVE Podcast from Gist Yarn & Fiber Today, Sarah Resnick from Gist Yarn & Fiber, talks with Patrice Perillie, an immigration attorney based in Puerto Escondido, Oaxaca, and Mixtec weaver Amada Sanchez Cruz from Pinotepa de Don Luis. She also interviews Norma Schafer at the end of the segment. Patrice started the […]
Making PomPoms in San Cristobal de Las Casas, Chiapas
Wandering around San Cristobal de Las Casas last week I discovered Punto y Trama, on Belisario Dominguez #13b, just two blocks off the Andador Real de Guadalupe walking street. What drew me in was the sign on the door that announced PomPom workshops. Then, once inside I immediately noticed the furry wool Chamula woven shawls adorned […]
Chiapas Textile Study Tour Snapshot: If It’s Sunday, It Must Be Chamula and Zinacantan
San Juan Chamula was our first stop on Sunday, the big market day in the Tzotzil speaking Maya village located about thirty minutes outside of San Cristobal de Las Casas. This also happened to be a day for baptisms. As we arrived at the Chamula church, extended families were emerging. Children of all ages were […]
Chiapas Textile Study Tour Snapshot: Saturday Serendipity in Aguacatenango
The idea was to drive to Aguacatenango which is about thirty minutes beyond the pottery village of Amantenango del Valle. We were a good hour or so beyond San Cristobal de Las Casas. Few tourists come in this direction. The idea was to pull up at the church, park the van, gather under the big […]
2019 Oaxaca Textile Study Tour: San Mateo del Mar and the Purple Snail
Saturday, January 5 to Thursday, January 10, 2019 — Six days, five nights immersed in the weaving and natural dyeing culture of Oaxaca’s southern coast. You can take this short-course independently or add it on to the front end of our Costa Chica study tour. Itinerary Saturday, January 5, arrive in Huatulco on Oaxaca’s mid-coast. […]
2019 Oaxaca Costa Chica Study Tour: Textile Explorers
Oaxaca Costa Chica Textile Study Tour Arrive on Friday, January 11 and depart on Monday, January 21, 2019 — 10 nights, 11 days in textile heaven! Trip is limited to 11 participants. This entire study tour is focused on exploring the textiles of Oaxaca’s Costa Chica. You arrive to and leave from Puerto Escondido, connecting […]
2019 Chiapas Textiles and Folk Art Study Tour: Deep Into the Maya World
Chiapas Textiles + Folk Art Study Tour: Deep Into the Maya World — February 26-March 7, 2019 Cost • $2,495 double room with private bath (sleeps 2) • $2,995 single room with private bath (sleeps 1) We are based in the historic Chiapas mountain town of San Cristobal de las Casas, the center of the Maya […]
Reviving Lost Textile Traditions in Tututepec, Oaxaca on the Costa Chica
Villa de Tutupec de Melchor Ocampo is a mountain town above the Pacific Ocean on Oaxaca’s Costa Chica. During our recent Oaxaca Textile Study Tour: Valley and Coast, we spent almost a complete day there immersed in the region’s cultural history. Tututepec is tucked into the fold of a mountain that overlooks the Pacific coast and […]
A Journey of Cloth: Amuzgo Weaving on Oaxaca’s Costa Chica
San Pedro Amuzgos is an Amuzgos village nestled in a mountain valley seven hours by winding road from the capital city of Oaxaca. It is closest to Tlaxiaco, but not really. You can get there following MEX 125 by private car or on a regional bus from Oaxaca (or you can come with us). The […]