Oaxaca Street Life and Re-Entry
On Monday, despite bumping around a bit in the sky atop the last remnants of a tropical storm that painted a picturesque landscape of layered clouds as we came in for a landing, I arrived in Oaxaca. Re-entry was easy. I’m always grateful to pick up my luggage from the conveyor belt after passing through […]
Choco-Cafe
One of the sublime pleasures of living in Mexico is being able to savor her homemade chocolate. Chocolate, the word, comes from the Nahuatl, the language of the Aztecs. In its original tongue, it is spelled Xocolatl, pronounced show-koh-lah-tel. In reality, the t and the l in the final syllable are slammed together, but for […]
Pilgrimage to San Pablo Tijaltepec, Mixteca Alta, Oaxaca
The map says it’s just under five hours from Oaxaca City to the remote Mixtec village of San Pablo Tijaltepec. For those of us who traveled there last Sunday on our Mixteca Alta textile study tour, it seemed more like many more hours and a world far, far away. We were based in Tlaxiaco (Tla-hee-ah-koh), […]
Looking for Frida Kahlo + Diego Rivera in Mexico City: Art History with a Textile Twist
Arrive Thursday, February 27 and depart Thursday, March 6, 2025, 7 nights, 8 days Come to Mexico City to explore the lives of Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera through their art, and meet contemporary Mexican fashion designers who are making an impact on international style. This is an in-depth art history and textile education at its best! […]
First Mexico City on Our Way to the Monarch Butterflies
We spent our first full day in Mexico City with an art history immersion, exploring the murals of the three greats of Mexican Muralism — José Clemente Orozco, Diego Rivera, and David Alfaro Siqueiros. First, we meandered through the Abelardo Rodriguez Market to find the murals painted by Rivera’s acolytes, including the Greenwood sisters and Pablo […]
2025 Oaxaca Coast Textile Study Tour
Arrive on Saturday, January 11 and depart on Sunday, January 19, 2025 — 8 nights, 9 days in textile heaven! This tour will not be offered in 2026! 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 […]
Textil Zacoalpan, Native Mexican Cotton Becomes Glorious Cloth
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 […]
Pinotepa de Don Luis Weaver Dazzles Us on the Oaxaca Coast
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 […]
Las Sanjuaneras Cooperative, on the Oaxaca Coast, San Juan Colorado
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 […]
Tixinda. Purple Snail Dye. Caracol Púrpura. On the Oaxaca Coast.
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 […]
Day of the Dead Etiquette and Behavior: Teotitlan del Valle Cemetery
Last year, 2022, Day of the Dead in Teotitlan del Valle was a frenzy. Big tour buses and mini-vans each holding 24 to 36 passengers unloaded face-painted visitors in front of our cemetery. I had made a plan this year to go early and not stay very long, expecting the same thing — travelers looking […]
Encore: Visiting the Tlacolula Market and Mitla Archeological Site
My friend Chris is visiting from Ajijic, Lake Chapala, Guadalajara within a few days after my son and daughter-in-law returned to New Mexico. And, I’m returning to the USA on March 27, just a few days after Chris goes back home to Guad. So, its a whirlwind of getting ready to leave and sightseeing with […]
Covid Got Me, Plus Tinker Bell on the Manialtepec Lagoon
We were in Pinotepa Nacional on our multi-day Oaxaca Coast Textile Study Tour for intrepid textile travelers — sixteen of us — exploring the weaving and natural dyeing culture of the Costa Chica, when I started to sneeze, get sniffly and then was hit with extreme tiredness. I am always super careful, completely masked. And, […]
Usually Overlooked, Yagul Archeological Site Offers Stunning Vistas
Along the Pan American Highway from Oaxaca City to Mitla and Hierve El Agua, two popular tourist destinations, lies the seldom visited Yagul archeological site. We know that as the taxis, cars, and vans pass, a guide might point to a faint cave painting on the cliff wall as testimony to an ancient Zapotec group […]
Oaxaca Day of the Dead Day Tour: Dia de los Muertos in Mitla, November 1, 2023
Our path along the Pan-America Highway leads us to some of the most iconic villages in Oaxaca. The artisans we visit in San Pablo Villa de Mitla not only talk about and demonstrate their craft, they will discuss their personal experiences and traditions growing up and honoring their ancestors during Day of the Dead. When […]
Mezcal and the Labor Shortage in Oaxaca
One of my first outings after settling into my casita in Teotitlan del Valle upon arrival to Oaxaca was to make a visit to weaver Arturo Hernandez in San Pablo Villa de Mitla. Mitla is one of those ancient Zapotec villages where a spectacular archeological site rises from the landscape of wild agave, cactus and […]
Why Day of the Dead is NOT Halloween
Rooted in pre-Hispanic indigenous religious and spiritual practices that has nothing to do with the Catholicism imported to Mexico by the Conquistadores and attending priests, unfortunately, Day of the Dead has morphed into what is becoming an attraction for party-goers in Oaxaca. Day of the Dead is coming back around on the calendar, observed from […]
Pre-Hispanic Oaxaca Cooking Class with Vicky Hernandez
High up the hill in the shadow of Oaxaca’s famed archeological site of Monte Alban is a humble comedor on a dirt side street down the hillside from a paved access road. Carefully make your way down a curved, steep stairway cut into the hill to find the simple kitchen of Cocina Pre-Hispanica con Fogon […]
Covid Basics: The Science and What to Know Before You Travel — Part 1
Ted Fahy and Priscilla Taylor are traveling with us to Chiapas in February 2022. We’ve been having back and forth conversations about traveling as safely as possible during COVID. Ted is a retired pediatric physician and Priscilla is a retired pediatric nurse practitioner. I invited them to write an occasional commentary about COVID, concentrating on […]
How to Travel Safely (More or Less) to Oaxaca During Covid
My son Jacob always reminds me that each of us has a different comfort level of risk for contracting the virus. As we face new mutations — Delta, Omicron, Whatever is Next — we need to take a pulse for our own willingness to travel by plane. Whether we are traveling within the U.S. to […]
Day of the Dead 2021, Teotitlan del Valle Cemetery: Cultural Sensitivity
External influences on Day of the Dead cultural practices
Masks Up Oaxaca
I’ve arrived. And I’m astounded at the safety precautions in Oaxaca city. I spent Friday in the city. First, I met Carol for brunch at El Tendajon at the corner of Calle Constitución and Pino Suarez. You can’t just walk in! There’s a gate. They check your temperature and ask you to use Ha d […]
Janet’s Roundabout Journey from Oaxaca Continues
As we speak, Janet is at the Puebla, Mexico airport. A testimony to her good judgment, she searched the United Airlines website and found that they offer flight service from Puebla to Houston. So, on Tuesday night, I changed her ticket from a Oaxaca departure to a Puebla departure today. Fortunately, I used air miles […]
Oaxaca’s Llano Park is Alive and Well: Travel Report from Winn Kalmon
Note from Norma: Like many of us, Winn Kalmon has a permanent residence in Oaxaca as well as the USA (or Canada). One of her favorite places to hang-out is Llano Park, which she describes here. We are far from back to normal, and may well never be, yet the transition to having a vaccine […]
Home to Oaxaca: Travel Report from Carol Estes
Norma’s Note: Carol arrived in Oaxaca a week ago after a one-year absence like most of us who go back and forth. I met her years ago in front of Santo Domingo Church when she had just arrived in Oaxaca to live permanently. (Covid proved to us that nothing is permanent — another life lesson.) […]
Vaccinated? When to Return to Oaxaca?
This is the big question facing most of us who are not in Oaxaca now. We hear that the U.S. is preparing to have enough vaccine for everyone who wants/needs it (hopefully) by the end of May 2021. The question looms: When is it safe to return to Oaxaca? Naturally, the answer varies among us […]
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 […]
February 2022: Chiapas Textile Study Tour–Deep Into the Maya World
February 22 to March 2, 2022 – 8 nights and 9 days, starting at $2,795 SOLD OUT. 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. Our hope, too, is that we will all be well and […]
A Oaxaca, Mexico Visit. Should You Go?
This is a rhetorical question. One I ask myself daily these days. All recent reports point to NO. The city (and state) ebb and flow between Orange (caution) and Red (STOP). Right now, the governor has declared Code Red. The Covid-19 euphemism for DANGER. Here is what Alvin Starkman, owner of Oaxaca Mezcal Educational Tours, […]
Oaxaca Cultural Navigator: What will the future hold?
This is a big question as we try to live in the present and get through each day. One reason I turned my focus to creating The Oaxaca Mask Project, I have come to realize, is that it is a perfect distraction to keep me busy and helpful. I can think about NOW, not what […]