2026 Bucket List Tour: Monarch Butterflies + Michoacan Folk Art

Come with us to Mexico, 9-nights, 10-days, February 11-20, 2026 Back by popular demand! I never knew that visiting the Monarch butterflies in Mexico should have been on my bucket list until I got there. Tucked into the mountainous forests of Michoacan and Estado de Mexico is the terminus of the butterfly migration from North […]

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 […]

Guatemala 2026: Study Tour in Textile Cloth + Culture

Registration is now open: January 22-February 2, 2026, 11 nights and 12 days. A $750 non-refundable deposit will reserve your space. We begin first in Guatemala City, with an overnight stay at one of the best Zona 10 luxury hotels. The next morning, we will visit the Museo Ixchel, which features a comprehensive collection of […]

Chiapas Textile Study Tour 2026: Deep Into Textiles

Dates are set and registration is now open — March 3-11, 2026 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 […]

In Antigua, Guatemala with Lidia López López

It’s a short 30 minute drive from Posada de Don Rodrigo in the historic center of Antigua to San Antonio Aguas Calientes to visit famous weaver Lidia López López. I met her several years ago at the Santa Fe Folk Art Market and again last year at the WARP conference in Denver. Her work is […]

Oaxaca Textiles, Craft + Culture Tour with Taos Wools January 2026

This January 8-15, 2026 program is more than a tour. It includes weaving and natural dyeing for workshops, a visit to artisan markets, and studio visits to meet makers. Immerse yourself in all that Oaxaca has to offer with travel and hands-on experiences. We are partnering with Joseph Barry and Taos Wools, located in Arroyo […]

A Writer’s Life in Teotitlan del Valle, Oaxaca

Oh, goodness. Where to start? Since Thursday evening, January 2, I have participated in a women’s creative writing workshop retreat in the Oaxaca village of Teotitlan del Valle. I have produced this workshop (or something like it) for the past fourteen years (minus the last two, when we took a break). We end on Wednesday […]

Holiday Greetings! Best of the Best Oaxaca Photo Workshop

Sending you warmest greetings from sunny, sparkly Taos, New Mexico, where we are basking in high desert winter sunshine and 50 degrees (20 degrees above average). Perfect walking weather. Global warming? Definitely! I’m getting ready to return to Oaxaca on December 30. I won’t be complaining about the mid-70’s there. I want to thank you […]

Photo Workshop Day 3: Luvia’s Grandmother +

We met at Luvia’s photography studio at 9:30 a.m. Before that, most of us returned to the village market to take more pictures. The early morning light here is illuminating. The light plays with shadows and texture; there is so much to capture the eye. This is a daily market in Teotitlan del Valle, one […]

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 […]

Returning to Oaxaca for Day of the Dead

Day of the Dead in Oaxaca is a magical experience, especially if you spend it in the villages. This December will mark my twentieth year of being there. I’m thinking about how to celebrate and involve you in the celebration! All ideas and suggestions are welcome. In 2007 i began writing this blog, so another […]

Sashiko in Takayama

I spent the morning with Keiko-San at her home gallery twenty steps away from the Red Bridge. There is a green bridge, white bridge, and red bridge here. Landmarks to navigate location. Japanese are very organized and clean. Hisa, a local translator, met me at the red bridge along with Keiko-San to take me to […]

Japan Blue and Pottery

it’s now 8:09 am. We are 13 hours ahead of you. I’m not sure how to calculate when the debate will happen or if we missed it. the started with $9 cups of coffee — price unknown to us in the Hotel Granvia lobby cafe until we were presented with the check. Saving grace is […]

Returning to Oaxaca, but first Japan

Good morning from Denver. I’ve got my ticket to Oaxaca for Day of the Dead, arriving on October 21 and staying for three weeks. Like many of you, I like to be home with my family for the winter holidays. I plan to participate in the Teotitlan del Valle photography workshop led by Luvia Lazo. […]

Oaxaca + Comings and Goings

Summer is winding down. It will be Labor Day weekend in ten days. I’m recovering well from spinal fusion surgery, though I’m far from perfect, and need to walk with two REI hiking poles to keep my balance, but I’m managing between 5,000 and 7,000 steps at least four times a week. Yesterday, I almost […]

Oaxaca Deep Dive: Cooking, Culture + Craft Tour

Jump into the magic of Oaxaca, Mexico, from January 11 to 17, 2025. During this six-night, seven-day immersion tour you will discover (almost) everything this UNESCO World Heritage city has to offer. You will take a hands-on cooking class from a traditional chef who uses an outdoor wood-fired kitchen to prepare acclaimed pre-Hispanic dishes, visit […]

10/30/24 Day of the Dead Tour in Oaxaca: Hands-on Bucket-List Experience

On October 30, 2024, we give you a wide-ranging, immersion Day of the Dead experience of a lifetime! Construct a Day of the Dead Altar. Participate in a workshop using wild marigold botanical dyes. Savor traditional tamales made with mole amarillo with a local Zapotec family. Taste artisanal mezcal. Discuss culture, traditions, and Zapotec history. […]

Zinacantan + San Juan Chamula, Chiapas: Magic Towns

My friend Chris Clark writes a blog called Color in the Streets. It is her musings about living on Lake Chapala, Jalisco, and visiting many regions around Mexico during the last six years since she moved there from North Carolina, where I first met her. Chris’ partner Ben died almost two years ago and she […]

Textile Tour in Oaxaca, Mexico, December 2024

Join us in Oaxaca from December 6 to 14, 2024, for a spectacular insider’s view of the textile culture and history of this World Heritage colonial city. We have created this experience in collaboration with Fiber Circle Studio in Petaluma, California, and owner founder Alisha Bright. Lots of touring plus hands-on workshops to keep you […]

Traveling in Chiapas: Charmed, I’m Sure

My friend Chris Clark writes a blog called Color in the Streets, and just reported on her recent trip to Chiapas with us in February 2024. Chris lives in Ajijic, on Lake Chapala, in the Mexican state of Jalisco. She talks about how this was a dream come true trip that she had wanted to […]

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), […]

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 […]

Textiles, Pottery, Paper, Masks and More on Lake Pátzcuaro, Michoacan

In addition to the monarch butterflies, what draws us to Michoacan is its extraordinary artisan traditions. Rich in cultural diversity, the Purepecha villages cling to their language and pre-Hispanic customs. Many of the craft and artisan wares were developed and promoted by Bishop Vasco de Quiroga who introduced traditional artisanry, many based on Spanish prototypes, […]

Why Visiting Monarch Butterflies is a Bucket List Experience

For two days, our group of fourteen travelers and three guides rode horses, hiked, climbed, and pushed ahead to see the Monarch butterflies in Michoacan and Estado de Mexico, Mexico. We reached over 11,000 feet in altitude to get to where the butterflies roost and overwinter in the central highlands here. Our first day was […]

Cooking Class in Pátzcuaro with Chef Diego Carabez Andrade

Eight of us signed up for this class during our Michoacán Butterflies and Folk Art Tour. We are here now. Enjoy the photos. We are considering offering this tour in 2026. Please contact us to get on the interested list. The menu includes tacos de charoles (the little fish from Lake Patzcuaro), guacamole, ceviche, grilled […]

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 […]

2025 Women’s Creative Writing Workshop Retreat: Inspirations for a New Year

January 2-8, 2025, seven days, six nights in Teotitlan del Valle, Oaxaca, Mexico. It’s the start of 2025, a new year, and we are inspired to revisit the years passed and the one that now begins. What are our hopes, dreams, wishes, aspirations. What are our regrets. What memories come up that bring us gratitude, […]

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