Mayan Fibers and Day of the Dead . . .
Dates Pending for 2008/09
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From the humid Mayan ruins of Palenque to the cool highland weaving villages of central Chiapas. . .

This is our little secret, please don't tell anyone- The Mayan celebrations of Day of the Dead in the Chiapas highlands are fabulous, but very few foreigners find their way to those remote festivals. Their loss, your gain! The core of this adventure is spent in beautiful and misty San Cristobal de Las Casas and we pass our days visiting villagers and weavers in the highlands with visits to two graveyards on festival days; Zinacantan and Chamula. These are both traditional Mayan cemeteries, but worlds apart, or at least city-states apart. The Zinacantan Maya have their graveyard on a jagged hilltop and each grave is as adorned with flowers as are the embroidered clothing of the Zinacatecos. The graveyard is somber as families stand around the tombs and talk quietly on the mountaintop that is often buried in a cloud. One nation away in the land of the Chamula Maya the graveyard is topped with enormous green crosses as tall as pine trees and Day of the Dead is a raucous fiesta with live bands, booths selling all sorts of foods, ice cream carts and hundreds and hundreds of highland Chamalas dressed to the nines in their best homespun festival garb.

Our travels will also take us to the jungle ruins of Palenque to visit the thousand-year-old palaces and temples of this ancient Mayan city/kingdom. And we'll see the famous colossal Olmec stone heads, as big as dinosaur bowling balls.

Cap worn by Mayan church deacons during festivals

Our guide in the highlands is Mayan textile expert and author of Living Maya, Chip Morris. Chip will open doors for us that normally are closed to outsiders among these reserved people. Ours is an unparalleled opportunity to learn about Mayan weaving, ceremonies and the people of this exotic land.

ITINERARY

Itinerary(B, L, D) = breakfast, lunch, dinner included.

Olmec head at La Venta

Day 1, Friday (D). Our trip starts in the city of Villahermosa, Tabasco. Today we arrive from our various necks of the woods and meet at the hotel to get to know each other and have dinner. There are many flights to Villahermosa from Mexico City, as well as some connections through Houston and San Antonio. Evening in Villahermosa

Day 2, Saturday (B,L,D). After breakfast we will visit the La Venta Museum and Park, which showcases several spectacular Olmec stone heads (one of which weighs over 24 tons) and pre-Hispanic stone sculptures. The park is also filled with examples of tropical flora from the region and there is a zoo with jungle animals such as macaws, lynxes, jaguars and boa constrictors. After a leisurely visit to the park and museum we will head for Chiapas and the town and ruins of Palenque. We will arrive here in the afternoon and, time allowing, we will visit the Palenque museum in preparation for visiting the museum tomorrow. Evening in Palenque.

The jungle-shrouded ruins at Palenque

Day 3, Sunday (B,L,D). Today we head to the amazing (and sweltering) ruined Mayan city of Palenque, ancestral homeland to many of the Mayans living in this area today. We will be guided through this elegant Mayan city, exploring palaces, temples and ruins lost down jungle trails. In the trees we may see or hear Howler monkeys or see a flying toucan. Evening in Palenque.

Day 4, Monday (B,L,D). We make for the pine-clad highlands, but not without first taking in some of the most gorgeous jungle swimming holes imaginable. We will stop at the tall falls of Misolja for a dip. After cooling ourselves here we will travel on to Agua Azul, perhaps the most famous swimming hole in Mexico, where the mineralized, gem-blue water has formed step-like waterfall after waterfall, beneath which are inviting swimming holes surrounded by cool, green jungle vegetation. Being thoroughly cooled and rinsed we will travel on to the Mayan highlands and the colonial town of San Cristobal de Las Casas. Evening in San Cristobal de Las Casas.

The Falls of Misolja

Day 5, Tuesday (B,L). Chip Morris will join us this morning as our exceptional guest guide for our visits to the highland weaving communities around San Cristobal. Today we will visit the Tzotzil Maya village of Chamula. We will wander through the plaza filling market and then wander in to the Chamula church. To walk into this church is a truly amazing experience where we witness the fusion of Catholicism with Classic Mayan ceremonies. We'll also meet with a weaver and visit the home of the Earth Lord. Returning to San Cristobal in the afternoon we visit the Sna Jolobil weaving cooperative and store. Representing 800 weavers from 20 communities, Sna Jolobil is a mouthwatering mother load of superb quality highland Mayan weavings. Evening in San Cristobal de Las Casas.

The courtyard at Na Bolom, San Cristobal

Day 6, Wednesday (B,L,D). We've traveled many days and today we slow down, sort of. We'll let the van rest and let our feet do the work as we head out to explore the beautiful city out our front door. Our wanderings will take us to the San Cristobal graveyard which is being polished up for the return of the spirits of the dead. We'll also visit the Santo Domingo folk art market, the old produce market and other sites. We leave the afternoon wide open so you can wander, shop or rest at will. In the evening we gather again for a visit to Na Bolom, which was the home of the renowned Swiss and Danish anthropologist/archeologist team of Trudy and Franz Blom. Chip will show us around this wonderful, musty museum rich in books, photos and the sense of another era and we will have dinner at the Na Bolom long table. Evening in San Cristobal de Las Casas.

Day 7, Thursday (B, L). Today we launch ourselves into the heart of the Mayan Day of the Dead party at the cross-clad hilltop cemetery of Chamula. We will be greeted by a full blown festival with thousands of highland Maya decked out in their best, live bands, food and beer and general, glorious pandemonium. It is enough to raise the dead! We wade into the midst of it and settle in for a picnic and some serious people watching (and being watched). Evening in San Cristobal de Las Casas.

Zinacantan embroiderer

Day 8, Friday (B, L). Our travels today again take us to a graveyard, but this one, on a crag above the village of Zinacantan, is markedly different from the scene we survived yesterday. Here we'll find a somber graveyard, more often than not swirling with mountain-top mists. The tombs are piled high with flowers and attended by family members dressed in the finest of blue green floral embroidery work. From the graveyard we will descend to the village and visit a household of weavers and embroideres who will do their best to tempt you with their goodies. Past experience has shown that we are easily tempted. There is also a smoky kitchen serving up fresh tortillas with cheese and salsa around a warm fire. Evening in San Cristobal.

Day 9, Saturday (B,L,D). This morning Chip will take us to San Andres, famous for its spectacular wool brocade work. We will visit weavers and shops here to see the quality work that is being done. Further along, in the village of Magdalena we'll visit a household of weavers and meet a Mayan gentleman who makes the extremely fine shoulder bags from twined agave fiber. He'll show us how he gets the fiber from a special agave plant, how he twines on his knee and begins to weave the bag. In the meantime we'll be surrounded by his extended family, all weavers, who will fire up their looms and pull out their goods for our consideration. This evening we'll dust off and join for a final and fine dinner together. Evening in San Cristobal de Las Casas.

Day 10, Sunday (B). After breakfast it is time to pack our bags and move on, back to our own neck of the woods. Those traveling home today will want to transfer to Tuxtla Gutierrez, about 1.5 hours, where flights can be booked to Mexico City.