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Private Expedition, Laurie Webster Group.

SOULS OF THE ANCESTORS
Mayan Day of the Dead

October 28 - November 3, 2013
(For tour price and other information, please see the Trip Details sidebar on this page)

A journey into one of Mesoamerica’s most unique celebrations, Day of the Dead, and into the heart of living Mayan Culture.

This is an immersion into the vital, vibrant and dynamic Mayan culture of highland Chiapas and our travel will span the days of celebration when the souls of the ancestors are believed to return from beyond. The crag-top graveyard of Zinacantan, brilliant in flower-bathed tombs and the equally colorful and floral villagers…who stand quietly in the somber cool air while the spirits circle. On a hill top crowned with blue crosses adorned with pine trees one nation and twenty miles away there is a very different scene. In Chamula, 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. Day of the Dead in the highlands is a full feast for the senses.

Our journey is based in the beautiful colonial town of San Cristobal de Las Casas and we’ll spend our days visiting artisans, exploring San Cristobal and traveling to surrounding villages. With Chip Morris, Maya expert and author of The Living Maya as our highland guide we’ll meet villagers, traditional church officials and rural artisans as well as explore markets and villages. We’ll visit the very unusual Maya churches and see how Catholicism and Classic period Maya rites have fused.

The right guide makes all the difference when travelling, and especially in the Chiapan highlands where the doors don’t open easily. Chip Morris, fluent in the Mayan languages of the highlands as well as the cultural nuances gives us both unparalleled access to, and understanding of, what is going on around us.

Join our small group for this 7-day journey into the heart of a festival and the soul of a culture.

Tour Itinerary by Day (B=Breakfast included, L=Lunch, D=Dinner):

Day 1, (D). Arrivals. Fly into Tuxtla Gutierrez and transfer to San Cristobal de las Casas which will be our glorious base camp for the entire tour. Meet at the hotel for conversation and dinner at 6pm.

Day 2, (B,L) You will meet with your guide, Chip Morris, this morning. Chip has lived in highland Chiapas since the mid-1970's studying Mayan culture, textiles and doing pioneering work deciphering the symbols in Mayan weavings. He is the author of Living Maya, recipient of Macarthur and Smithsonian grants and a living encyclopedia on the highlands. He is also a lot of fun. We'll begin the day with a presentation by Chip on highland weaving and fashion, followed by a guided tour of the beautiful, new Mayan textile center, We'll also get a quick overview of San Cristobal, a peek into history at La Ensenaza and an afternoon at Chip's house with hors de'oeuvres and a weaving demonstration. Welcome to San Cristobal!

Day 3, (B,L) San Andres Larrianzar and Magdalenas. Both of these villages are known for their fine and complex wool brocade work, and Magdalenas is also the source of the finest sisal net bags made in Mexico. We'll meet a weaver and natural dyer in San Andres and see how she works. Further into the highlands in the village of Magdalenas we will meet a Mayan gentleman who lives in a wattle and daub hut and makes those refined and beautiful net shoulder bags and his extended family weaves up a storm of beautiful textiles. Evening in San Cristobal.

Day 4, (B,L) Today we head to Chamula. This is the most tourist visited village in the highlands. There's a reason for it, Chamula is deeply Maya. But most people only have the opportunity to skim the surface. We'll go deeper. On that far side of the village, above the sacred plaza of the spring of San Juan is shrine of the Yahval Balumil, the Lord of the Earth.
We'll also visit the shrine room of a saint and meet the couple who have made a commitment to care for that saint for a year. The room and saint image is adorned with hanging bromeliads, laurel and oak branches, there are clay bulls with burning candles and incense, lights and flowers. Though Catholic, is possible that 1,500 years ago the altar rooms on top of the Mayan pyramids were adorned just like this.
We'll also enter the church of Chamula, the doorway to Mayan heaven, one of the most powerful religious centers in the Western Hemisphere. Tourists are allowed to visit...and they are totally ignored by the people worshiping in the church. Yet the shamans, praying on a bed of pine needles over rows of candles, are normally quite happy to speak to someone (Chip) in Tzotzil Maya, share a round of posh, and speak proudly of their traditions.
Time allowing we'll also travel into the oak covered mountains and visit the sacred cave shrine of Tzontehuitz.

Day 5, (B,L) Twenty towering blue crosses adorned with pine boughs and marigolds top a low hill of cropped grass covered with simple graves. This graveyard is where the Chamula nation comes out in force and in style to remember and celebrate with their ancestors. It is a party for the dead that shouldn't be missed in this lifetime! Mayas dressed to the T in beautifully woven clothing, be-ribboned musicians playing accordions and 12- stringed Mayan guitars, pink cotton candy, red balloons and orange flower petals. This morning we become part of this very Mexican and uniquely Mayan festival.
When our senses have had their fill we travel onward, finding lunch in Teopisca, famous for its it's fresh corn sweet tamales,sausages and pickled palm heart and a favorite Sunday brunch retreat for locals. Then we head to a quiet graveyard surrounded by corn on a hill overlooking the village of Amatenango and soak up the presence of this Mayan valley, so very different from boisterous fiesta on the cross-topped hill this morning.

Day 6, (BLD) Day of the Dead is a celebration adorned with blossoms. The Mayan village of Zinacantan is famous for flowers, both the cultivated ones from their fields and the embroidered ones on their clothing. Imagine then walking into their cemetery on a crag above the village to find every man, woman and child dressed in their floral best and each tomb covered with grand bouquets. Today you won't have to imagine it. But unlike the party atmosphere of Chamula yesterday, Zinacantan is almost somber. On this wind brushed mountain top one can almost hear the flowers whispering.
From here we leave the deep Mayan world and head into the graveyard of San Cristobal, a grand, almost fortress-like, walled city of miniature with little Gothic chapels and tiny modern houses for the deceased. We'll finish off the day with a tour of Na-Bolom, a museum from another era, of jungle explorers and adventurers out of an old Hollywood movie. Except that these characters were real, and friends of Chip years ago.

Day 7. It is time to pack our bags and move on, back to our own neck of woods. Those traveling home today will want to transfer to Tuxtla Gutierrez, about 1.5 hours, where flights can be booked to Mexico City.

All itineraries subject to change without notice.