Our Workshops and Backcactus Tours

Photo by Jeffrey Jay Fox

MUREX, SILK, WOOL, AND THREADED FLOWERS
COX1202-MS

February 4 - 13, 2012
(For tour price and other information, please see the Trip Details sidebar on this page)

From the Sierra Madre to the Oaxacan Coast, this remarkable and diverse journey takes us to one of the last sericulture villages in Mexico, a village of 4,000 tapestry weavers, into the Isthmus of Tehuantepec to visit of village of Zapotec embroiders and Huave backstrap weavers, into the home of the last and great Chontal weavers and onto a remote beach with one of the last ancestral murex dyers on the planet.

he state of Oaxaca is home to a luxurious diversity of textiles. This journey compliments our Fiber Arts of the Oaxacan Coast tour in exploring some of the fabulous indigenous textile regions of the state. We travel into the Sierra Madre to visit one of the last areas where sericulture is practiced in Mesoamerica. We visit weavers and natural dyers in Teotitlan, a village of over 4,000 tapestry weavers. And then we travel through stunning mountains and valleys to the land of the Isthmus Zapotecs and Huaves. Here well go to a village of embroiders who create the elegant and much sought  after festival regalia worn by the women in this region. We’ll visit the home of one of the last weavers of Yautepec, who is also one of the finest backstrap brocade artists in Oaxaca, using a needle for her shuttle. We’ll travel to a remote village on a wide sand spit where backstrap weaving is making a tenuous comeback and crown our journey with a boat trip to a remote Pacific beach to witness murex dyeing from the hands of an old-school master. We also visit a grand market, ruined palaces, stay in villages, lunch with families, eat catch of the day on a quiet Pacific beach and explore old Oaxaca city, a UNESCO world heritage site. And more.

If you like weaving, traditional culture, travel in small groups that allows you access to places you’d likely never get to otherwise, join us. Our past customers say you’ll be in good hands- almost 60% of our bookings are returnees, we must be doing something right!

Ruins at Mitla

Day 2, (LD)

Sunday is market day in the town of Tlacolula. Of Oaxaca’s so many fascinating markets, this is one of most interesting. Tlacolula is surrounded by traditional Zapotec villages and the market is filled with folks from these towns. This is a fine place to begin our immersion in Oaxaca. Market day here is centuries old and much of what we’ll see today has been going on, little changed, in all that time. Yet it is vital and vibrant to this very day.  After getting our fill of the market we’ll head to the ruined Zapotec palaces of Mitla. Mitla is a village and the name of the ruins that sit in its center. It is of special interest to textile folks, not just because there are flying shuttle loom weavers in town, nor because there is a rich array of booths outside the ruins selling all sorts of curios and cloth, but because the fine and detailed stone fretwork of the palaces themselves are very likely copies of ancient textile designs. Come and see what I mean. As the day winds down we’ll settle into a small, family run hotel on the edge of Oaxaca’s biggest weaving village, Teotitlan del Valle. Evening in Teotitlan.

A hand spun and hand woven silk shawl

Day 3, (BLD)Today is silk. The pine covered peaks that rise high above our hotel are part of the Eastern Sierra Madre. Into them we travel today to visit one of the last surviving sericulture areas in Mexico. 450 years ago silk was booming throughout Oaxaca, but a century of disease, corruption and competition from the Orient turned that boom into a bust. Oaxaca, remote, hidden and deeply rooted, hasn’t paid much attention to the wider world’s cycles of boom and bust. What you no longer find anywhere else you still find in Oaxaca. A village of silk artisans carrying on a trade introduced by the Spanish almost 500 years ago is one of those things. Today we go to meet some of those people and hear some stories about the past and present. Evening in Teotitlan.

Appreciating hand-woven rugs in Teotitlan

Day 4, (BLD) We’ve spent the last two nights on the edge of this town. We’ve even seen some of the fine tapestries woven here. But today we leap into the center of this phenomenal town of over 4,000 weavers. We’ll start right at home, because as it turns out the owner of our hotel is also one of the most accomplished natural dyers in Teotitlan. He’ll show us how it’s done. Given that we don’t have the time nor the income to visit all 4,000 weavers, we’ll visit a couple instead. In one household we’ll see a loom 15 feet wide and meet weavers who are working with contemporary artists to create some very unusual designs. In another household we’ll have lunch! A good meal of home cooked Zapotec cuisine with freshly made tortillas (you’ll get a chance to try making a couple if you dare) of home grown corn, fresh fruit water, home made salsa and a tasty main course with a sip of mescal as an aperitif. We’ll also visit this town’s simple and lovely church adorned with bouquets of flowers kept fresh 365 days of the year by the 13 men who tend the saints as well as ornate wax candles. Time allowing we’ll even meet on of the village’s candle makers and see how they ply their art.  Evening in Teotitlan.

Grinding cochineal

Day 5, (BLD)Onward! We bid Teotitlan and the Oaxaca valley farewell and head to the hills, following the old trade path turned Pan-American Highway to the Isthmus of  Tehuantepec. En route we’ll make a small detour to visit a weaver…just about the last weaver, in a village that once did some of the finest cotton weaving in Oaxaca. Actually, it still does in the hands of one artist. The village is Yautepec and our weaver works so finely that she uses a needle for a shuttle. After marveling over her fine work we head to the bustling Zapotec town of Tehuantepec where a tree shaded hotel with a pool awaits us. The pool will be welcome for we have dropped into the tropics and they tend to leave the heater and humidifier on here all the time! Evening in Tehuatepec.

Threaded flowers

Day 6, (BLD) If you are familiar with the famous Mexican artist and cultural icon, Frida Kahlo, then you will know that she favored hand-embroidered floral blouses and skirts, often times of velvet. (If you aren’t familiar with Frida, take a moment to do so- look on the internet, see the movie Frida). Ornate, hand embroidered blouses and skirts are the dress-up, show off clothing of the Isthmus woman. Frida fell in love with the costume and made it her own. This morning we go to the little village of Santa Rosa, which is one of the principle sources of these blouses. In Santa Rosa, almost every woman spends part of the day embroidering blouses that are commissioned by shop owners and women from the neighboring towns. We will visit with a few of these women to see their stunning work. Then we take a back road and  travel out to the long sand spit between the Pacific and a large lagoon called the Calm Sea to visit with the Huave people who live there. In San Mateo we will meet with the family of Justina Oviedo, featured in The Great Masters of Mexican Folkart, and see how these backstrap weavers incorporate images from their surroundings, like crabs and cranes, into their beautiful weavings. Evening in Tehuantepec.

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Huave women with bread and weavings

Day 7, (BL) Today we make a leisurely migration along the Pacific coast to the small resort town of Huatulco. But before we get there we’ll stop in a little place that is decidedly un-resort; a long, quiet beach with simple thatch roofed eateries run by local fisherfolk and good cooks. Lunch will be catch of the day grilled with garlic or wood baked. And there will be time for a swim and stretching out a hammock. Evening in Huatulco.

Day 8, (L)Today we climb aboard a small boat with a Mixtec man whose family has been dyeing cotton with purpura panza (murex) for uncounted generations. We head up the rocky coastline to a white sand beach with sky-blue waters where the little shells live that produce the regal purple dye. We will stand witness to this rare and ancient process (bring water proof shoes for rock hopping) as the dyer harvests the shells to dye a skein of wool and explains to us how it is that, after thousands of years of harvesting shells on this coast, there are still shells to dye with. We’ll have a picnic on the beach and a swim and a snorkel (bring your mask if you have one). In the afternoon we boat back to the big bay and you’ll have free time in the afternoon and evening to explore the area. Evening in Huatulco.

Day 9 (LD) Today we close the circle of our journey, heading back to Oaxaca city over the dramatic and tall southern Sierra Madre. We’ll climb a winding road through lush coffee country into the cool 9,000 ft high ridges of the piney highlands and then down into the long valley of Oaxaca. The afternoon will find us settling into a hotel in Oaxaca city and stretching our legs a bit. We tidy up for a final group dinner and some yummy Oaxacan food. Evening in Oaxaca.

Day10, You may plan your departure for any time today. Feliz viaje!

All itineraries subject to change without notice.