Las Granadas Bed & Breakfast: An Interview with Josefina Ruiz

Scenes of Las Granadas Bed & Breakfast, Teotitlan del Valle, Oaxaca

In 2005, our friend Annie Burns invited Stephen and I to visit her in Teotitlan del Valle, where she was now living permanently.  She told us about a young mother and mother-in-law who were at a loss to figure out how to provide income for themselves and their three children/grandchildren after their husbands had died earlier that year.  That is how we came to know Josefina Ruiz and her mother-in-law Magda. Josefina’s husband and Magda’s son was a famous weaver (Eligio Bazan) who died suddenly of a rare form of cancer at age 38.  Annie said she was encouraging them to start a guesthouse and asked if we would be the first guests as an experiment to get the venture launched.  Of course, we said yes, and that is how Las Granadas Bed & Breakfast was born.

Now, four years later, the house at 2 de Abril is transformed into a garden paradise in large part through the effort of the two women and the help of Roberta Christie, a Florida State University administrator, who took early retirement and helped renovate the compound.  Lush bougainvilla, clean, basic rooms, and fruit-bearing pomegranate trees surround the outdoor kitchen where Magda now prepares her famous hot chocolate made from cacao beans she roasts herself.  During the early morning hours before breakfast, you can see Magda at the comal (outdoor wood fired clay griddle) preparing the fresh maize tortillas that she mixed earlier, turning them with her fingers.

Now, participants who enroll in the workshops and small group tours offered through Oaxaca Cultural Navigator: weaving, natural dyeing, oil painting, documentary filmmaking, enjoy a stay at Las Granadas as part of the package cost.

I asked Roberta to talk with Josefina about her life as an innkeeper.  Here is her response.

R:  What things do you enjoy most about operating a B&B in Teotitlan?

J:  I like everything about it.  I enjoy working in my own home and making sure that our guests enjoy their stay with us.  It is very interesting for me and my family to get to know people from other countries.

I especially enjoy cooking for our guests and am proud when they finish every bit of food on their plates.   They seem to especially enjoy the fresh fruit and fresh juice I serve at breakfast, and many say they have never tasted such good eggs — all from local chickens. Everyone enjoys the quesadillas straight from the comal.   I’m also pleased to serve vegetarians the things they want to eat.   Luckily I can get fresh vegetables every day at our market.

R:  How has Las Granadas made a difference in your life?

J:  With the income, our life has improved a lot.  I sleep better (laughs) because I feel confident that I will be able to support my family.

We’ve also been able to sell some tapetes (rugs) and bolsas (shoulder bags), and Magdalena has sold chocolate. This is also good for us and is very satisfying when people tell us how beautiful the rugs are and how delicious the chocolate is.

R:  What are your plans for the future?

J:  We are making improvements to the house and second level using some of the income from room rental.  I want to eventually put tile on the kitchen and patio-level rooms.  Poco a poco, Las Granadas will become even better and we hope even more people will come and enjoy their stay with us.

What I Miss, by Annie Burns*

Most of all, I miss the Zapotecs
and how they live close to the earth:

my neighbor’s house with its dirt floor,
the older women in the village who don’t wear shoes,
the road by my house that is dirt and stone,
and every morning sweeping the dirt out of my porch-kitchen. . .
with a hand-made straw broom.

I miss the animals,
the burros, the toros, the turkeys, the goats and the street dogs
who all live practical and busy lives.

I miss the tortillas
fresh off the fire
with salsa and goat cheese.

I miss the children in my English class
who are perfectly serious about our yoga practice
and who so mysteriously cannot sing on pitch

I miss singing out from the mountain side
and playing my penny whistle in the paltry shade of a bush

I miss gossiping in Spanish.

I miss my handy man
who loves to work
and can accomplish anything.

I miss looking out over the valley at sundown
seeing the pink reflection of the village houses
and the white, wedding cake church.

I miss the faces of the villagers
the sound of Zapotec, band music, fiesta and fireworks.

I miss looking far into the distance
at the ring of mountains that encircle our valley
and the night lights of the neighboring villages.

I miss my house
and the plants that struggle to survive
in the arid and ant infiltrated earth.

I miss my pets
who don’t miss me
because they are in love with my house-sitter.

Next time, let me tell you what I don’t miss!!!!

Annie y perro Ani

*Annie Burns lives in the Zapotec village of Teotitlan del Valle, Oaxaca, in a single story brick home built on a hillside overlooking the town.  She is surrounded by the natural world and wonderful Zapotec neighbors and friends.  This year, she is traveling for eight months, first to Ireland and then to South Carolina, before going back to Oaxaca.  I asked her what she missed about this village and this was her reply.

Letter From Eric, May 31, 2008

I have been at the Museo Textil de Oaxaca for only for 2 weeks and I am still trying to understand and learn the complexities of the job. I had a group of 9 year old kids today to test the workshop I proposed. Mexican kids are very different from those in America. They were giggling, cavorting and talking about who’s in love with who and the school teachers. But, after it was all done, they had created a small textile woven from a cardboard loom

There are so many projects planned that I will be involved with here. I’ll be developing the certification for rugs woven with natural dyes. I will also be designing interactive display structures that explain the fibers, colors, weaving and spinning. The museum asked me to also develop an international exchange between weavers of Oaxaca and other countries. All of this could take a year or more before it happens.

The current exhibit we have is called “De Mitla a Sumatra: The Art of the Woven Fret” with over 130 pieces from different places in the world using the Greca as a universal pattern in every weaving culture. This exhibit will be up until August 2008.

Alejandro de Avila is the museum curator and I haven´t met him yet. He´s doing hundreds of things around Oaxaca.

Tomorrow is Sunday, and I am so glad I am staying in Teotitlan all day I feel very tired by the end of the work day. I have been reading a lot about Oaxacan textiles and natural dye books in the last two weeks. It’s a lot of information. Next week I will start to use the museum kitchen to experiment with the new methods I´ve learned from the books. Life is good, as you said. The only thing I am missing is spending enough time with my family

Norma’s Note: Museo Textil de Oaxaca is open Monday-Friday, 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Current exhibit: “De Mitla a Sumatra (From Mitla to Sumatra): The Art of the Woven Fret” through August 2008

Let the Parade Begin: Zapotec Weddings in Teotitlan

The preparation begins days, even months ahead. A few days before, the party truck pulls up to deliver hundreds of chairs and raise the huge red and blue striped tent that will cover the courtyard. The wedding celebration is about to begin. On the morning of the wedding, the couple welcomes their relatives in the altar room of the groom’s parent’s house. First, the men from the two families line up and, one by one, walk in to give their blessings to the couple, any advice they have for a good marriage, and any regrets about their relationship that they want to express. Then, the women line up and take their turn. After this, all assemble and form a parade walking around the streets of the village before going to church for the wedding mass, the band leading the way, the priest following, then the couple and their parents, and then all the guests – stringing out for several blocks.

The woman’s relatives do not pay for the wedding. In Zapotec tradition, the man’s side of the family covers all the costs: the mass, the band, the food and drinks, everything. People never rent a party house or hotel for the reception like we do in the U.S. Teotitlan del Valle families use their own house, rent the tent, hundreds of chairs, and provide food to feed all the guests. Everyone is invited (or so it seems) — all the close and distant relatives, aunts, uncles, godparents, cousins, nieces, close friends, and MORE. Anyone who has ever had an association the family is included on the guest list. You will see town folk lingering at the tall entry gates to the family compound where a wedding is taking place, waiting for an invitation to come in – which will always be extended. A wedding celebration could include hundreds of people. For example, Eric’s parents were recently invited to the wedding of the daughter of the man who delivers their drinking water. The man didn’t know Eric’s parents very well, but liked the way they acknowledged him when he delivered the water, so they were sent an invitation.

The woman’s family is responsible for giving the presents and money to the couple. The man’s relatives would customarily take a bottle of mezcal and flowers, but nothing more. Gifts could include major and small appliances, the size depending upon the closeness of the relationship. In wealthy families, gifts could be a car, a washing machine, a chest filled with gold coins, refrigerators, stoves, television, closets, and dishes. These are delivered to the girl’s house to store until the wedding day. At the end of the mass, the guests form the second parade of the day, the band plays and all promenade to the boy’s house for the reception. A truck or two, filled with the gifts, bring up the rear. Guests will take seats and watch as the trucks are unloaded and the gifts displayed in the center of the patio for all to see. Before cars and television, Eric thinks his people probably gave gifts of rugs, blankets, food and clothing, plus goods traded with other villages.

Guelaguetza: A System of Mutual Support

Weddings cost upwards of $15-20,000 USD. The groom’s family pays for about 60 to 70 percent of the expenses. This is a substantial sum for a weaver, whose annual income might be about $10,000 USD. The bride’s godparents always buy her wedding dress. That is the expectation when agreeing to become a godparent. Many families cannot afford to give a wedding but they feel an obligation to do it according to custom regardless of one’s means. A wedding party can last up to three or four days. When a family doesn’t have enough money, they will ask a relative or close friend to help them cover the costs, and promise to repay it later. This loan is known as the guelaguetza. There is no contract or written agreement. The spoken promise is honored regardless of how long the time passes. It could be one, five or 10 years later before repaying the guelaguetza. The man who made the original gift might say, “my son is getting married now and I would like you to provide the (fill in the blank …. music, barbeque, beer, mezcal, money). The repayment is always in the same form that was given. This is the Zapotec custom and Eric believes this is how his people have learned to honor their traditions, be mutually supportive and get along with each other over the centuries. Every time there is a dance of the feathers, a quince anos (Sweet 15), a wedding, a Christmas posada, or a baptism, there is a guelaguetza – the obligation of giving and paying back.

Eric believes that the women never enjoy the parties. Yet the social fabric of women’s lives are knit together in the camaraderie of life cycle events. Together, they make the fresh tortillas from scratch, starting two days before the event. They are cleaning the chickens, washing dishes, preparing the kitchen, chopping fruits and vegetables. The men are busy, too, trying to get the bull slaughtered to prepare for the barbacoa (goat barbeque), bringing in tanks of propane gas for the cooking stoves, buying the beer and soda, setting up the tent, and also cleaning the house. If the house is small and more space is needed, the men will dismantle the looms and take them out. They might clear out a bedroom or storage room to make more seating and dining space. There are weeks of chores in preparation for these events. Eric feels the women have harder work because they are in the kitchen constantly. That’s the primary reason why he doesn’t want a big traditional party — he is not eager for his mother to work that hard. He is sympathetic to the role of traditional women who prepare and serve the food, give first to the guests and the men, and eat last. And, he also knows that traditions are important to keeping a culture vibrant.

He notes, “When my cousins, the doctors, got married, they rented a party house in Oaxaca. But I saw that the women were bored, they didn’t have anything to do. They waited to be served but were very uncomfortable and didn’t understand this non-traditional practice. There were place cards for seating but in our culture everyone is used to sitting where they want. So, everyone got up and sat where they wanted to. The wedding reception ended after only a few hours, compared with a traditional Teotitlan wedding celebration that continues until 5 or 6 a.m. the next day.”

Some families are leaving the village because they cannot afford to participate in the guelaguetza system. Young people see that there are other choices for courtship and marriage via television and exposure to living in the city or working for a time in El Norte. Family expectations are powerful. Because so much depends upon extended family interaction, acceptance and interdependency, one wonders how these courtship and marriage customs will continue or be shaped by the pressure of external forces that all societies are challenged by.

Shhh, Don’t Tell — Romance, “Stealing the Girlfriend,” and Contentamiento in Oaxaca

Eric’s Photo Album: Contentamiento de Teotitlan del Valle (The engagement party (contentamiento) held in honor of a cousin who will have a traditional wedding.)

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Under the shadowy street lamps, far down the block, behind the outdoor corner altars, under hidden doorway arches, you can see the teenagers huddled deep in conversation, keeping their safe distance, engaging in their courtship rituals of getting to know each other. Young women do this in secret, far from the eyes of protective fathers and distrustful grandmothers. They will tip toe quietly like this for a year or two and then get married – typical courtship behavior in a village like Teotitlan del Valle, where most are weavers and don’t go beyond the eighth grade.

I’m sitting with Eric Chavez Santiago, my 25 year old friend, in my North Carolina living room, who tells it like it is. He’s telling me it is not unusual for a 20-year old woman to marry a 30-year old man. But, more likely, it is the 16 to 19 year olds who are observing these courtship rituals, keeping a distance of a yard or a meter or more, careful not to be observed. Couples who have a few extra pesos in their pockets will catch a late afternoon bus to Oaxaca city to take in a movie or stroll around the Zocalo – the beautiful colonial central square — careful to return home by 8:00 p.m. If a girl comes back later, say at 10:00-11:00 p.m., then it’s probable that the boy has already talked to her parents for courtship and marriage approval. In this case, the man would go to his girlfriend’s parents, propose marriage and then the parents could approve or not. The wedding date will be set in the next three to four months and they will get married. (I’m using “man and woman” and “girl and boy” interchangeably, most notably because courtship sometimes begins at age 14 or 15 with marriage following shortly thereafter.)

What if the parents do not approve? The couple usually decides to continue their courtship in secret for a time and then the girl will suddenly disappear from her parent’s home and move into the boy’s house. This tradition is called, “stealing the girlfriend.” The village is all a-buzz when a girl disappears from her father’s home because everyone knows there’s something afoot. By the third day of the ‘disappearance,’ the man’s family – parents, uncles and aunts, cousins, grandparents – all go together to the girl’s home. They take with them a big, handmade beeswax candle that is made in the village and decorated with flowers. (The candle has to be big enough or the girl’s family may complain!) They also bring food, including bread, watermelon, bananas, and mangoes.

These gifts are presented to the girl’s parents in their altar room (the religious and social gathering place of each household) as a gesture from the boy’s family to alleviate the parent’s sadness of losing their daughter. The practice is called “a contentamiento.” This is both a dowry tradition and a way of asking forgiveness for taking their daughter without her parent’s permission. The practice helps build a bridge and begins a formal relationship between the two families. It is symbolic of the union of their children and acceptance of the boy as being worthy of the girl.

A cousin of Eric’s was studying international business at the university in Oaxaca. Her boyfriend was a professional musician living in Mexico City. They decided to do the “a contentamiento” and run away because they felt that going through the process of formal introductions would be too lengthy. They had been dating in secret for quite some time. On the third day they did the “a contentiamento.” Even though she was educated and “modern,” she decided to respect her Zapotec traditions.

Zapotecs have been living in the Oaxaca Valley for over 2,000 years. Their cultural traditions are strong and the people are resilient. The impact of television, education, movement across borders to work, and exposure to living in cities where jobs are more plentiful will have an impact on the traditions of courtship and marriage. How, remains to been seen.

Tapestry Traditions & Textures by Tricia Goldberg

Tricia Goldberg first met Federico Chavez, his son Eric and daughter Janet, in April 2007, when they came to San Jose, California, with an exhibition of their work at the San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles. Tricia, a weaver and member of the American Tapestry Alliance, shares her connection through a published narrative in the Winter 2007, Vol. 33, No. 4 issue of Tapestry Topics, A Quarterly Review of Tapestry Art Today. I have reproduced much of it here with Tricia’s permission.

“When my friend Deborah Corsini, the museum’s curator, talked enthusiastically about a family of traditional weavers who would be bringing their rugs to the museum, I had no idea I would be visiting them in their home and studio that summer. About two months later, my husband, two daughters and I found ourselves in Teotitlan del Valle….I had mentioned our vacation plans for a visit to Oaxaca to Deborah and discovered that the Chavez family lived nearby. With her encouragement, we made plans for a visit. As Eric had told me by e-mail, a sign directed us two or three blocks from the town’s main street down a cobbled lane to their home….

“The Chavez family greeted us in their home’s open courtyard, which holds a sturdy loom, winding equipment, and vast quantities of year in a wide range of subtle colors. The yarn is natural wool from sheed raised in nearby villages. It is locally spun on drop spindles which produces a texture quite different from that of commercial or wheel-spun products.

“Eric Chavez has dedicated himself to reviving and maintaining centuries-old traditions of natural dyeing. As Federico wove and Janet wound bobbins, Eric explained how indigo produces many shades of blue and cochineal yields various reds, pinks, purples and oranges. Cochineal comes from the crushed bodies of beetles that are raised on cactus plants, harvested, then dried.

“Federico’s rugs are rooted in the indigenous Zapotec traditions of geometric, loom-controlled patterns, but increasingly they contain his own more personal, experimental designs based on images from nature as well as motifs from Zapotec mythology. He stands at his loom, operating its two pedals with one foot. He uses plain, straight wooden bobbins and packs the weft with a simple plastic comb.

“At least four generations of the Chavez family have been weavers: Federico, who taught his own children to weave, learned from his father Jose, who in turn was taught by his father Victoriano. Federico wove and sold his first rug when he was 10 years old.

“In an adjoining gallery room, Federico, Eric, Janet showed us their collection of finished rugs, spreading and unrolling many of them on the floor so we could appreciate the dazzling variety of colors and patterns.  Their inventory is large, perhaps larger than they would like. Typical of most people in the area, they are still feeling the effects of a drop in tourism brought about by last year’s civil unrest in Oaxaca.

“This gallery space is also the family’s dining room where we were invited to join them for a traditional lunch of chicken mole prepared by Federico’s wife Dolores. We were joined by Omar, the youngest son, a 13-year old who is a skilled weaver himself.

“Eric and Janet are sophisticated young Oaxacans who gracefully blend modern life with tradition. Eric holds a college degree in business and tourism and works to study and preserve ancient artistic traditions. Janet is a student of comparative languages at a nearby university and, in addition to her work for the family’s rug weaving business, maintains strong ties to local religious customs. She told us she hoped to be invited to participate in a celebration a week later in which she and other women would parade through the town in traditional costume, carrying ornate canastas (baskets) on their heads holding saint’s images. Although the basket is heavy, she explained, if you can carry it, this means that your sins for the previous year were not so great. With her parents’ help, she modeled the costume for us — a long, wrap-around wool skirt (cochineal dyed and woven by Federico) and an elaborately embroidered floral blouse — and before our eyes she changed from a modern young woman in jeans into a traditional Zapotec maiden.

“We decided to return to Teotitlan the following week, assuming (correctly) that Janet would be in the parade. The procession through the town’s narrow streets and the accompanying festivities were well worth a second trip. We had also decided to purchase a small rug that we had admired on Federico’s loom the week before. To our surprise, it was finished, but was still on the loom because another rug was still being woven on the same warp threads. He was happen to cut off the rug we wanted and assured us that tying the unfinished one back onto the loom would not be a problem. We value our rug for its beauty and as a link to the Chavez family and the art of Oaxaca.

“We want to encourage more travelers to visit Oaxaca and experience first-hand this beautiful area and its friendly and creative people.”

Tricia Goldberg lives in Berkeley, California, and hosted the Chavez family at an American Tapestry Alliance event at her home during the ATA’s Silver Anniversary Biennial Celebration.

More About Braids and Ribbons: Cultural Awakening

I asked Janet (Yah-nette) Chavez Santiago if she knew the significance of the color of ribbons the abuelas use in their braids.  I didn’t hear from her for a few days and when she reported back, I thought, wow, I was really trying to read something more into this than what was really there!  How culturally naive of me, and then I thought, how many of us do this when we travel and even when we think we know a place very well, wanting to find meaning in really small, insignificant practices?

The answer Janet gave me was  simple.  She asked her grandmother, Soledad, who is in her late 70’s and wears traditional Zapotec dress as her daily habit.  Soledad replied that ladies wind their hair in braids using colorful ribbons to keep unruly hair tidy while they are cooking and cleaning, but especially cooking.  Ribbons as a useful tool for hygiene was the underlying meaning communicated.  I asked Janet to ask again about the color of the ribbons, which I notice can be blue, green, red, yellow, and many women from distinct villages choose to use the same color of ribbon.  The answer that came back was that it was personal preference having no grander significance than that.  Peer influence is powerful the world over as to wanting to wear similar costumes.  Why am I not surprised?

Pigtails, Ribbons & Aprons: Las Abuelas

Las Abuelas (Ah-bway-lahz), the grandmothers, come together at Teotitlan market every morning to shop for the day’s meals for their families. The daily morning market is essential to the social fabric of village life for older women, a time to socialize, exchange news, and for some, I hear tell, take a nip of sweet flavored mezcal together, a ritual, I suppose, to seal their sisterhood. The abuelas get to the market via tuk-tuk, riding in the front seat or flatbed of a battered pick-up or by foot, carrying on laps or under the crook of their elbow the traditional shopping basket woven from split bamboo and trimmed in wide palm leaves. There is a status associated with the baskets: the fineness of weave, size, and added decoration, such as miniature baskets suspended from a garland encircling the perimeter. The grandmothers wear their hair in braids woven with ribbons. Mostly, they are burgundy red. They can also be brown, green, blue and yellow. I don’t know if there is a significance to the color, and this is something I will need to find out and report on. My guess is that each village has its own color preferences and customs. The women from Benito Juarez and Santa Ana del Valle and Tlacachuaya will have a variation on this theme. Sometimes, the braids hang loose and and tied together at the end forming a V down her back. A braid will extend far beyond the waist. Sometimes the braids are wrapped around the top of the head and give the appearance of a crown. This is useful, too, because a basket can be carried on the head, balanced, as the woman walks along with a grandchild in tow or with arms swinging free or carrying a bouquet of flowers for the home altar. The grandmothers wear the traditional handwoven, cochineal dyed wool wrap around fabric that is the skirt (falda). It is tied with a sash (fajas) that has a balled tassel on the end. The blouse (blusa) can be cotton and hand embroidered or commercially purchased. Sometimes, the skirt is a subtle check and the blouse is a polyester floral, having no particular significance other than personal preference. The costume is then complete when it is topped with a checked and machine embroidered or applique apron. In the market, the wife of a local English teacher (a man who lived in the states for 15 years before returning to Teo), sells intricately embroidered aprons. This is the “overblouse” uniform of village women from Mitla to Tule. Most buy aprons at the Sunday market in Tlacalula where the selection is so vast, over 50 different stalls of apron vendors or so it seems, in every shade and color combination. Aprons sell for 120 to 250 pesos depending upon intricacy of design, and whether both the front and back are embroidered. Scallop edges, huge flower or animal designs, embellished pockets and button closures will command a higher price — one more symbol of economic position in the community. To find these stalls in the market, you have to wander way back beyond the food vendors — ask: A donde estan los mandiles? Mandil is the Spanish word for apron. Few of the young women who stay in the village are wearing this traditional dress. Jeans, Gap or Tommy Hilfiger t-shirts and sweat shirts, and Nike tennis shoes are the ubiquitous uniform of teens and young adults worldwide. Young matrons of the village in their mid-20’s to 40’s will wear a store bought dress topped with an apron. Only the grandmothers carry on the traje tradition. In a few more years, will this be a memory captured by our photos as cultural traditions change and adapt and become subsumed by the dominant culture. I marvel as I sit in the market or meander down the streets at the tenacity of these women, their strength and fortitude and beauty, their survivorship, and wonder what the village will look like in 30 years when they have passed on. Will their dress be part of the museum exhibit only to be brought out during the annual July village fiesta that features the parade of the canastas? And I ask myself, am I being a romantic, romanticizing a way of life that is destined to change?

Teotitlan Women’s Project: A Letter From Annie Burns

I have asked Annie if she would give me permission to publish her letter, which she did, happily. I am sharing it with you.

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Dear Friends and Family,

Well, this was a blessed Christmas in Teotitlan del Valle. Your donations rang up to nearly a thousand dollars, which comes to about 11,000 pesos. That goes a long way in a rural village. Plus, 12 brand new dresses arrived for young girls.

First, the dresses. I picked them up on Christmas Eve, just in time to get the gift bags under the Christmas tree. My strategy was to place the shiny new bags with tissue paper in them and a Christmas card, but no dress. . . . .just a note instructing the young girls to come to my house to choose a dress. Sure enough, early Christmas morning, Jazmine, Rocio and Esthercita appeared with their empty bags, ready for “shopping”. I left them alone with the dresses and a mirror. After a great long while and much giggling, they appeared in their new outfits.

Then Jazmine and I went to Edith’s home and had a nice cup of hot chocolate. Jazmine took Edith and the bag of dresses into another room for Edith’s selection. Edith joined us to go to Cecilia’s home, then Lola’s, Laura’s, Gabriella’s, Mariana’s and El Pidia’s. We were giddy with Christmas spirit.

Next, the bano seco, which means “dry bathroom”. I’ll be sending pictures soon, so you can see what it looks like. My neighbors, Esther and Rusio, and their 3 girls are delighted to receive the gift of a bano seco for their family. Rusio is especially proud of the new design that he came up with. It is more efficient and less expensive! The girls will help with the last step in the construction, which involves cleaning the bamboo for the walls.

Finally, we have groceries. Lola, who is 10 years old, does not speak more than a few words. She is a happy child, and loves to play with her cousins. You will see her photo in the mailing that I am sending to you. She is a beautiful, smiling child. Her mother, Isabelle also does not speak. We don’t know why. Isabelle’s sister, Lydia, cares for the two of them. Our project will buy groceries for this family once a month. They were filled with gratitude to learn of this, and eagerly made out their list of basic supplies.

We will also buy groceries for two elderly couples who are visually disabled. We helped them last year, and want to continue our support.

Other good news: Esther, who received a loom last year from our project is now a successful business woman. She is selling her weavings, which she makes into gorgeous pillows. I’m travelling around the USA and Canada this year, and will be selling Esther’s pillows, as well as another weaver’s, Chela. They are both beaming with pride at their new and unexpected income earning potential.

Other news from last year’s recipients: Josefina is now the successful proprietor of a Bed and Breakfast, Las Granadas. (Granadas are pomegranites, which are prolific in her patio). Antonia was the hostess for the village posada for Christmas. How do I describe what this means??? She hosted the images of Mary and Joseph on the first of 9 nights in search of an inn for the birthplace of Jesus. It was a beautiful fiesta. Finally, Teresa got married! She and Alex are now living her new husband, who is a musician in a Mariachi group.

So, my dear friends, thank you for your gift. It is much more than the gift of money, as you can probably tell by the warmth and joy in the photos I’ll be sending along. They are sending back some amazing smiles.

Besos y abrazos, Annie