Oaxaca Tour Guides, Taxi Drivers, Commissions and Fair Trade

I am prompted to write this blog post after receiving a comment from a recent Oaxaca traveler who asked his hotel to hire a taxi driver to take him to Teotitlan del Valle and other villages for an authentic shopping experience.  This person, on a previous trip to Oaxaca, had taken a company tour and said he was frustrated because the tour operators had a set schedule with brief, predetermined stops.  He suspected that the tour operator received a commission on rug prices that were inflated, and he was right.

What the traveler wasn’t aware of is that the hotel who pre-arranged the taxi driver during his recent Day of the Dead return visit to Oaxaca will likely have taken a share of the commission on any sales made during the day-long excursion, in addition to the fee charged for the taxi services.   This is standard practice in Oaxaca.  My best recommendation is to know where you want to go in advance and go out on the street, hail a taxi and negotiate the price.  Typical hourly rates are 120 pesos and you can engage a driver for the entire day.  When you go into your artisan’s workshop, ask the driver to stay in the taxi and wait for you.  Don’t pay until the day is over.

I hesitated to publish the traveler’s comments, afraid that this would constitute an endorsement by me of this hidden practice that few tourists are aware of, and does not support my commitment to Fair Trade.  Fair Trade means that the “middle man” is bypassed, kick-backs are nil, and that all tourist dollars land directly in the hands of the artisan who created the art.

Admittedly, even great artisans will participate in this commission scheme.  When the tour buses pull into the famous artisan’s restaurant and gallery, the driver and tour organizer will likely receive a commission.  So will the taxi drivers who bring prospective clients to the famed carver’s house/gallery in San Martin Tilcajete.  So will the taxi drivers who deliver customers to the big houses on Benito Juarez Ave. leading into Teotitlan del Valle to buy rugs.  Watch out of the corner of your eye when the driver hangs behind to negotiate the commission while the visitors are observing a natural dye or weaving demonstration.

Commissions in the Oaxaca valley can range from ten to forty percent.  This is a hefty chunk of change and many families depend on this system to keep their wives and children eating.  Yet, the artist who actually created the work will receive a fraction of what the visitor has spent on the purchase price.  Frequently, especially at the well-known “big houses,” rugs or carved animalitos are created by contract weavers who are paid by the piece.  If a rug sells for $350 USD, you can bet that the weaver may have been paid $90 for a week’s worth of labor.  Not every master artisan will participate in this system, preferring to have fewer sales than to give forty percent away.

If the system is going to change, then tourists need to do their homework and identify in advance the craftspeople they want to visit.  Visit museums and galleries and ask who are the best crafts people in each village.  Go into a village and ask around for the name of the artist and where s/he lives.  Ask the village moto-taxi driver or the convenience store clerk or at the crafts cooperative in the zocolo open-air market.

Put your pesos into the hands of the people who make the art.  Avoid paying middlemen, and don’t kid yourself if you hire a taxi driver recommended by your hotel.  If you do, then you can unwittingly become part of supporting the patronage system.

Dissing Talavera Armando, Los Sapos, Puebla

It was going to be touch and go, I just knew it.  I could imagine the luggage I left back in Oaxaca, filled to the brim and getting heavier in my mind’s eye.  That’s why I decided to ask Talavera Armando to ship the three plates, bowl, and six small tiles I bought.  How much, I asked, would it be to send these by air freight.  Fifteen hundred pesos, she answered.  She pointed to the maestro who was in charge of shipping, saying that he does this every day.  Barbara pulled out her iPhone with the instant currency converter app and showed that the cost would be $123 USD.  We gulped.  Then, we thought about what it would mean to jam these things into our luggage, which was already at risk of being overweight, and decided to take the plunge.  Okay, we said and forked over our pesos.  It’ll arrive by Monday, she said, four days from now.

Back in North Carolina, I waited.  Then, we got a call from FedEx.  Talavera Armando had not transcribed my address correctly, even though I had printed it clearly enough.   My husband, who received the phone call, corrected the address and today, four days later, we received the package.

Gleefully, I just opened it only to find the poorest packaging possible, a bit of bubble wrap protecting the fragile contents, in a box much too small to safely cushion each piece.  In fact, the dishes were wrapped together with only a thin veneer of bubble between each of them, and there was no tape to keep the bubble wrap secured.   When I saw that, I was not surprised to see that the contents arrived broken.

Lots of things work in Mexico.  This didn’t.  I have filed my FedEx claim, but who knows?  Meanwhile, the $123 we paid for shipping and handling (most of which probably went to the “handling” or the “packaging” was a way for Talavera Armando to put a few extra dollars in their pocket.  I’ll know better the next time.

Meanwhile, everything I packed myself and shipped home in my suitcase came undamaged.  The safest bet is to use Mail Boxes Plus or Mail Boxes Etc.  They do a great job from their franchise in Oaxaca.

Whirlwind Day Two Shopping in Oaxaca — If it’s Friday, it must be Ocotlan

Sheri picked us up in her white van at the pre-determined 9 a.m. hour, early by Oaxaca standards, though the streets were already abuzz with honking vehicles.  Our first stop was the ATM (exchange rate 13.12 pesos to the dollar) to stock up again for the day long adventure down the Ocotlan highway.  We passed the airport and headed south along the valley highway that leads to some incredible crafts villages, stopping for gas at Pemex the state-owned oil company.  The earlier the better along this road because the Ocotlan market attracts people from throughout the region whose motivations are to shop for the sheer pleasure of it or for survival needs of buying and selling everything from oilcloth table coverings, hammocks, woven baskets, pipes and gaskets, kitchen utensils, leather belts, children’s plastic shoes and everything else under the sun, including live turkeys raised for market, feet bound in twine so as not to escape.  The van boasted New Mexico license plates, a good fit for around these parts, although vehicles are brought down from every state in north America to be bought, sold and traded.

We circumvented the hubbub, stopping first at the three Aguilar sisters whose shops you might miss if you didn’t pay attention.  They are on the right side of the road heading into Ocotlan, about three blocks before arriving at the zocalo, market central.  This is true folk art at its best.  Josefina sits with legs tucked under her on a padded blanket in the courtyard of her home and sales area forming figures out of soft clay that will later be fired in a kiln that may not reach more than eight hundred degrees.  Grandchildren dart around playing with kittens.  Sons and daughters participate in the clay forming and painting.  Tourists from all corners of the earth stream in and out.  This is a famous stopping place for collecting Oaxaca art, yet the prices of the pieces match the humble working and living space:  smaller figures range in price from one hundred and fifty to two hundred and fifty pesos.  That translates from about twelve to twenty dollars each.  Collectors and dealers buy, pack and resell these figures in the U.S. for triple or quadruple the cost.

Next door, sister Irene sculpts hot women of the night and paints their hair yellow, applying blue glitter to create a dress, bosom prominent, one arm on hip, the other akimbo sporting a cigarette, a snake boa wrapped to cover cleavage (just barely).  Imagination flies.  A muerta, not yet painted, bares her skeletal teeth and she flaunts a haughty lilt of the head topped with a wide-brimmed hat to shade her from the strong sun.  How will I get these home?  I ask myself as I consider a purchase.  Oh, don’t think about it, I answer silently.  Go for it anyway, and I do, and because of my magic packing suitcase, everything arrives undamaged.  My prize possession from Guillermina is a skeletal crone whose flowing dress is painted black.  The hem is adorned with cream colored skulls, a red spider crawls along the folds of her skirt, a black shawl frames the sinister face.  Dia de los Muertos is characterized by underworld forms.

Forgive me if I repeat myself.  The impressions of Oaxaca are continuous revelations in memory.   As we head back out of town, we make a left turn almost immediately onto the side road leading to San Antonino, where I want to relocate Don Jose Garcia, the blind potter.  We go down a ways, turn right, make an immediate left at the next street and look for the clay animals that hang over the door to the courtyard that signals we have arrived.  A dog barks.  The door is ajar.  We ring the bell and step inside to be welcomed by the family.  Life-size clay figures cluster around the patio, are tucked haphazardly into corners, are laying on their sides — humans, animals, children.  We are greeted by Don Jose and his wife who guide us into the workshop packed with more sculpture, wall to wall, like the clay soldiers of Xian, men, women, and children stand or kneel side by side, almost alive, waiting to be adopted and taken home.

These pieces are glorious, primitive, raw clay, unglazed.  Some are rough.  Some are polished.  Each with a unique expression that conveys individuality and personality, a special quality that Don Jose has breathed life into as he forms the clay, braids the hair, fashions the nose, tilts the neck, arches the brow or mustache.  These are heavy pieces, primitive.  To ship them would require a crate and an investment of hundreds of dollars.  We admire and take our leave.

Hungry, our next stop is at Azucena where Jacobo Angeles operates a fine restaurant that caters to tourists and tour buses, Elderhostel, and other forms of non-adventure travel.  This is good for San Martin Tilcajete business, since Jacobo represents many of the finest carvers in the village.  On this day, there is a special exhibition of regional folk art on the grounds of the restaurant and gallery, a perfect opportunity to pick up another carving, to eat and drink well, and to make a necessary bathroom stop.

We backtrack to Santo Tomas Jalieza to visit Abigail Mendoza and her family at Nicolas Bravo #1.  On backstrap looms, they weave fine cloth with intricate figures that are fashioned into handbags, belts, wrist bands, table runners, and placemats.  Abigail does the finish work for the rugs woven by Arnulfo Mendoza and Tito Mendoza.  This is among the finest quality backstrap loom weaving you will find anywhere in the Oaxaca valley.

By now, it is five o’clock in the afternoon and the light is beginning to wane.  We travel along the highway back to Oaxaca with a trunk full of goodies, ready for a fresh mango margarita and guacamole at La Olla.  Descanse.

Puebla Recipe: Sopa de Pollo con Flor de Calabassas OR Chicken Broth with Squash Blossoms

We ate this for a late supper (cena) at El Mural de Los Poblanos restaurant in Puebla.  It was delicious.  The best I could do was identify the ingredients and try to recreate this at home.  The soup bowl came with the chewable ingredients mounded in the center, about 1 cup per bowl of broth.  Our server poured the steaming clear chicken broth into the bowl from a covered pitcher, designed so that the diner would be served the hottest soup possible.  I loved that idea.

Ingredients:

• Cubed queso fresco (the white, firm Oaxaca-style cheese)
• Baby zucchini cubes
• Diced green pepper
• Sliced mushrooms
• Fresh corn kernels (use frozen, then thawed,  if fresh is not available)
• Squash blossoms
• Bits of fresh spinach or chard
• Hot chicken broth, pre-seasoned with salt, pepper, a bit of ground chili for bite

Serve with hot, crusty french rolls and butter and a glass of chilled white wine.

Puebla Revisited November 2009

Puebla is growing on me!  This is the third visit this year and each time, it is a new discovery, a new food to savor, and a return to favorite spots.  I am traveling with my sister who lives in the Bay Area and this is her first visit to Puebla, so I get to play tour guide!  I arranged our stay at Camino Real Puebla, booking online using HotelsDotCom.  The rack rate is about $250 USD per night and we paid approximately $85 per night based on a 13.1 exchange rate.  This hotel is a former convent located two blocks from the zocalo and around the corner from my favorite restaurant El Mural de los Poblanos.  We have a lovely room that was likely a cell for nuns who occupied the 17^th century space.  The décor is colonial with elements of the baroque.  The breakfast is an exceptional buffet.  This morning we had egg white omelets made to order stuffed with huitlachotle (mushrooms and organic corn) and cheese, fresh papaya, guava and orange juice mixed, delicious aromatic coffee,  chilaquiles with salsas verde and rojo, fork tender roasted pork, and black beans.  We started at 9 am and didn’t finish until close to 11 a.m.   Thank goodness this was going to be a walking day, and it turned out that we didn’t sit down to dinner until 5:30 p.m.

After visiting the Museo Amparo, that had an extensive exhibit on performance and political art, strong enough to bring us both to tears (artists expressing themselves about the disappeareds in Chile and Argentina, or the AIDS epidemic, or the environmental degradation of our planet), we hopped a cab needing lighter fare and made our way to Uriarte Talavera.  This was after we had spent a goodly amount of time ogling the beautiful work in Talavera de la Reyna shop that is part of the Museo Amparo.  Next, a taxi ride to the Exconvento Santa Rosa where the famed talavera kitchen is the last part of the hour-long guided tour.  The entry fee is 35 pesos each, and one cannot meander alone or take photos.  Today, our guide only spoke Spanish, so I’m not sure what would have happened if our understanding was more limited.

The Dominican nuns sequestered there in the 17^th century took vows of silence and participated in the rituals of mortification of the flesh.  The superior slept on a wood platform without a mattress dressed in heavy, rough homespun wool year round, and wore a crown of thorns during the day.  Life was interesting then.

Then, we hailed a cab to the area near the new convention center.  Our destination was La Purificadora hotel and restaurant, designed by the famed Mexico City architect Legoretta.  This is a stunning contemporary space amidst historic Renaissance and Baroque buildings, a punctuation mark in spectacular city resplendent in Moorish influences.  This is where we had a unique and innovative dinner:  a trio of appetizers that we shared – tiny squash blossoms stuffed with cheese and deep fried in tempura batter, octopus in a spicy tomato sauce on a homemade tortilla , and an organic mesclun salad with truffle oil dressing served with avocado, grilled tomato, and fresh grilled baby corn.  For the entrée, Barbara had this chef’s version of the same stewed goat in tomato broth that we had the night before at El Mural.  This version was definitely different.  (The great chefs in the city prepare this special dish, Huaxmole or Mole de Caderas, once a year in honor of an ancient pre-Hispanic tradition.)  My entrée with a sea bass steamed over corn husk, topped with onion slivers, chopped red pepper, fresh nopal cactus, and spinach bits.  The sauce was a golden delicate scent of fish broth and cream.

After all this, we decided to walk back in the chill of the evening, strolling in sisterly arm-in-arm, as you soon women do together in Mexican cities, comfortable in their relationship.  It was about ten blocks back to the zocalo and it was a perfect night for strolling, brisk, cool, a bit breezy.  Lots of people were on the street and we felt no sense of being at risk.  Tomorrow morning, we will get up early, take the bus to Oaxaca for our final evening in Mexico before flying home on Saturday.

10 Puebla Favorites:

1. Talavera de la Reyna (Museo Amparo or fabrica/factory in Cholula)
2. Ex Convento Santa Rosa and the Talavera tile kitchen
3. El Mural de los Poblanos restaurant
4. El Camino Real Hotel
5. La Purificadora Restaurant
6. Talavera Uriarte
7. Talavera Armando (request DO4 only)
8. Strolling Cinco de Mayo
9. Everything in the Zocalo, including the Templo Angelopolis
10. Capilla de la Virgen del Rosario (incredible gold leaf and Talavera)

Oaxaca Shopping: New El Nahual Gallery Showcases Tito Mendoza Weavings

Husband and wife team Tito Mendoza and Alejandrina Rios Sanchez are creative, talented and have a flair for design.  Tito, cousin of the famed Arnulfo Mendoza, is an excellent weaver in his own right and his intricate handwoven textiles are extraordinary.  Ale knows how to put together fabrics, whimsical animalitos, hand-wrought metal decor, and folkloric touches that create a magical space with unusual and interesting design elements.  Their modest adobe casita in Teotitlan del Valle, where they retreat on weekends, is full of antiques, collectibles, handmade furniture, and contemporary art.  The mix is beautiful and Ale has replicated this feel in their new gallery, El Nahual.

Now, after years of working in the gallery at El Mano Magico on the main cobblestone pedestrian thoroughfare of Macedonio Alcala in the historic center of Oaxaca, Ale is expressing herself through a new venture that she and Tito have embarked upon.

El Nahual is located on Avenida 5 de Mayo, parallel to Macedonio Alcala, and just down from where 5 de Mayo intersects with Gurrion, the side street that borders the iglesia Santo Domingo.  You will find lovely wool and silk handbags woven by Tito, intricately woven cotton handbags formed on a backstrap loom from one of the premiere weavers of Santo Tomas Jalieza, the silvercast jewelry made by Frenchwoman Brigitte of Kanda Designs, personally selected and highest quality alebrijes of all shapes and sizes, little mirror hearts that are perfect to reflect light from a bathroom or hallway wall, and giant red hearts with wings that makes my heart sing.  The two-room shop is full of surprises and the quality of everything is the best you can find anywhere in town.  The prices are fair and do not have an exorbitant mark-up.

The best thing for me when I drop by, is to be greeted by Ale and her lovely daughter Liliana, who give everyone who enters a warm welcome.

Wefts of Sea and Wind: The Textiles of Francisca Palafox — Textile Museum of Oaxaca Opening

TRAMAS DE MAR Y VIENTO:
LOS TEXTILES DE FRANCISCA PALAFOX
What: Opening
Host: Museo Textil de Oaxaca
Start Time: Saturday, August 22 at 7:00pm
End Time: Saturday, August 22 at 9:00pm
Where: Museo Textil de Oaxaca, Corner Hidalgo & Fiallo, Centro Historico

WEFTS OF SEA AND WIND:

THE TEXTILES OF FRANCISCA PALAFOX

Ikoot women from San Mateo del Mar, a small fishing village on the southern coast of Oaxaca beyond Salina Cruz, have been weaving here on backstrap looms for generations. Today, most women are no longer weavers, and if they are, the quality of process and product they create are generally basic.

Traditional huipiles (blouses) from San Mateo del Mar are finely woven white cotton decorated with supplementary weft designs adapted from beach and sea life.  Turtles, fish, crab, palm trees, shrimp, birds, butterflies, and stars are incorporated into the weaving with purple shellfish dyed thread. The village, however, has adopted the dominant Juchitecas style of dressing, so Ikoot origins are not immediately evident by the traje (local costume).

San Mateo del Mar is a humble, isolated village, dependent upon fishing for mojarras (a type of sea bass) and camarones (shrimp), which is sold in the local street market and exported to the larger, neighboring market towns of Tehuantepec and Juchitán. But mostly, the catch of the day provides food for the family.  There are not many young people.  An aging population implies out-migration to bigger cities for education and job opportunities not offered here.  This is a simple, and by all appearances, difficult life. The village is hammocks, palm thatched huts, tin covered palapas, sand, salt, wind, and intense heat.

Francisca Palafox is one of the last of the great Ikoot backstrap loom artisans. She is 33 years old, the youngest in a family of six children.  She was “discovered” by Remigio Mestas, who searches for master weavers in remote villages and encourages them to preserve their craft. Remigio provides raw materials such as cotton or thread of the highest quality and through old photographs or antique samples, both Remigio and the weaver re-discover and rescue ancient techniques. As a single mother, Francisca first worked selling dinner to the people of her village to support her children, finding time to weave only during the day. Over the past seven years, because of the commissions from Remigio, Francisca has been able to dedicate her time entirely to weaving.

Antonina Herrán Roldán, Francisca’s mother, now age 73, taught her daughters how to weave.  However, it was eldest daughter Elvira, who stepped in to mentor and guide her youngest sister, eight year old Francisca, teaching her to weave after school. Due to economic hardships, her parents had no choice but to take Francisca out of school, and so she began to weave full time. Francisca wove napkins with imaginative designs and successfully sold them.  By age 15, she had won several prizes that distinguished her among the group of local women weavers.

A woman in San Mateo del Mar taught Francisca how to weave the traditional figures into the Ikoot huipil. Soon, Francisca followed her own independent imagination and creativity, incorporating her personal aesthetic into the Ikoot pieces. In addition to the traditional figures, she learned to weave dancers, fishermen, and sailboats.

“I remember seeing an owl in one of my books in fourth or fifth grade and I got the idea to put it into the loom. When one is younger, the imagination is vast and untiring. Youth is so precious,” she says.

Eventually Francisca learned to weave an entire huipil on her own. Knowing that education was a missing piece in her life, after giving birth to her first child, she went back to finish the rest of her studies.

Francisca’s children, a son Noe, age 15, and two daughters, Jazmín, age 13, and Liliana, age 11, learned to weave when they were also eight years old. Lili, for example, helps coat the warp threads of the backstrap loom with atole (a corn drink) to make them stronger. Although Francisca´s children have a vast understanding of the Ikoot weaving tradition and a profound admiration for their mother, they also believe that in years to come it will become more and more difficult to find a sustainable living in weaving. Her son Noe says: “It’s as if my mother helped to preserve our traditions…thread by thread…” Francisca´s sister, Teófila Palafox, as well as their cousin Sabina, are also active weavers.

Francisca is well aware of the danger her community faces. Her daughters as well as other girls in the village no longer want to wear huipiles because they see it as attire incompatible with modernity. Whenever they do wear huipiles, the choice is the red, yellow and black huipil that the women from Juchitan wear.

In an attempt to share her knowledge, Francisca has invited women of the village to weave with her. But soon after realizing the arduous and time-consuming work it is (and without much economic return) they prefer jobs with regular pay that are not as tedious.  “Women come and see, but they don’t like this job.  They prefer looking for something else like selling tortillas…” Francisca explains.

Francisca is one of a few women in her community who continue to weave.  This small group of Ikoot is at risk of being absorbed into the larger culture and of losing their craft. And this is part of what makes Francisca’s work so important. The Textile Museum of Oaxaca pays homage to Francisca Palafox, whose work carries a whole set of cultural symbols, history and knowledge valuable to her village but also to the world at large. Francisca is one of the last caretakers of the Ikoot tradition. More than this, she is also an inspirational, courageous, self-taught, and self-sacrificing woman devoted to her unconditional companion, her backstrap loom.

“The loom is mine, and no one can take it from me…”

Francisca Palafox

Textile Museum of Oaxaca

Written in collaboration with Apolonia Torres and Norma Hawthorne

Translated by: Apolonia Torres

Edited by: Norma Hawthorne

Oaxaca #1 Travel Destination for Families With Children

SINGAPORE (Reuters Life!) – Many cities can be overwhelming for young travelers, but some are as much fun for the kids as the grown-ups.

Lonely Planet’s “Travel With Children” guide lists the top 10 cities around the world that are ideal to visit with children. This list is not endorsed by Reuters:

1. OAXACA, MEXICO

This colorful Mexican city is pint-sized, charming and fun to explore on foot. A central plaza provides plenty of run-around space for kids and there’s a vibrant market. www.visitmexico.com

http://www.reuters.com/article/lifestyleMolt/idUSTRE56U24J20090731?rpc=60

For the rest of the Top 10 list, click on the link.

There still seems to be the erroneous impression “out there” in the world that Mexico may not be a safe enough travel destination.  I bring this up because Oaxaca, Mexico is cited here by Lonely Planet as being a top travel destination for families with children.  I can’t imagine that this recommendation would be made IF there was a concern about safety!

Oaxaca Indigenous Textiles: Preservation or Adaptation

A group of Mexicanos and gringos gathered on Monday evening in the city for the Oaxaca preview of “Weaving a Curve” movie and to see the latest work of Federico Chavez Sosa, master weaver of Teotitlan del Valle.  Most of us came dressed in our local Mexican finery.   Patrice, who has been living in Puerto Escondido for over 20 years and holds dual Mexican and U.S. citizenship, was wearing a fine huipil handwoven in coyuche cotton (pre-conquest, native to the region) indigo dyed huipil.  Eduardo, a Mexicana artist who was raised in Ensenada, Baja California, and I were wearing our Juchitan traje.  Sheri donned a magnificent olive green robozo woven in the mountain village of Tenancingo which was wrapped around a floral blusa intricately hand embroidered in the village of San Antonino in Ocotlan, Oaxaca.

As we were treated to the exhibit of Federico’s magnificent weavings, our talk turned to the textile traditions of Oaxaca and Mexico, and how weavers are adapting traditional huipils to meet the demands of the marketplace — as innovators have done for millenia.  We talked about how some of the great weavers from Santiago Pinotepa Nacional, noted for their traditional handwoven striped faldas (wrapped skirts) dyed with cochineal and purpua, are now sewing the fabric into halter tops and zippered straight line skirts that are being worn by local women as well as sold for the tourist market in Oaxaca.  Traditional adaptation is occurring for many reasons.  Weavers cannot afford to wear the work they create.  They might be able to afford to wear a blouse that costs 85 pesos (about $5 USD), and prefer to sell what they weave that will bring income to the family.  If a San Mateo del Mar weaver, for example, can sell a huipil for 500-1,000 pesos, she may not wear her own work.  The influences of the dominant culture, driven by television, the internet, and the shifting styles of contemporary fashion, bring change (wanted or not) to once remote villages that are now connected to the world by technology.  Out-migration, returning emigrants who worked in the U.S. for a while and then returned to their home villages have an impact.

I asked Federico and his daughter, Janet Chavez Santiago, why they do not use the rugs they weave on the floors of their home.  “We weave them to sell, they say.  These are our livelihood.”  Zapotec rugs from the village of Teotitlan del Valle are a great example of adaptation.  Woolen goods woven in the village on the fixed frame pedal loom were originally blankets and sarapes (ponchos) which the Spanish needed to cover themselves and their horses.  The fixed frame pedal loom is an import from Europe by the Spanish.  Teotitlan Zapotecs adapted the backstrap loom techniques to the floor loom and shifted from weaving in cotton to weaving in wool in 1521.  In the 60’s and 70’s, rug exporters from the U.S. came to the village and introduced Navajo motifs for export to a hungry U.S. design market primarily based in Santa Fe.  Zapotecs adapted.  Floor rugs were never part of their original weaving repertoire.

As we observe these changes in the weaving culture of Oaxaca, it is important to not make a judgment about whether what is happening is good or bad.  Adaptation, change, and innovation will occur as long as human beings wander this earth.  It is part of creativity and of market forces.  Yet, some of these traditions will disappear unless we are willing to support the weavers who continue to weave fine work using natural dyes and other high quality raw materials, and be willing to pay a higher price for their work.

There are more questions than answers.  What will the long-term impact be on local weaving villages where more than half the male population has left to work in the U.S.?  When they return, what attitudes will these men bring with them that will influence change in the traditional lifestyle and artforms?  Do we expect small, isolated indigenous villages to retain their traditional cultures while the rest of the world changes around them and how is this possible?  Does this mean that we expect people to continue to live with substandard education, health care, and access to economic opportunity?  Does textile preservation require that life remains static?  Are our priorities to preserve the well-being of the people or the work they produce?   What will be “lost” if the last woman in a village who weaves fine work dies and there is no one else to carry on?

19 Hours in Juchitan: Trajes y Telas

Surprise!  We’re in Juchitan.

In my humble opinion, I think Juchitan has one of the greatest markets in all of Oaxaca, especially if you love fabric and the traditional dress of Tehuanas — heavy hand embroidered floral designs on either velvet or floral patterned cloth with complimentary skirts often fringed in lace or eyelet cotton.  The traje of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec region is among the most colorful and interesting in Oaxaca.

We are circling the Zocalo looking for a hotel after deciding not to spend the night in San Mateo del Mar.  Families, couples and Muxes stroll the square filled with balloon and food vendors.  After finding rooms and checking into the Hotel Santo Domingo del Sur on the Pan American Highway across from the Pemex station at the intersection at the crossroad that leads to the center of Juchitan, we returned to  the Zocalo to eat garnaches (a local open-faced small chalupa or mini-tostada) and drink Corona.  The cost was 10 pesos for two pieces.

It is a sauna in Juchitan this time of year (summer).   Even in December, the coast is tropical.  Coconut and banana palms sway in the constant wind which helps keep the skin cool.  We are back at the Zocalo in the morning at 9 a.m. for desayuno (breakfast) at a beautiful restored Colonial-style two story casa that has been recreated as Restaurant Casa Grande.  The frescoes swirl around stone arches two stories high.  Fans swirl to keep the air moving.  Two green parrots call from the second story wrought iron veranda.  Service is excellent and the food is outstanding.  Carrot, orange and guayaba juice is fresh squeezed.  The coffee was strong, sweet, spectacular. We had tamales con elote with creme sauce and salsa verde, Oaxaquena scrambled eggs with quesillo in a picante red sauce, queso fresco with nopales in a salsa verde cream sauce, and omelets.  Every dish was different and distinguished.  The cost was 35-75 pesos per person, depending upon the choice.  Take a look at the small shop in the courtyard that sells Juchitan traje.  Well made and reasonably priced.

We decided to split up to do our market meanderings and meet back at the restaurant at 12:30 p.m.  I ran into Eric on the second story of the main market across the street from the Zocalo, where I was window shopping for huipils.  He said he had found a great shop that sold fabric and also had wonderful handmade blouses around the backside of the market.  I followed him there and it was a treasure trove, packed with bolts of fabric that they will make up to order, plus a great selection of ready-made embroidered pieces ranging in price from 350-950 pesos for a complete top and skirt outfit.  It was definitely hard to choose.  Here’s the shop info:  “Telas y Trajes Regionales — STI Lorena, Calle 2 de Abril, S/N Local 1, Juchitan, Oaxaca.”  By midday, I had purchased an orange polka dot skirt for 180 pesos, a complimentary floral hand embroidered top for 450 pesos, a beautiful green outfit for 350 pesos, and a long black tunic with white stitched trim for 220 pesos.  This will all add up to under $100!

We sat in the Zocalo people watching, holding our bolsas full of beautiful trajes, and sipped coconut milk from the fresh coconut we held on our laps through straws and people watched.  By 1:30 p.m. we were back on the road for the return trip to Oaxaca, a 250 km ride through curving, mountainous two-lane road.  The logical halfway stop is at El Cameron, where a family run comedor offers good food and clean toilet facilities.  The owner had lived and worked in Tennessee for 11 years, and had studied air quality and pollution control at the community college.  Eduardo, a multi-dimensional artist, is incorporating the stories of transborder migration into her next exhibition which will open at the Museo Textil de Oaxaca in November, and interviewed the owner about his experiences to incorporate into her work.

As we continued toward Oaxaca, the landscape changed from palms to saguaro cactus.  Cash crops of agave that is the basis for tequila and mezcal were planted on hillsides and their tall spikes topped with flowers were like mini-trees.  Donkeys, bulls and goats grazed along the highway and sometimes strayed onto the road.  A lone bicyclist pedaling uphill on the concrete shoulder emphasized the struggle to get from one place to the next both literally and figuratively.  Under the green and yellow concrete shelters marking bus stops along the mountain route, campesinos waited for buses, and life here seems like it is a series of working and waiting, working and waiting.

Recommendations:  Hotel Santo Domingo del Sur, Juchitan, 750 pesos double, 550 pesos single, air conditioning, free wi-fi, very clean and comfortable, email: hsto@prodigy.net.mx, (971) 711-10-50