Change Comes to San Cristóbol

August, 2012.  We are traveling in southern Mexico, searching out unique and beautiful local crafts for Chiripa.

San Cristóbol de las Casas is an old colonial city in the Chiapas highlands. In this place, the past is everywhere. Our hotel, for example, was once the home of Diego de Mazariegos, who led the Spanish invasion of Chiapas in 1528.  But the local indigenous culture is far, far older than that.

Old Church Door

San Cristóbol de las Casas

The industrial city of Tuxtla Gutierrez is just an hour or two away, by bus. But it is much harder to get to San Cristóbol from other metropolitan areas, as we rediscovered on our 11-hour bus ride from Oaxaca. New federal highway projects may reduce the city’s isolation, for good or ill. But for now, San Cristóbol is still somewhat off the beaten path. 

Off the Beaten Path:

Sleeping Dogs in San Cristóbol

In San Cristóbol, you are just about as likely to hear people speaking a Mayan language as Spanish. And while most Mexicans (like all of us) now wear clothing that has been mass-produced in Asia, many Mayan people here still wear traditional dress that has not changed for centuries. The indigenous people make the clothing with their own hands, using local materials (although we were told that cheap "knock-offs" are now entering the commercial market). 

Fine Traditional Embroidery

For the indigenous people, clothing is an expression of community rather than individuality. Mayan women from the same village wear the same style of dress, much the way members of an athletic team wear the same uniform, except that these traditional "uniforms" are not made by Nike. They bear no corporate logos, and they do not change with the latest fashion trends.

The Changing Streets of San Cristóbal

We first visited San Cristóbal in 1987, and were last there in 1999 (just a few years after the Zapatista uprising). Much has changed since then. The place looks more prosperous. There has been a lot of new investment. There are more cars. There are walking malls lined with pizza and other fast-food restaurants. There are trendy coffee shops and bars. There are retail shops selling expensive things for tourists. There are people staring at smart phones, and waving their fingers over them. 

The current atmosphere resembles, in some ways, a fashionable ski resort. To us, this is a little unsettling. But much of the old San Cristóbal remains.

Colonial Church on a Rainy Afternoon

There are the beautiful old colonial buildings. There is the clean and bracing morning air, and the special light. There are colorful markets, selling local products and crafts. Above all, there are the indigenous people who make San Cristóbol a truly memorable place.

San Cristóbol Street Scene

We spent a lot of time in the local markets. We found amber jewelry created by craftsmen in the village of Simojovel, in a remote area north of San Cristóbol. We found woven and embroidered table linens, purses and more. We had fun talking to vendors who were selling crafts from their home villages. When we climbed back on the bus, for the return 11-hour night ride to Oaxaca, we were packing lots of beautiful crafts and memories.  - JM 

Old and New

Mountains and Rain

August, 2012.  We are traveling in southern Mexico, looking for distinctive artisan crafts for Chiripa.

It is the rainy season in Oaxaca.  In the morning, strands of misty clouds hang from the lovely shoulders of the green mountains, like elegant necklaces.  

Brilliant flowers glitter in the soft air.  

After an afternoon shower, a ray of sunlight breaks through.  It drapes the weathered old cathedral in glory, and crowns it with a rainbow.

In the village of Teotitlan del Valle, weavers listen to the rain and peek out from under dripping tile roofs.  Then they lean into their work once again, crafting elegant wool rugs on wooden pedal looms.  The rugs (tapetes) emerge in glorious patterns and colors from nature.  The variety is endless, put a popular pattern is “Mountains and Rain.” 

 At Chiripa, you can see tapetes from some of the best weavers in Mexico. -JM

On to Oaxaca

A post from the log that JM kept on the August 09 buying trip to Mexico for Chiripa. -kl

"At dawn, we caught a taxi to the Puebla bus terminal and boarded for the 4-hour trip to Oaxaca in southern Mexico. It is a beautiful ride, through wild mountain lands and cactus forests. But we were happy when the bus pulled in to the new first-class terminal in Oaxaca.

"On our first afternoon in Oaxaca, we spent a little time in the bustling market southeast of the zócalo. Our friend Kathy boldly accepted an offer to try a sample of chapulines (fried grasshoppers), which are widely sold by street vendors here. She decided, however, that the sample was plenty (something about an oily taste, and legs sticking in her throat). Good protein, though.

KZ tastes grasshoppers in the Oaxaca market.

"On our first night in Oaxaca, we had dinner with our young friends Eric and Elsa. Eric is Zapotec, the eldest son of traditional weavers in the indigenous village of Teotitlán del Valle. If he marries in Teotitlán, Eric will receive a share of village land and will assume the rights and considerable responsibilities of village membership.

"But like many Mexicans, Eric is torn between 2 worlds. He learned Spanish and Zapotec at home (each village speaks a different dialect), but is fluent in English and adept with electronic media. He has traveled widely in the U.S. (including Madison, where he presented a weaving demonstration at Chiripa). At a young age, he is already Director of Education at the magnificent new Textile Museum in Oaxaca (if you are ever in Oaxaca, you must check out the museum on Independencia, just a few blocks east of the zócalo).

Eric in the center at Chiripa with his father Federico on the left and Elsa on the right.

"Eric worries that Oaxaca’s rich weaving tradition is dying out. The craft is still practiced on wooden and backstrap looms in villages throughout the region. But even here, cheap industrial textiles are quickly replacing hand-woven products for home use. Young people are not learning many of the traditional skills, and the older generation will eventually be gone. Eric works long hours to document and share the treasures that still exist, and to help struggling artisans find viable markets. Chiripa is trying to help." -JM, Aug 5, 2009

Cuetzalan, Puebla, Mexico

The Chiripa February 2009 buying trip to Mexico included a side trip to explore a new landscape and new crafts. We set out by bus from Puebla (the city) to Cuetzalan, a small town in the mountainous north part of the state of Puebla. We were prepared for a long bus ride and it was (about four and a half hours).

The Puebla bus depot is airy with numerous services for travelers.

The trip starts out on super highways that get smaller and smaller until you are on the winding roads in the mountains that have almost no shoulder. Looking down was scary--but beautiful!

The zocalo in Cuetzalan (with the pole in the background).
People swing by their feet!

After many Mexico trips to dry, dessert landscapes it's startling to find a lush rain forest with ferns as big as trees. We hired a guide who took us to a beautiful waterfall and a cave that wouldn't have met OSHA safety standards. Our local bus ride to the waterfall was the back of a truck.

The local bus.

One of the draws of this town is it's Sunday market. We weren't able to fit a Sunday into our schedule, but their Thursday market provided a taste of the bigger Sunday event. The vendors set up their wares on the steps that are on one side of the zocalo. The Sunday highlight that we missed was the men who swing by their feet from a tall pole. Next time. . .

Intense midday sun require numerous tarps over vendors.
The steps are an indication of the steep streets in Cuetzalan.

The man in white is wearing the traditional clothing of the region.

Flowers are abundant!

The primary crafts we found were backstrap-loomed shawls and scarves and jewelry made from local seeds. The knotting is exceptional. We enjoyed the local museum with natural history and fine art. The regional artisan market is just across from the museum and provides daily access to crafts.

We carry the shawls made by this artist.

Cuetzalan was a nice diversion from our normal treks.

Dinner/Last Day/Watch Your Step/Night on the Bus

[Continuing and final journal entries written by Chiripa partners on the August 2008 buying trip.]

August 25: Dinner with Friends

This evening we had dinner in Oaxaca with our good friends, the Chavez y Santiago family (and friend Elsa). The family carries on a long hand-weaving tradition in Teotitlán del Valle, the renowned weaving village. The oldest son, Eric, recently took a position with the outstanding new Textile Museum in Oaxaca. The museum has both a Mexican and a worldwide focus, and houses an astonishing collection of the best natural textile craft from throughout the world. If you are ever in Oaxaca, you should not miss it.

Federico, Eric, and Elsa at Chiripa.

Eric, his father Federico and friend Elsa visited us in Madison last year, and gave a presentation at Chiripa about hand-woven rugs and natural dye techniques. At the museum, Eric is working with others to save and promote traditional textile materials and methods.

After dinner, we went back to the hotel to finish labeling and packing the small items we had collected. This is an exhausting task at the end of a long day. A friend will pick up the packed boxes in the morning, consolidate them with later deliveries that we have ordered in the Oaxaca area, and eventually send the consolidated shipment to our exporter in Guadalajara. The exporter will add the Oaxaca shipment to our shipments from other areas; check the packing, labeling and paperwork; and put the whole works on a truck for the U.S. We hope to receive the complete shipment, with a minimum of damage, in October. We always enjoy rediscovering our treasures when we unpack them at the shop.

August 26: Last Day in Oaxaca

On our last day in Oaxaca, we decided to travel (via the Abastos Market) to the village of Atzompa, which specializes in lovely clay figures. There was a better selection than last year, and we bought as many as we thought we could carry on the bus and airplane. Earlier, we had also placed an order for hand-made clay Christmas ornaments, made by the well-known artisans Luis Blanco and his wife María who live in Atzompa.

When we returned to Oaxaca, it was hot and the sun was bright. People walked on the shady side of the street. Some of the men wore sombreros (sombra = shade), and some of the women carried parasols (para sol = for the sun). In the afternoon, we escaped the heat by sitting in the shady courtyard of a pleasant little café, sipping a cerveza and trying to organize our paperwork prior to our long, all-night bus ride to Mexico City.

August 26: Watch Your Step

You must be careful when walking in Mexico – I mean, careful about where you put your feet. The sidewalks are generally constructed of rough stone or cobbles, and often a stone is missing. Cavernous holes may go unrepaired for years, even centuries.

For locals, walking a sidewalk is a little like walking a mountain path – you take it as you find it. Then too, the locals are familiar with the holes, and avoid them without even looking. But you should not be tempted to do as they do. You should keep your eyes on the ground, carefully pre-meditating each and every step.

Of course, this strategy may make you more vulnerable to overhead (or nearly overhead) hazards. In many places, the sidewalks are lined with street vendor stalls that have overhead metal awnings. These awnings are high enough to accommodate a 5-ft. local resident, but they may not accommodate you. From nearly every trip, I return with a minor head wound sustained while I was keeping my eyes on the sidewalk.

August 26-27: All Night on the Bus

We climbed on the bus at 8:30 PM for our all-night trip to the Mexico City airport. This was a 1st-class bus, and there was a big show of security. We had to pass through metal detectors and leave our box of clay figurines in the luggage compartment under the bus (where we feared that they would be smashed to small shards).

At 11:00 PM, we passed the little comedor in the wild mountain area between Oaxaca and Puebla. The night was pitch black, but in the little comedor the blue fluorescent lights were still on, and people were still eating.

We got off the bus in Puebla at 1:00 AM, and caught a taxi to another bus terminal. The taxi driver took one of those disconcerting shortcuts down deserted back streets, but we arrived just fine. At the second terminal, we waited for the 2:30 AM bus to the Mexico City airport. The small terminal was lively, and people seemed wide awake.

We arrived at the Mexico City airport at 4:30 AM. By 6:15 AM, we were on a plane headed home.

[Note: The shipment arrived October 31 with almost no damage. Another trip is in the planning. We'll keep you posted!]

Tinsmiths and Weavers

[Continuing journal written by Chiripa partners on the August 2008 buying trip.]

August 25

Before we headed out of town, we searched out a small tin workshop in downtown Oaxaca, to see tin ornaments being made. The ornaments were not pressed by a machine, as you might expect, but were individually cut and then hammered into shape by a tinsmith using a variety of different small hammers.



The tinsmith’s wife then painted the individual ornaments by hand, with painstaking care. We bought a number of the lovely ornaments for our Chiripa customers.



When we are in Oaxaca, we always make the bus trip to the village to Teotitlán del Valle. This time we also went to the nearby village of Santa Ana del Valle (just up the road from the market town of Tlacolula). Teotitlán and Santa Ana are known for making fine, handwoven wool rugs. Teotitlán is somewhat better known, and a bit more prosperous.

People in these and other area villages still speak Zapotec in their homes. Our friend Eric Chavez, a weaver’s son who grew up in Teotitlán, told us that each village has its own separate Zapotec dialect. These dialects are quite different from each other, so that it may be easier for people from different villages to communicate in Spanish, rather than in Zapotec.

The route to these villages leads down the Tlacolula Valley, past the ancient Tule tree (it was alive in the time of Christ, and is now one of the biggest living things in the world). Further down the road, past the weaving villages, you can visit the impressive pre-Hispanic ruins at Mitla (although we did not have time to visit Mitla on this trip).

In Teotitlán, we bought beautiful natural-dyed rugs and runners from our friends Bulmaro Perez and Federico Chavez, both recognized masters of the weaving craft. On hand-operated looms, these families still produce rich woolen rugs in the old way. Each rug starts with wool gathered from sheep in the surrounding highlands. The wool is carded and spun, colored with natural dyes such as cochineal, indigo and witch hazel, and then skillfully hand-woven into rich and elegant patterns. The families weave their ancient Zapotec tradition and individual craftsmanship into every rug.

Bulmaro demonstrates the natural dyes used in his beautiful rugs.

In Teotitlán, we also bought some warm, hand-knit wool caps from the Women’s Cooperative. We didn’t buy anything in Santa Ana this time, but did pay a visit to the parents of a friend’s acquaintance. Even though the parents did not know us, and were bereaved by a recent death in the family, they were kind enough to invite us for a meal. We had to decline, for lack of time, but will not soon forget their courtesy and hospitality.