Day 2: Bus to Oaxaca

Wednesday, Aug 5: The Chiripa 2009 Summer Buying Trip to Mexico

Today is a travel day for Beth and crew. They will bus from Puebla to Oaxaca. The trip is about a 4 to 5 hour bus ride. I'm sure they'll be riding in comfort on this leg. The bus station in Oaxaca is in the heart of the city and within walking distance of the hotel, Las Golondrinas.


I have a soft spot for this hotel. They have a restaurant in the inner courtyard and they serve eggs in the shape of a swallow (la golondrina). The pictures from my first trip are on slides and I haven't managed to get them digitized. You'll just have it imagine it!

After a short rest the gang will meet up with Eric Chavez.


We first met Eric in Teotitlan del Valle, the rug weaving village. (This photo is 3 years old.) Eric now has a position at the new textile museum in Oaxaca.

I'm sure Beth will hit either the Women's Coop or the Artisan Market if there's even a brief bit of time. There is much to do/purchase and precious little time.

A "Free" Trip to Mexico

We laugh when people wink and say we get to travel for free. It's true, Chiripa buying trips to Mexico are a business expense. In order to help you, the reader, understand what happens on these trips I'm going to follow the itinerary of my partner Beth who is traveling with JM and KZ right now.

The goal of these trips is to find great Mexican crafts that we can import and share with our customers, both in our brick and mortar shop and online. The beauty of the transactions is in the relationships we build with the artisans. In the next few days I will follow their trip and explain where they are and who they might be visiting on any given day. Real communication from them, as it relates to artisan crafts, will be shared. They aren't traveling with a computer, so, contact will be sporadic, at best.

Today is Tuesday, Aug. 4. I'm writing from Madison, Wisconsin.

I got up at 1:35 a.m. to be able to pick up Beth and crew at her house at 2 a.m. so that they could meet the 2:20 a.m. VanGalder bus at the UW Memorial union. This would put them at O'Hare around 6 a.m. for their flight to Mexico City at 7:45 a.m. They would arrive in Mexico around 11:45 a.m. and catch an airport bus to Puebla. (I think that's about a two hour ride.)

They will stay in downtown Puebla (I'm not sure which hotel) and hit the Artisan Market where they will visit with Miguel at Casa de las Artesanias.


Miguel Parades, his wife Lilia Cruz Ruiz, and their son Daniel have a workshop that makes skeleton figures and nichos with little skeleton scenes. These are very popular at Chiripa. We have requests for larger figures. We're also hoping that Miguel has some Chirstmas ornaments in the works. Whatever Chiripa purchases will probably be neatly boxed and will be carried on to Oaxaca where it will be consolidated with the Oaxacan purchases. (More on that later.)

B, JM, and KZ will have a nice dinner and turn in early, I'm sure. It's been a long travel day! And it's only day 1.

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.

A Great Idea!

Retail shops like Chiripa benefit from customer feedback. Recently, one family purchased a cookie jar for their kitchen counter. But, it wasn't going to hold cookies! Their great idea was to use the covered jar to hide their kitchen compost container. They loved the idea of a beautiful hand-painted piece on their counter instead of the ugly plastic container with their kitchen scraps. I wanted to pass on the idea to my readers. Here are a couple photos of a jar in action.

It's strawberry season in Wisconsin. Time for a pie.

Who would know that this beautiful jar hides the scraps?

"Cookie/Compost Jar" by Ferdinand Arroyo, Capula, Michoacan, Mexico.

Any other ideas?

Tin Man

So sorry for the delay in posting. The last shipment is finally processed!

One of the major perks of traveling to import artisan crafts for Chiripa is the continuity of contacts. I look forward to seeing familiar faces in my favorite places. We were a bit distressed on our last trip because we were having difficulty reaching one of our mirror makers. Felix Bautista Ramirez lives just outside of San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, Mexico.

With some help from our shipping partner Victor Manuel Torres in San Miguel we were able to track down Felix and visit his home and workshop.


This is Felix with his daughter and a painted cactus that now lives at Chiripa. We ordered other new items from Felix: star tree-toppers, tin angels, small tin luminaries. All arrived with the April shipment along with more of his well-made, colorful mirrors and stars.


But, the real find at Felix's was a new grandson and got to hold it.


I look forward to watching him grow!

Names and Faces

Chiripa is committed to promoting the artists who's work we carry. We often give customers copies of the photos we set by the beautiful crafts that we sell. One thing that sets us apart from other "galleries" who offer bios of artists is that we travel to the places where the artists work and live. That means long trips to remote places in Mexico. It's the heart of this business.

The following photo is one of my favorites from the Feb 2009 trip. The Juan Rosas Family in Capula, Michoacan has been featured previously on this blog. (See post from March, 2008.) This was the first time that the entire family was at home at the time we arrived.


I want to put names with faces. On the far left (on my right) is Juan Rosas, the father of the family. On my left is Lordes Martinez Reyes, the wife and mother. Behind her is Juan Manuel Rosas Martinez, or Chino. All three of them are master potters and/or painters. To Chino's right (behind me and Lordes) is Missael Enrique Rosas Martinez, a quiet boy who's learning English in school. He got to practice with the Gringos! And to Enrique's right is Jim M the "translator" of our group. In the front is Brian (Kobe) Rosas Martinez. Kobe, like most children we meet is fascinated by Jim L's white beard. Many think they are seeing Santa Claus as we tour Mexico.

That was one stop on one day in February. We hope there will be more visits with the Juan Rosas Family. You can find some of their pottery for sale on our website. That link will take you to pottery. Enter "Juan Rosas" in the search field and you'll see what we currently feature.

We were delighted to hear today that the shipment from that February trip is almost here. There will be a delay before I have time to post again.

"Gift Shows" in Mexico

It's no secret that the staff of retail specialty shops attend gift shows to find most of their merchandise. The look of a shop is determined by the "eye" of the buyer. Mexico has it's share of gift shows and a couple of them cater to handcrafted art and decor. We at Chiripa are always hopeful that we might find a new source of product when we attend one of these shows. Our preferred buying method is to go to the source, the people who make the product; but, that's not always possible.


The foremost handcraft show in Mexico is ENART held twice a year in Tlaquepaque, Jalisco. The exposition is held in this impressive structure of interlocking rooms and courtyards.

We've met wonderful people there who have continued to be our suppliers. We sometimes visit their workshops to meet the artists crafting the products. This is how we first met the owners of D'Casa described in the post dated August 2008.

This past February we attended a COFOCE exposition featuring artisan crafts of the state of Guanajuato. It was held in San Miguel de Allende which is one of our frequent stops when shopping in Mexico. So, we decided to give it a try.


The setting was enchanting. The exposition hall was a converted hacienda with fabulous gardens and courtyards that enhanced the goods for sale. (Remember, this was February when back home in Madison, Wisconsin it was sub-zero with blizzard conditions.) We found a couple new sources for products and met one of our regular vendors at this show. I'll post stories of some when I have the product in house and can show it better. But, the following picture is a preview of one of our new products: the traditional ceramic hanging peppers.


We like to share our sources because ultimately we want more people to appreciate the beautiful crafts of Mexico. The earrings in the next photo are an example of a product that we buy at ENART. We love the designs of Francisco Sanchez Sahagun sold through his company Citlali. Their website is lovely, but you cannot buy online. We have a good supply in the shop right now and a few samples of his work in the jewelry section of our webisite. If you enter the word "Citlali" in the search field, you'll get just those pieces.


Meanwhile, it's April 16 and we're still waiting for all of the product we ordered in February to come together in Guadalajara to be shipped here. Patience. I must be patient. . .