Day 4: Around Oaxaca

Friday, August 7: The Chiripa 2009 Summer Buying Trip to Mexico

Friday was to be the trip on the road between Oaxaca and Ocotlan with stops at Santo Thomas Jalietze, San Bartolo Coyotepec, San Martin Tilcajete, and of course a stop to see the famous Tule tree. Just writing the places wears me out!

Ocotolan is the farthest out and is the home of the Aguilar sisters and their workshops. The delightful figures have become collectors items for many customers and we try to restock our supply when in the area.

A women's collective of backstrap loom weavers can be found in the center of Santo Thomas Jalietze. Colorful cotton table runners and placemats as well as handbags are presented for sale in small booths staffed by the woman who made the items. We shop from many vendors to spread the money throughout the group.

San Bartolo Coyotepec is home to the famous black pottery. After a very successful shipment two years ago, we no longer worry that the fragile pottery won't arrive. But this is a place where we rely on a larger producer (Dona Rosa) with experience crating their work. We don't want to be the amatures boxing up precious pieces to find them shattered when they arrive in Madison.

Of course San Martin Tilcajete is the place with the highest expectations. It is the home of Jacobo and Maria Angeles, masters of Mexican alebrijes. To our travellers' dismay, they would miss seeing Jacobo and Maria by one day. The special piece we ordered was ready. Further purchase details will wait until Beth returns.

A quick stop in Santa Maria del Tule to see the world's largest trees is a must.

I'll try to add photos of some of these places and workshops as time allows (and there hasn't been much of that!).

Day 3: Teotitlan del Valle

Thursday, August6: The Chiripa 2009 Summer Buying Trip to Mexico

The plan for this day is to visit master weaver Bulmaro Perez Mendoza of Father and Sons Rugs in Teotitlan del Valle, a short bus ride from Oaxaca city. But, first there will be a brisk walk to the local bus station near the Abastos Market. Then one waits along a busy street and flags down the bus heading out of the city in the direction of Teotitlan. Imagine horns honking, people hawking, and general chaos as life goes on.

Bulmaro provides a valuable service to Chiripa. He coordinates the shipping to Guadalajara for all of our Oaxaca purchases. I don't know if this is a common practice for this savy businessman, or, if he is doing us a huge favor. We consider it a Chiripa (a happy accident) that we found this kind man.


When the travellers get back to Las Golondrinas in Oaxaca they may find swans on their bed.

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!