Our Tours

Woven Maya
The Culture of Textiles
March 10-17, 2014
(For tour price and other information, please see the Trip Details sidebar on this page)

An up close peek into the world of highland Mayan textiles and the vital culture of this ancient indigenous group.

There are few places left in the world where the clothes people wear are the clothes they weave. The Mayan highlands of Chiapas, Mexico are one of these rare places. Their weaving is gorgeous, without question some of the most exquisite traditional weaving in the Americas. These Mayan weavers are the ancestors of the great Mayan civilizations that ruled the Chaipan highlands and southern jungles 1,500 years ago. The great cities and temples of Palenque, Chichen Itza and Tikal lie in ruins, but Mayan civilization lives on in cool mountain villages. Our 8 day trip will focus on these highland weaving villages, and with Mayan textile expert Chip Morris as our guest guide in the highlands, doors will open to us that normally are closed to outsiders among these reserved people. Ours is an unparalleled opportunity to learn about Mayan weaving and meet the people who do it.

Much of the Maya’s ancient vision of the cosmos and their place in the world is told through symbols in their weaving work. The knowledge of the meanings in their symbols was nearly lost when Chip Morris first arrived in Chiapas in 1972. Through years of study funded my grants from the MacArthur Foundation, the National Geographic Society and the Smithsonian, to name a few, Chip did ground breaking work in rediscovering the meanings of the weaving iconography. He also mastered the Tzotzil language, spoken by many of the highland Maya and has done important work in promoting highland weaving and cultural preservation. The author of Living Maya, a beautiful book about Mayan weaving, we are very fortunate to have Chip Morris along as a guest guide for our days among the highland Maya.

The Chaipan highlands and Mayan region are one of Mexico’s wonders in beauty, colonial architecture and the survival of traditional culture. That the best of Mexico’s weavers are to be found here makes the place irresistible to lovers of weaving, travel and unique cultures. This journey offers a rare opportunity to experience this land as few can.

ITINERARY
B=breakfast, L=lunch, D=dinner included in trip cost

Day 1, (D) Meet at the hotel at 6pm for introductions and then out to dinner. You will want to fly into Tuxtla Gutierrez, about 1.5 hours by taxi from San Cristobal. Evening in San Cristobal.

Day 2, (BL) Welcome to San Cristobal de Las Casas, a Spanish colonial city of red tile roofs and white washed adobe walls. We’ll tour the city today, peeking into the ancient churches, visiting the central plaza, the textile and food markets as well as special visits to two weaving co-operatives that play important roles in the world of Mayan textiles. In the afternoon we’ll also have the option of a guided tour of the musty museum of Na Balom, which was the home of the renowned Swiss and Danish anthropologist/archeologist team of Trudy and Franz Blom. It is a place from the era of explorers in breeches and pith helmets. Evening in San Cristobal

Day 3, (BL) San Andres Larrianzar and Magdalenas.  Both of these villages are known for their fine and complex wool brocade work, and Magdalenas is also the source of the finest sisal net bags made in Mexico. We’ll meet a weaver and natural dyer in San Andres and see how she works. Further into the highlands in the village of Magdalenas we will meet a Mayan gentleman who lives in a wattle and daub hut and makes those refined and beautiful net shoulder bags and his extended family weaves up a storm of beautiful textiles. Evening in San Cristobal.

Day 4, (BL)  Chamula!  We come here to go to church. We go to church because it is the heart of Chamulan culture and the doorway to Mayan heaven. Standing on the pine needle carpeted floor in the candle lit, smoke filled Chamula church, listening to prayers in Tzotzil Maya and seeing the people come and go in hand-spun, fulled, wool skirts and thick wool tunics we begin to get a taste of Mayan culture.  And we’ll go deeper, visiting one of the saint’s shrine houses; rooms hung with bromeliads, laurel and oak branches, with clay bulls as candle holders, incense, lights and flowers. This is a flavor of Catholicism the likes of which you will never have seen before, but it is possible that 1,500  years ago the altar rooms on top of the Mayan pyramids looked just like this. And then deeper still, to a small hamlet to see men in pointed hats and accordions walk on fire! And there will be more. Today we step into the world of the living Maya.

Day 5, (BLD) We journey today, deep into the limestone mountains of the highlands to a far off village seldom visited by outsiders, but for us a mecca. The place is Pantelho, and what brings us here are textiles. But not just any textiles, we will visit a family that spins what might be the finest cotton thread in the country. And then they weave gorgeous things with it; blouses, huipiles, lengths of cloth and napkins to wipe up your watering mouth! We’ll also visit Chenalho known for fluffy brocade, indigo dyers and jade artisans. Evening in San Cristobal. 

Day 6, (BL)   White blouses and white doves! Our explorations take us into low country, out of the misty pines and into the warmer air. In front of the brilliant white façade of the stucco church of Aguacatenango we’ll be met by women who embroider blouses of white on white as bleached as the church façade. Then to Amatenango where the huipiles are of a long thread embroidery in yellow and orange. However the fame of this village isn’t it’s textiles but it’s white doves and other clay vessels. We’ll change our focus from fiber to earth for a moment and learn how these women potters work.  Evening in San Cristobal.

Day 7, (BLD) Our tour began with A (arrival) and ends with Z (Zinacantan!).  This is the village of flowers, both because growing flowers is one of the chief sources of income for the village AND because almost everyone dresses in the most beautiful embroidered flower skirts, huipiles, tunics and shawls. It is the later flowers that draw us to Z today. And being Sunday, one of my favorite little markets in all of Mexico is taking place, the Zinacantan clothes market. All the afore mentioned embroidered flowers are for sale beside the church in a market by the people for the people. This is not a tourist textile market but the place Zinacantecos come to shop and it is a sight to behold. We’ll also visit a family of weavers, meet ornately dressed church officials in long, handwoven wool robes and fine straw hats and eat some tortillas fresh off the griddle.  You’ll have some free time in the afternoon before we meet for a final group dinner.  Evening in San Cristobal.

Day 8, Plan your departures for any time today. The airport of Tuxtla Gutierrez is about 1. 5 hours away and a taxi can be arranged to take you there 24 hours a day.