I have been so looking forward to today! We are booked on a textile tour to Teotitlán del Valle where the Zapotec indigenous community have specialised in making textiles for generations. We were collected by Laura and Carlos of Where Sidewalks End who work with local families to make these experiences possible for interested travellers. Our journey was certainly eventful as the main road out of Oaxaca was roadblocked by a huge red Coca Coca lorry by teachers protesting for a pay increase. With some kerb jumping, we turned round and a few back doubles later we were off.
Josefina welcomed us into her home …
… but was in a rush as she was off to Mexico City to exhibit a piece of her textile designed to show her Zapotec heritage and culture. It incorporates copper, and agave fibres as well as wool and cotton, all dyed naturally using traditional methods then woven … and was beautiful!
She left us in the capable hands of her daughter Danny who explained how they sort and card the wool, then spin it into yarn, and wash using a locally sourced plant rather than soap, all translated for us by Laura.
Dyeing come next and first we saw the preparation of dye from cochineal, a tiny insect found on nopal cactus, which is dried then ground. Mixed with water, it produces red …
… but this can be modified with an acid like lemon juice to make orange or an alkali like lime to make purple.
They also use indigo, which they buy dried and grind to make dye. When they dye, they always use the fermentation method in clay pots.
Next we watched Danny, then had a go weaving on a large piece, remembering to lower the correct paddle to pass the bobbin through and not to tighten the wool too much.
Then it was our turn, to choose two colours and wind them from the skein onto a bobbin.
Fortunately, Danny had already prepared the looms as it takes time and would certainly have been beyond our pay grade!
We then spent the rest of the morning weaving a coaster each, with whichever pattern we chose.
I decided to do an irregular stripe and Chris’s pattern went a bit rogue in the middle, but we are delighted with our finished mats.
It felt very special to be welcomed in, told about their family heritage and the traditional methods they use, and then to be able to make our own piece to bring home. The weaving was surprisingly therapeutic and relaxing once we got the hang of it, and Chris enjoyed it much more than he expected, initially only coming along for me and to take some photos!
Once Danny removed our pieces from the looms, she served us a delicious lunch of sopa de guías, made from the tender vines, shoots, leaves, and flowers of the squash plant and a crispy tortilla with cheese. By then time we had eaten our mats were finished off and ready to bring home, a lovely souvenir, as was the short video Carlos had made of the day.
We took a look round the showroom, interested in the variety of designs of the rugs …
.. and I was able to buy a mixed handful of wool dyed different colours to use in stitching when I get home.
Walking through the Zocalo later, there was a tent city of those camping out protesting with the teachers.
Once back, we took some time to relax before going out for dinner at La Olla, another restaurant with vegetarian choices which proved another hit with excellent enchiladas with black mole for Chris, and a different type of chile rellenos for me.
Off Travelling Together 