Blogs from Teotitlan del Valle, Oaxaca, Mexico, North America

A leisurely start today as we are going on an organised tour and they always wait till it’s baking hot to take tourists out. We have breakfast and are waiting in reception at 10am as instructed. The minivan has arrived. We are last pick up...just our luck, the van is full and we are on the back seat. We prepare ourselves for a bumpy ride. We are sharing the seat with a German couple, Marcus and Sebastian, so we enjoy some interesting conversation and have joint groans at every speed bump as we are rocketed to the ceiling each time. Our tour is taking us to the Tlacoluoa Valley and, whilst we could have attempted it independently, the distance covered might have been a bit of an ask in just one day. Our first stop is ... read more

First thing this morning we stopped at the famous Tule cypress tree. It's apparently 4,000 years old and the circumference is an incredible 60m (164ft). I took lots of photos but I don't think they will show just how magnificant this tree is. We spent the morning at Teotitlan del Valle which is a Zapotec Indian village located outside of Oaxaca that specialises in hand woven rugs. We went to the home of one particular family who explained that the boys and girls from the age of seven years are taught all the skills to dye and hand weave carpets. They showed us how they refine the wool, dye the wool using natural fruits, leaves and flowers and how they actually weave the wool. It was amazing. They are encouraging people who would like to know ... read more

Friends, Today after the students were dismissed from classes we rode two vans to the small village of Teotitlan del Valle (pop. 5,000) located about 1/2 hour from Oaxaca. This is a weaving village and we had the priveledge of visiting master weaver Jesus Hernandez Jimenez's taller (workshop). Upon our arrival we were given a demonstration by Jesus son (also named Jesus) who showed us the entire process needed for completing tapetes (rugs) which are very similar to the Indo-Hispanic traditional rugs found commonly in Chimayo. The first part of the process requires the purchasing of wool since the family does not own any sheep. Next, the recently shorn wool is washed in a local river using a special root used as soap. The wool is placed in a basket and is washed by hand, the ... read more