We head south down straight open and empty roads through valleys framed by mountains. The cactus change shapes from round and fat to long bony fingers. San Cristobal in Chiapas is the next stop, where we visit three different women's cooperatives.
At Jolom Mayaetik cooperative they are training the women in finance and management as well as ensuring the embroidery skills are passed down to the next generations. The shop is a treasure trove, full of delicious colour and pattern. I find it hard to choose between the colourful stripes and the woven diamons. Here are a few samples of my purchases:
Near the cooperative in Chamula we visit its pretty church, which has been reclaimed as a place of pre-Columbian Mayan worship combined with catholicism. The floor is covered in pine needles and the tables arranged around the edge are covered in candles and lillies. The smell is sweet and the atmosphere is emotional. Several men are kneeling on the floor before ancient women conducting purification rituals involving eggs and coke. Banners of brightly coloured fabric stream down from the roof to the windows. There are no pews and families sit on the floor and pray.
That evening the combination of a nightwatchman outside our hotel door and a mescal bar within view, is too tempting. So once Maya is asleep we head over the road for just a quick mescal and fish tacos. The father and son owners greet us like regulars (we had been the day before for tacos) and decide to give us samples of their super organic wild cactus mescal. We end up planning our next visit to their home village near Oaxaca where their mescal brewery is, and leave feeling warm and fuzzy with a bottle tucked under our arm.
No comments:
Post a Comment