Starting in Chiapa de Corzo, over 3 days we witnessed all the hundreds of traditionally dressed Parachicos in parade and church festivities. In addition to allegorical floats and fireworks on river boats, our adventure culminated in an amazing 3 hour river cruise seeing natural wonders, crocodiles, gorgeous birds, howler monkeys in the Sumidero Canyon and the lovely colonial city of San Cristobal. As we visited colorful villages, we were impressed with the dignity and kindness of the different indigenous groups we encountered. Meanwhile, we were all able to purchase directly many of the lovely textiles that make this area so famous. From San Cristobal we delved deeper into the jungle, visiting Palenque, with two most charismatic scholar researchers, Christopher Powell and Alonso Mendes, who made our visit more memorable as they enthusiastically brought to life the still pyramids with their historical background. Then off we went to even more remote jungles, in Frontera Corozal, on the river bank separating Guatemala from Mexico. We visited Bonampak and in early morning we rode river boats to Yachictlan where howling monkeys surrounded and filled our ears with the jungle sounds, adding to the mystic wonder of the site. Karen W led a few of us into a labyrinth where we found a shortcut into the Grand Plaza, a wondrous sight. So many of our Amigos climbed all over the pyramids, without injury and filled with youthful joy exceeding their own physical expectations; I could sense their pride and self-satisfaction through the smiles on their faces. It was invigorating, inspiring and awesome. We were stopped twice by very nice Zapatistas on the road, asking for donations, which we paid, all adding to the adventure. We saw so many natural wonders, so much natural beauty and so many unique and very special indigenous groups and were met everywhere with kindness and appreciation. This trip was truly memorable for many many reasons.

RObina (April 8th, 2010, 14:35 pm)

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Josephine (April 8th, 2010, 08:52 am)

Chiapas is beautiful

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We stopped off in Mexico City to visit the Sunday market, Lagunilla. I love that place - it's such fun to search among the stacks and stalls on all the streets but especially nearest the corner of Reforma and Eje 2 where the antiques are displayed. There are always more treasures than one can afford or at least afford to carry on an airplane these days, so decisions are hard and things always have to be left that you never forget. This trip I found a Gordito pulque pitcher made in Barrio de la Luz prior to the 1950's but I don't know how old it might be. I already have one in my collection, but knowing how rare they are, I had to have this one, too. This Gordito has duplicates on display in the Tucson Museum of Art, the San Antonio Museum of Art and in my own collection as well as being featured in several books. In addition, while in DF, we accidentally walked into an exhibition on the history of pulque in Mexico. I say accidentally because we were really looking for a Starbucks, but it was further down the street and we were happy to find this. Turns out the building with the exhibition had been owned by the founder of the first pulque establishments (pulquerias)and he owned more than 600 on or before the turn of the century (1890's).

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Oaxaca is wonderful and waiting to receive tourists back again. Tourists are visiting but it seems we saw more Europeans than Americans during our week long stay and there is no reason to stay away. If you want a great itinerary, check out the one we used by going to Events and choosing Memories of Past Trips. We'll soon have photos of our rendezvous posted in the photo album of that section, too. The food is great and there are more restaurants than you'll have time to try. The same is true for folk art stores and markets - they are full of all the wonderful things we have come to find, hand embroidered textiles from every village, hand carved wooden alebrijes, amazing tin work, beautiful jewelry in gold and silver, masks from various parts of the state and the list goes on. A purchase of one of our members is pictured here being held by Mary Jane Gagnier, owner of La Mano Magica of Oaxaca. These were from her private collection and made by the now deceased Zapotec brothers and Grand Masters, Delfino and Timoteo Lopez Godinez, who for more than 60 years made these beautiful processional figures from dried flowers.

Joseph (April 7th, 2010, 05:41 am)

Great blog post.

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