Twistedspinster

Oh, well...

It seems as I´ve added insult to injury, because I wasn´t supposed to spill the beans. Mea culpa, mea culpa maxima.

Ok, ok. I´m still pulling for the camera to return, hope yáll are too. hmmm. Mexican keyboard again.

Deep breath. Hope Bjo forgives me sooner than later...

We´ve been taking a dye class each morning, and each afternoon is spent with the weavers. Oh, how cute Lucia is... about = this tall, and such joy in her. I feel like I´ve done this in a previous life, or maybe it´s just having done some Navajo tapestry once or twice. Plus, knowing counted cross stitch is a help, because it´s all very mathematical in its progression. Don´t get me wrong, you don´t need to know math, except that if you do ¨this¨ in one row, you do ¨this¨ in the next row to make the right thing happen. One up, one over type of stuff.

The dye class has been good, and I have lots of video to show. The only dye I´m unfamiliar with is chaouk, a wild tagetes (marigold), which gives the usual yellow. We´re also doing indigo and cochineal. It´s fun to see her setup and the way she´s organized things. It *will* have an impact on the next Dye Retreat.

Ok, and Chip Morris is a real treasure. So many stories, and so interesting. He says he knows where we can get some spindles, and he has some in his basement if they´re not there. I gotta tell you, though, the spindles I´ve seen the modern Mayans use aren´t anything to write home about. They´re pretty rough and primitive, but then, that´s what makes them interesting, isn´t it. I´ll do my best. If the spindles at Chip´s are like the ones in his mobiles, they´re commercial anyway.

The costumes are the most impressive. Each village is about 10 miles away from another, and light years away at the same time. Each one is the center of the world, too, by the way. Chip says that there is about a 6 month turnaround in fashion, meaning that they have to have a new outfit. It goes from blues to greens, to reds, etc. But at the same time, each is still identifiable as being THAT village because the shape and construction are the same.

I get a kick out of the Chamula women - their skirts are dyed black wool (a sour earth recipe - gotta research that more!), then woven, fulled, and combed to look shaggy. Que cheda! (how cool!)

And there´s a distinct similarity in construction with the East Asian sarongs. They´re a sewn tube, which is pleated and held in place by a belt.

Let´s see, what else to write. Hotel Paraiso is very cool, very colorful, very small rooms, and very cold. The restaurant is very good, the best in town.

We had to move out because of a prior booking... argh. The name is something like Hotel Parado, which translates to Hotel Hotel. Or so says Josh, our guide, but then he´s got a sense of humor that almost equals me and Bjo.

I´m running out of things to say, getting hungry for supper. Oh, the chocolativo at the hotel is just plain ... heavenly, if you don´t mind the pun. (Hotel Paraiso, get it?)

OK, now I´m just getting goofy. Chocolativo will cure that, for sure.

Ruth

posted by Ruth S. @ 4:39 PM