The second part of this trip was to the beautiful state of Oaxaca, this time in the
company of my husband and partner in Bohetnika. I have to mention the great
support he has been, although he does not appear so much in publications or
photos, but he and his passion for Mexico have been a great pillar for Bohetnika
to move forward.
Having mentioned this, I will tell you that we started in Mexico City, where we
rented a car to head south to Oaxaca. Those who have traveled there, will not let
me lie that the views of the landscapes are spectacular. For those of us who love
cactus, this is a Cactus paradise!
Our first appointment was with the artisan Nayelli Lorenzo, from the beautiful
community of San Juan Colorado, a town that borders the state of Oaxaca. She
came in the company of her family and represented a beautiful cooperative of
200 women artisans called Jiñi ñi'u. They are the ones who make beautiful
huipiles in waist loom with impressive figures representative of their community
and that come to life thanks to the natural dyes that they obtain from plants and
flowers of their surroundings. A true work of art!
Do you want to see the process? It is definitely beautiful, basically they use
Do you want to see the process? It is definitely beautiful, basically they use natural ingredients such as Cempasúchitl flower which is famous for being used in the festivities of the Day of the Dead in Mexico, from there you get a beautiful yellow color. There is another herb which they call "The grass of love"and with which they obtain a beautiful purple color. The green is obtained from the fresh indigo and there is another shade of lighter yellow which is obtained from the guava leaf.
One wonderful thing is that this community works with "Coyuche" cotton, which is a light brown cotton typical of Oaxaca, which is commonly found in the coastal area. This cotton is in danger of extinction, so look closely at how the process is a wonderful thing.
People say that a picture is worth a thousand words, here I share some photos provided by our dear Nayelli:
The next day, we had another adventure already planned: a trip for three hours to the beautiful community of San Sebastián Río Hondo to see the process of making garments made with organic cotton. In this beautiful community located in the mountains to the south of Oaxaca, we met Cheo Ramírez and his wife Felipa Ramírez who very kindly took us through the town explaining the whole process. Here, in the same way, they use the "Coyuche" cotton which people from Oaxaca harvest organically, and although they do not yet have a certificate, the whole procedure is very transparent and 100% manual by artisans from these communities. But...check my next post to tell you how they work!