New for 2008!

• Join us for the 2nd annual Natural Dye Workshop: The History and Use of Natural Dyes in the Americas. In addition to learning about the historic importance of cochineal, this hands-on workshop will show us how to extract, prepare and use dyes from nature, including indigo, cochineal, wildflowers and more. This is a rich cross cultural experience that promises to enrich all participants!
• Tapestry Weaving with the Masters: Zapotec Imagery and Technique. This hands on weaving workshop will review design concepts of balance and color, imagery in nature and Zapotec cosmology, and will provide instruction in innovative weaving techniques.
• The Textile Traditions of Oaxaca: Coast and Valley. This extraordinary journey takes us to off the path indigenous communities on the coast of Oaxaca to learn of the Amuzgo, Coastal Mixtec, Huave, Zapotec of the Isthmus and Valley, unique backstrap and treadle loom weaving traditions. We will learn about the rare and threatened purple Murex dyeing traditions practiced by the Mixtec dyers off the Pacific coast of Oaxaca.
• The Language of Maya Textiles: The Highland Communities of Chiapas. Here we will learn about the symbols and text used in Maya weavings that express the Maya cosmology of the underworld, material world and celestial world. Earth monsters, toads, the four elements, Venus and the Universe are all depicted to tell the story of fertility, life cycles and man/woman's place in the universe. We will also learn how weaving and dress are a cultural passport, identifying the communities where the wearers are from!

• We offer tours to Tabasco and Chiapas to learn of the Olmec and the Classic Maya era. By visiting Palenque, Bonampak, Yaxchilan, Tonina and Chiapa de Corzo we better understand the social/political organization of the Maya during the Classic era.
• We visit the Pre-Classic to Post-Classic sites of Campeche and Yucatan. Here we see the fascinating differences in era, region and architecture between the Peten, Rio Bec, Chenes, Puuc and Late Post Classic era of Chichen-Itza and Mayapan. We visit the great empire of Calakmul and surrounding sites of Balamku, Hormiguero, Chicanna, Becan, Xpujil, Edzna of Campeche and the Puuc region of Yucatan.
• We are currently developing educational tours to Oaxaca to learn about the Zapotec: Past and Present, and to Michoacan and Western Mexico to learn of the great civilizations that inhabited this region of Mexico, such as the Purepecha. Stay tuned for these trips!

Join us to witness one of the true marvels of nature, the winter home of the migrating monarchs! They travel over 3,000 miles each year to the very same location in the high forests of Michoacan. It was not until 1974 that scientists learned of their destination. The local people knew this for years, but now that the word is out, they are protecting these forests for the butterflies. Members of the local community lead tourists into the mountains to see this spectacle of nature; millions of butterflies clustered in trees or flying about, depending on the temperatures and time of your visit. We are going in early March!

Coming Soon!