The State of Chiapas - Amatenango del Valle

In 2008, I traveled to Chiapas with no expectations other then to see another part of Mexico.  Wow, was
I amazed and delighted.  It was nothing like I expected.

Somewhere over the years I had found a book published by Telmex on Chiapas.  I had perused it with
every intent to read it from cover to cover.  Never happened - still hasn't!  I did however throw it into my stuff when leaving town and had made a couple of notes from photos of places I definitely wanted to see
based on our proposed itinerary.

One of the places not on our itinerary, but that I wanted to go for sure, was Amatenango del Valle, a Tzotzil village of women potters.

So, one day I walked down the street in San Cristobal, found a travel agency, walked in and found a guide.

It IS that simple.  Hired him for the day with the destination being the village of women potters.  As luck would have it, he knew the women quite well and off we went.

In about 45 minutes, after riding through and by exquisite, verdant green fields of corn and other crops, we
arrived at the home of the grand dame of pottery and her family.  We were invited into their home and their courtyard where they were potting and painting.

I immediately recognized the woman in front of me as the woman in the book.  I pulled it out, shared it with her, asked her to sign it.  She had never seen a photo of herself.  A friend was made.

Here are some of the photos from that glorious day of discovery.

 This woman was the elder of the community.  She never stopped her work to talk with us or to look at the book on Chiapas.  I presume her huipile (blouse) is the one that designates their village as it is on the girl in the photo as well.

 With a teeny tiny brush, this young woman was painting her ancient symbolism on this pot. Of course all this pottery can be purchased in San Cristobal, but I've always enjoyed purchasing from the artesan themselves rather then from a store or market.

 Here is Simona Gomez Lopez seeing her photo for the first time in the book.  I so, so wish I had asked her to write her Tzotzil name instead of her Mexican name!  Notice the head coverings.  I asked the guide where the style came from as I had not seen this in other places.  He said the Moors brought it to Spain.  There are many examples of Moorish architecture, particularly in Chiapa de Corzo.  Imagine!  Stone instruments from
around 7000BC have been found in this village!

 Huipiles hanging on the clothesline - oh my,   I so wanted to buy one to return with to San Miguel.  I think, yes I think, she said $150USD.  I am probably wrong and missed out on an opportunity to own a treasure.
I politely declined.

Above is the page from the book with Simona and a photo of the village.  I believe if you click on it it will enlarge and you can read the copy.

The photo of the guide, whose name I don't remember and one of the women was something I didn't even realize I had caught until I got home and had the film developed.  Yes, this was from an old film camera.
The photos stills makes me chuckle out loud. The look on the woman's face of him holding the broom is priceless.

  I literally carried those two rooster all the way from Chiapas to San Miguel on my lap to prevent them from getting broken. I still have them in the garden! Aaaah, the heart and mind of a folkart collector. 

  My memories of Amatenango del Valle.  If you go back to the entries in 2008, I wrote about it then as well.