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Once we got to the village the women told us about some parts of the process and showed us other parts. Two women made thread from maguey fibers. One of them tied some fiber to a y-shaped stick and then moved back along the path adding fiber at the end of the attached piece. She continued doing this as the second woman pulled back and forth on a rope that caused the attached fiber to twist. The thread is measured in “hugs”, the distance from one hand to the other when you stretch your arms out. There are 80 hugs to a ball of thread. The thread is then dyed using natural items. We saw thread from dyed with ginger, a kind of berry, a type of nut, a type of flower. The women also showed us a loom where they were weaving a bag. This whole process is one which people in this area have been doing for many generations but which was being lost.
We walked back up the path to the pickup getting our exercise for the day. From there we drove to Coban, a city in the northern part of the county, where we spent the night. It was rainy or misty for most of the drive. We said goodbye to Otto as he was leaving early the next morning. Diane’s note….Again this is a group that could use some marketing. The products are beautiful and very time consuming. They make beautiful bags, etc of high quality. It is so difficult for them to sell their product in Guatemala and they don’t know how to import so that presents a real problem. I will attach some photos. I am attaching quite a few because it was a difficult time to get to the group and the maguey process is so interesting. Diane |
