Backstrap Weavers of Santo Tomas Jalieza, Oaxaca

I had a wonderful time in this village of backstrap weavers.  All the weavers I met were women who are native Mexicans.  In Oaxaca about half of the people speak something other than Spanish as a first language--mostly Zapotec and Mixtec, but there are a dozen or more other languages--none of which I will ever speak in the slightest because they are tonal languages, and while I have a good ear for language, I apparently have a terrible ear for the tonal differences when people are speaking.  I discovered that when I was trying to learn a little bit of Thai and found that it was impossible for me to hear the differences, even though the narrator assured me they were there.

When I am with people who speak another language at home than the one we are communicating in, I find that my 4th grade vocabulary in Spanish takes me a lot further.  We are both trying to communicate in a language that is not our own, and we are very forgiving of each other's mistakes.

These women can weave some very complex patterns--the animals and people are things they have undoubtedly been weaving these patterns for literally thousands of years.  It requires them to hand finger where they put the weft as they weave these wonderful patterns.

I spoke with Nicoleta at some length--she told me that she had been weaving for 72 years--she started when she was 6 years old.  She was weaving one of these complex patterns while she talked with me, laughing out loud at me and some of my questions.  When she looked up at me, I noticed that she was blind in one of her eyes--she nodded when I asked her about weaving and her eyesight--she weaves with her hands and she visualizes the pattern in her mind.  It is a sort of motor memory, where she isn't even conscious of what she is doing, even as she does it, and it makes her lack of eyesight less of a problem for her when she is working than it is when she is trying to get home.

She was so talented and funny and friendly and proud of what she makes--I brought home some of her work, but the time I sat with her was the best of all.