Momostenago

Today, three of us students took a little excursion up into the mountains to a town called Momostenango, which is known for it’s weaving, primarily blankets. We were accompanied by a delightfully friendly lady from a village outside of Momos (as the locals call it). She rode the bus all the way in to Xela to get us and help us find her family’s artisan workshop.
The enterprise is solely family, Telma and Luis (she made a joke about that) and their six children, living in an adobe house on the side of a hill in a beautifully woodsy valley. At their shop, which is open air, we got a lesson in how the wool is sheared, brought in for carding and spinning into yarn,
and the various dyes they make from bark, stone and plants to color it -
all natural ingredients. It was fascinating, and we were all given the opportunity to try our hands at spinning and actually weaving part of a rug……. Very fun. Of course, as might be expected, after this we were given the opportunity to purchase some of their wares, but that was okay because they were beautiful blankets, scarves, shawls, and rugs.

After we did varying amounts of damage to our wallets (don’t worry Mary, I restrained myself), we were treated to some freshly made tortillas with fresh cheese and salsa, along with herb tea, right there in their kitchen with a wood fire pit for cooking. It was hospitality like you wouldn’t believe, and a fun day to boot.


It was made all the more exciting by the chicken bus ride up and down the mountain. Chicken buses are a standard mode of transport here. They are old school buses from the US, repainted and decorated, and they ply the highways and byways of Guatemala driven by maniacs and
madmen. They are almost always loaded to capacity, often with three people to a seat and many standing. (If you remember school bus seats, you’ll know that these things were not designed for gringos with long legs.) Chicken bus technique includes swerving back and forth across the road to avoid potholes, which on this curvy mountain road made the trip all the more thrilling. For short distances, it’s kind of an adventure, but it’s possible to travel to your destination for hours on end in a chicken bus…… I think I’ll stick with shuttles and vans.



Mr. Chicken Bus Driver