WOVEN POETRY OF THE MAYA
EXPLORING MAYA TEXTILES OF GUATEMALA & CHIAPAS
STARTS: Guatemala City, Guatemala
ENDS: Tuxtla Gutierrez, Chiapas
DATES: December 1-15, 2025
DURATION: 14 Nights / 15 Days
PRICES INCLUDE TAXES AND ARE BASED ON COST SHARING. IF YOU WOULD LIKE A PRIVATE ROOM FOR 1, THE EXTRA COST IS $13,850 MXN. PLEASE REQUEST A ROOMMATE, AND WE WILL TRY TO MATCH YOU WITH SOMEONE TO AVOID THIS EXTRA EXPENSE.
PRICE FOR 6 GUESTS: 96,000 MXN Ea (Approx $5100 USD / $6900 CAD)
PRICE FOR 8 GUESTS: $80,000 MXN Ea (Approx $4250 USD / $5800 CAD)
PRICE FOR 10 GUESTS: $72,000 MXN Ea (Approx $3800 USD / $5200 CAD)
PRICE FOR 12 GUESTS: $64,000 MXN Ea (Approx $3400 USD / $4600 CAD)
INCLUSIONS: All taxes, breakfasts, private transportation, bilingual guided services with a Licensed National Guide, an experienced art dealer with background in indigenous arts & narratives. All entrance fees and activities are included, unless otherwise noted. Tips for luggage handlers and hotel staff are included. Tips for your team leaders are discretionary and appreciated.
Hotels are based on double occupancy, but we will try our best to match you with a roommate if you are travelling solo. In some cases, this may not be possible, depending on the room configurations. We will confirm the price for everyone before accepting deposits.
Would you like a detailed itinerary? Please email Jennifer at coppermoontravels@protonmail.com. We have stopped posting our itineraries in detail due to an issue we had involving someone from abroad who promoted one of our tours as their own. In order to keep our guests safe from online scams, we ask that you please contact us directly.
CURRENCY CONVERTER
TRIP OVERVIEW
Chac-Chel is the Maya Goddess of weaving, among other things...
Weaving among the Maya is an ancient art form that predates the arrival of the Spanish. Though the weaving has evolved since contact, many of the designs woven into Maya huipils today were ornamenting ceremonial clothing well over one thousand years ago. Though romantic interpretations credit a young beautiful woman with perky breasts named Ix-Chel to be the goddess of weaving, it was actually the goddess Chac-Chel pictured in the ancient Maya codices - an elderly woman of wisdom, depicted with sagging breasts and nipples pointing downward, who ruled the loom, weaving, divination, floods, creation and more...
and the back-strap loom an object of femininity representing the womb...
Scholars of today credit Ixchel as the goddess who gifted the back-strap loom to women, but as her name does not appear in any of the codices, it makes sense that it was Chac-Chel who was responsible. Back strap looms are anchored around a woman's waist, with the garment laid out before her, in much the same way the womb is positioned. The weaving process is correlated with the nurturing of a baby, with the woman responsible for creation. The thread that serves as the weft symbolizes the umbilical cord, with the loom itself representing and behaving as a womb, for it holds the garment that will eventually will be released. While men do weave in some cultures, the back strap loom is solely synonymous with women...
The woven textiles of the Maya are part of community identity...
In ancient times, Maya women who married outside of their villages adopted the clothing of their husbands. In modern times, some Maya women in Guatemala stopped wearing their huipils for fear of retribution during the civil war. The concept that clothing identifies one with their village is specific to the Maya, as there are no pan-Maya styles that blur the lines on group affiliation. We will be exploring various styles and learning to identify them throughout our journey...
and have offered economic stability for Maya women for decades...
During the civil war in Guatemala, textiles played a major role for women who desperately needed income. Gender roles changed alongside necessity, for many Maya men were murdered or disappeared during the war, forcing women to take on the tasks traditionally doled out to men. This role-change is documented in the textiles of Nebaj, where depictions of women in sombreros appear on garments that are absent of any male characters. Nebaj was known as "The Village of Widows" due to the horrors of the war, and this story quietly emerges in their weaving. For many men who did return, untreated PTSD resulted in domestic violence and alcohol abuse, leaving many women without any other choice besides separating and establishing themselves independently from their male counterparts. There are many narratives around Maya textiles and trauma that will arise during our travels, including a morning spent with an important organization called Trauma Textiles, where the local Maya women will teach us how to weave a small project...
Natural dyes can be affected by the tides pull of a full moon..
When we put our itinerary together, it was happenstance that we would end up in San Juan la Laguna on a full moon, but this prompted us to approach the women's collective about organizing a dye workshop! It is an amazing science that rendering the deepest, darkest indigo pigments from the anil plant is only possible when the harvest takes place on a full moon. At other times of the month, the colour harvested from anil is a pale shade of blue. This sure gives new meaning to the "Harvest Moon" tropes that have lost meaning in a modern world that isn't connected to the seasons or the moon cycle today...
and we will have the chance to learn how raw cotton is processed...
While we are in San Juan la Laguna, we will also have a chance to learn how raw cotton is processed. The collective we are visiting has reclaimed the ancient back-strap loom from the harvesting of cotton to natural dyes and the weaving of traditional garments. Also important is the fact that their textiles today are syncretic, as they represent symbols from the ancient Maya and the calendar dates of June, leading up to the celebration of their patron St. John the Baptist on June 24th. The textiles of the Maya civilization continue to evolve with the culture of the people, for they remain an integral expression of everyday life...
Most of our days will be full, with several hotel changes along our path..
Forging a path from Antique to Chiapas means quality experiences are stretched across a significant distance. We will stay in 8 different hotels over 15 nights, with all activities planned for the day time so guests can rest after dinner each evening. Most of our days will begin with breakfast at 8 AM, though we have one day that will start at 7 AM, for our border crossing. We will have private transportation for the duration of the tour, but guests will need to walk across the border (about 5 mins walk). We will hire a mule to take our luggage across the border while we are getting our paperwork processed, so guests do not need to worry about shlepping luggage up or down any hills. We will make this a fluid and seamless experience, crowned with a turquoise waterfall at the end...
and the reward is exploring a plethora of villages celebrating unique styles...
We are going to visit 15 unique textiles villages and 2 major textile markets where one can see huipils from dozens of towns. By the time this tour concludes, we would like for you to be able to identify various weaving techniques that are employed for different applications, such as brocade vs discontinuous weave, etc. We will also dissect the parts of the back strap loom to understand how it works, and you will have a small loom of your own, to experiment with along the way. We hope you anticipate an educational journey that will put you in close contact with the heirs of this timeless skill, and will consider this one of the most culturally extensive and exploratory experiences of a lifetime.
This trip is accessible from anywhere in the world...
Please arrive in the Guatemala City airport and let us know if you need help getting to Antiqua. Our tour will end in San Cristóbal de las Casas, so we will arrange transportation to the airport in Tuxtla Gutierrez, Chiapas...
We also recommend arriving early and leaving late if it's your first time....
The colonial cities of Antigua and San Cristóbal de las Casas are extraordinarily special and deserve exploring. We have not included them in our itinerary, as they are both easy to access and can be explored without a guided tour...
Let us know if you would like to visit the ancient Maya city of Copan...
We already have one guest who is interested in arriving 3 nights early in order to visit the ancient cities of Quiroga and Copan. We will spend our first night in Guatemala City. On day 2, we will visit Quiroga then commute to Copan, which is located in Honduras. On day 3, we will visit the ancient ruins of Copan and explore the town. On day 4, we will commute to Antigua to meet the rest of our group. Day 4 of this option marks Day 1 for our textile tour...
QUESTIONS?
Please do not hesitate to contact Jennifer if you have any questions or would like to schedule this tour at a different time for a private group.
Email: coppermoontravels@protonmail.com
WhatsApp: +52 443 639 2782 (Please text first)
