March Creative Retreat in Oaxaca

 Village Life & Folk Art Traditions in
Oaxaca Mexico

Friday March 8 - Sunday March 17   2019

10 days / 9 nights

 We'll discover ancient wonders, grand architecture, stunning natural settings, tiny villages, bustling local markets, and special boutique museums on this carefully curated tour. We'll explore the ingredients of sustainable village life including food, clothing, craft, and ritual. Along the way we'll visit with select potters, weavers, carvers, candlemakers, and cooks in their homes and studios. We'll enjoy homecooking and eat at street stands, hipster bistros, and five star restaurants. All this with the lively, multicultural city of Oaxaca as the backdrop. What makes this tour special is that we'll make time every day to stop in our travels and record our impressions of this ancient, magical, and bustling place through journaling, photography, writing or what other creative pursuit you choose to pursue. Slow travel at it's best.

$2,195  (based on double occupancy)

 includes all meals, lodging, transportation, guides &  entrance fees in Oaxaca.  Does not include airfaire, personal shopping, alcohol, & optional tipping.

(Couples and singles both welcome and we can pair you up with a roomate if need be)

Friday March 8th - We'll arrange pick up at the airport and have time to get settled before we gather and get to know each other in the evening at the enchanting Casa Colonial, our book and art filled home away from home. Light dinner

Saturday March 9 -After a lovely home cooked breakfast full of fresh fruits and local dishes we get oriented and explore the city.  Our walk takes us past baroque churches, artisan workshops, small museums and ends at the always lively zocalo.

Sunday March 10 - Up bright and early and off with Pablo to explore one of the longest running farmer's markets in the America's where local  people have come to buy, sell, trade, and socialize for centuries.The market is the heartbeat of the village. Get your fortune read by a canary, try prehispanic drinks, listen to a local band and find yourself the perfect embroidered apron. And we'll visit the recently restored Silver Church, rightly considered a Baroque masterpiece and very much a site of pilgrimage and prayer today . Lunch will be goat barbacoa at a market stall and then we'll head to  the ancient architectural wonder of Mitla where the likes of DH Lawrence and Josef and Annie Albers all found inspiration. Light meal at the Casa upon our return.

Monday March 11th =-We'll head off to visit the prosperous and famous weaving town of Teotitlan where we'll visit with a local family who will show us how they clean, card, spin, dye, and weave rugs of tremendous beauty. This will include a really inspiring demonstration of natural dyes made from plants, animals, and minerals. You'll have a chance to purchase directly from them. (sidenote: I'm always sure I don't need another rug when I enter and I leave wondering how many I can fit in my suitcase.) Afterwards a home cooked meal with the family and visit to the village church where catholic and pre hispanic traditions are practiced side by side.Light dinner at the Casa.

Tuesday March 12th - A day devoted to town life - we'll visit several printmaking collectives, my two favorite small museums, and a carefully curated selection of boutique shopping, delicious local food, a stunning baroque church and time in the always entertaining zocalo make for a perfect urban day. Dinner just down the street from the Casa at NYT reviewed El Criollo where we'll enjoy their ever changing seven course tasting menu.

Wednesday March 13 - A morning outing to the villages with En Via where we learn about microfinance and visit women receiving loans generated directly  from our tourist dollars.  Visit small home based family businesses.  This is our chance to talk parenting, politics,self care and any other topics with women very different from ourselves.  A rare opportunity to catch a glimpse of rural life in Oaxaca. This is often the highlight of the trip for many of us, myself included.  Dinner in town at my favorite hipster restaurant - think wood fired pizza,kombucha,and artisan cocktails with an international crowd.

Thursday March 14th - We'll spend the morning out in the beautiful village of  Etla visiting their papermaking factory and restored textile mill.  Lunch with a local artist and activist in her hillside home where we'll learn about art and social change in Oaxaca.  The afternoon takes us to the home studio of a potter who is both an innovator, a feminist, and deeply grounded in her village beliefs and stories.  Dinner on your own or dine at the Casa.

Friday March 15th -Our final day of folk art finds us out in the famous black pottery town where we'll visit with a very talented family of potters.  We'll see the whole process from handling the clay to final firing and burnishing - essentially exactly as their ancestors did 1,500 years ago. And a visit to the Folk Art Museum. Lucky us we'll be there for the final day of their show featuring images of the Guadaloupe by a variety of Mexican textile artists. On our way back we'll stop in a town famous for carving and painting mythical animals including many used for the movie Coco. Evening on your own or enjoy dinner at the Casa.

Saturday March 16th - a free day where we can arrange cooking class, horseback riding, massage, or use the time for last minute shopping and exploring.  Late afternoon put on your party clothes and we'll gather for a magnificent final fiesta in the outdoor gardens of the casa.

Sunday March 17th - Happy St Patrick's Day & on your way home or to your next destination feeling deeply inspired and with renewed faith in humanity.  Seriously this tour can do that for you.

ABOUT ME

I first traveled to Mexico & Guatemala in 1979 on a wanderlust/walkabout during my college years. Since then I've concentrated my travels on the Yucatan Peninsula, Chiapas & Oaxaca and have been organizing tours to Oaxaca since 2011. I like gathering together and traveling with packs of inquisitive and engaged, creative people. I like putting our tourist dollars directly into the hands of local people. I like taking it slow. I like going deep and wide. Good food is important. I like seeing what happens when people from different parts of the world encounter one another. I like being part of a bridge between my country and our neighbors to the south.My areas of special interest are early Dominican Churches (the older the better), traditional artisans with an emphasis on textiles, and food and sustainability.  I have recently retired from my 25 year career as a florist and owner of an award winning retail store and can now be found watering plants, birdwatching, swimming and making art in Eugene, Oregon when I am not obsessing about all things Mexico. 

Trip Details -

$2,195 includes pretty much everything (lodging, transportation, meals, guides, entrance fees, etc) Not included is airfare, personal shopping, alcohol, laundry, and tipping, which is totally optional but recommended. All deposits and payments are non refundable so we ask that you be committed to this trip and recommend trip insurance.  Single supplement is additonal $395  Email me or use the contact form to the right of the blog for additional information about deposits and further details and questions you might have -  jewel.murphy@gmail.com