This afternoon we visit Ixoq Ajkeem (Woman Weaver) in San Juan de La Laguna, a co-operative of Maya women who create cotton garments from scratch.  They use the profits to help put their children through school, an essential requirement when joining the group.

They were extremely friendly and before serving us a traditional meal of Pepián, demonstrated the process involved in making the cloth used in their finished products.

I have added the steps involved as captions on the following photos:

We had a go at several of the steps and got a real appreciation for how hard many of them were, especially the ones that we did for about a minute that the women do for over six hours.  Looking through the garments they created was spellbinding as we realised how much time had gone into making them.

One point that fascinated us all concerned one of the dyes: Logwood Tree.  It turns the cotton a pale blue.  However, when the dye is collected on the night of a full moon, it produces a much stronger colour.

Amazing from start to finish – wonderful women using traditional techniques to create unique clothing and helping their children at the same time.

Many dye ingredients need grinding into a powder before they can be used