Thursday, November 02, 2006

Awesome textile vacation

Back from a wonderful vacation. It was good to get away and it really felt like I was away - far away. The cruise portion was quite standard. If you want more about the ports, etc. check out the personal portion of our webpage - Panama Canal. I had lots of fun seeing the different arts and crafts where ever we went.

Mexico - Cabo (plateware, silver), Alcapulco (a wasteland), Huatalco (embroidery, silver, clothing, wood carving)
Guatemala - the most incredible weaving and embroidery - ladies working on backstrap looms and doing the most incredible work - mostly brocaded weaving, but I did buy a pattern darned blouse. Cotton primarily with some silk. A little wool from the higher reaches.
Costa Rica - more leather and wood craft than textile
Panama - the molas are incredible - quilting and embroidery art
Aruba - (no crafts)
St. Kitts - batik
San Juan - a little bit of everything

Good food in the ports. Barely tolerable food on the cruise ship. Have decided I don't function without decent coffee - fortunately there was some great coffee in Guatemala and Costa Rica and San Juan had a Starbucks.

Off to go through the 2 buckets of mail from the post office....