Our bus arrived at 10 AM and took us to a small town outside of Tule called Tlalixtac (don't ask me how to pronounce that one!). In the state of Oaxaca each city has a particular craft that most of the residents work at. This town actually has two -- rug weaving and Mescal production. The rugs are all hand woven on looms that are as big as the largest rugs. They also produce their own yarn from wool from another town. They demonstrated carding the wool then twisting it into yarn. They also use organic materials to dye the wool. The red dye is made from a parasite that grows on cactus. This bug, when dried and crushed makes a red powder. They can add acid (lime) or alkaline (baking soda) to it to change it from red to orange to purple. They also use moss (green), bark (browns) and a flower that adds a dark blue. They wash the wool with a special root that removes the lanolin and then boil it in the dye. The colors are fantastic!!
Our second stop was at a home where they make Mescal -- a form of Tequila only this has a worm in the bottle. Mescal is made from the heart of the Agave plant. They cut off the leaves, divided the heart and then roast it in a huge underground oven. It is then crushed under a large stone wheel pulled by a donkey. It is then boiled and distilled into Mescal. At the tasting, one in our group swallowed the worm whole and another chewed it. They also flavor the Mescal so that women will drink it.
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