San andres is on a relatively flat mesa, and near by is an insanely dramatic drop off like you would see around the Grand Canyon I would imagine, the kind that you take a couple of seconds to reach the bottom if you fell....yikes.
Oak trees and Pine trees at the top of the sierra. I had my GPS with me, and If I remember correctly San Andres sits about 6000 to 6500 ft. in elevation, blessing the nights and days with cool temps. Which is more than could be said of the pueblos sitting lower on the sierra like Jesus Maria, where you are lucky to have a river to cool off due to the hot temps. There the vegetation is more reminiscent of a high desert, with cactus dotting the landscapes.
There is a relatively new paved road from Estacion Ruiz Nayarit, and into Jesus Maria (2 years new) allowing more a faster trip to the Sierra, before then you were looking at at least 2 days to get to San Andres from Est. Ruiz (about 50 miles north from Tepic Nayarit.) Now you only have to Navigate 50 or so miles of steep switchbacks to get to San Andres from Jesus Maria, which is were the paved road ends.
The Wixarika (also known as Huicholes) were very reluctant to adopt the Mestizo culture, and were very resistant to the Spaniards during the colonial period. Given the fact that there were very isolated from civilization, they still speak their native language, and either pick up Spanish when they move to the big cities like Tepic and Puerto Vallarta, or in school, where the govt has made a push to provide elementary education in rural areas. But most children show up only speaking Wixarika, and learn Spanish in school.
One impressive note of the sacrifices that are made by both families and children is that a good number of the enrolled children have to walk up to 8 hours to get to school, and those that do, stay with families or a hostel in town, and only see their families during the weekend.
I will get more detailed hopefully in my blog.
Huichol art is beautiful and symbolic, largely driven by peyote induced rituals and dreams where those dreams are interpreted in their art work.
That cross thing adorned with feathers is used during a "limpia" or i guess a spiritual cleansing done by one who is experienced in the ritual. It is a gift by the old man, whom, along with his wife were extremely thankful that I gave them a ride from Tepic. It was rather nice having their company as I took the opportunity to understand them more and their way of life.
Wow, great, photos! If the landscape was flatter, it would remind me more of rural south Texas, but the yard photos do. The roads, fences, trees, everything!
The artwork by that Huichol family is beautiful, simply amazing! I love the colors! The white, multicolored wardrobe worn by the men are beautiful!
What are those small cross-sticked objects that you can hold in your hand, where one of the men gave you one in front of the camera, in front of the doorway? There is one long stick, and a shorter one, that you make a cross out of, and you wrap yarn of various colors once around each member of the cross, from the center out, like a spiral. I remember making those in grade school and when my Native American nanny gave us all of us things to do. I can't remember the last time I thought about those!
I love the fact that they make things on a human scale, not on a corporation scale. The way things are supposed to be.
When you do your writeup, please tell us about their way of life, culture, language, and beliefs. I believe that the Huichol are among the indigenous Indians in that area who continue to keep their traditions and are resistant to change to a great degree. I can only imagine what it's like to live within their worldview. Did they only speak Wixarika, or that and Español?
This is great!
Stephanie
