Out of Town

One day an eagle snatched Jamil from his cradle and devoured the child in the highest branches of a huge tree, leaving its head, a few bones and the tree drenched with blood. It is said that the distraught Casando'o buried the remains at the base of the tree, now the site of Jamiltepec's church and the reason for the town's present name.

Today Jamilepec is the district capital of a region that encompasses all the counties from the Rio Verde to the state border with Guerrero. Despite this administrative importance, the town has retained its charm and indigenous characteristics. It's a colorful, bustling market town; about 60 percent of the population is indigenous. The Indian ladies from the surrounding villages come here for supplies and to sell their produce. You'll see women in traditional dress: huipiles, embroidered blouses and the pozahuanco, the mauve and purple striped wraparound skirt. The men wear calzones, white, draw-string pants and shirts of heavy cotton.

The people of Jamiltepec were called malacateros, for malacates, wood and clay spindles used for spinning cotton. The area was a center for cotton-growing and the town is best known for its textile crafts - - hand woven and embroidered clothing, table clothes, napkins - - but families in Jamiltepec also traditionally produced finely-crafted knives and machetes, some engraved with prayers or amusing sayings.

The town's central plaza, with its kiosk and market stalls, was torn up more than a year ago and the remodeled zócalo will be inaugurated for the Oct. 21 Festival. The pair of colonial sundials atop classical columns will certainly still be there and probably some of the ancient Mixtec stone carvings. To one side of the square is a handsome Dominican church, another is occupied by the Municipal Palace. It also houses the town prison, which allows visitors to enter to buy the crafts made by the inmates to earn a few pesos to make their ordeal a little more tolerable.

(Intrepid souvenir hunters will find attractive colored baskets and knick knacks made from leather, wood, coral and palm fronds.)

You can normally find crafts in the plaza at the side of the church. The no-name crafts store in front of the Biblioteca, the town library has great selection of regional weavings and crafts, including colorful ceramic ashtrays with figures of malacateras. Plus, of course, the malacetes themselves which are also used as hair ornaments.

The store is run by the mother of the charming Lic. Briseida Vargas, who is the county councilperson responsible for health, but she is also active in preserving the traditional crafts and practices by forming artisan cooperatives and and marketing strategies.

Sr. Luis Steck is one of the founders of the Friendship Club (Club de Amistad) which has organized the Chilena Festival for 23 years. He and his wife Eva are proprietors of Restaurant Dany by the zócalo. You can get a decent meal there and Sr. Steck, who speaks excellent English, is a font of information on the area. It was he who told me about the cemetery, whose Greco-Roman-style entrance bears the symbol of a black "O" , bisected with a key. It's a play on words. It means Oh, negro, partido! , a lamentation on death which more or less translates Alas, poor homeboy bought it!

Don Luis' daughter, Daniela Steck Baños has authored a book documenting the history, geography and culture of the Jamiltepec region. (Spanish only but it contains a wealth of data. You can purchase a copy at Restaurant Dany or Daniela's new canta-bar, Cafe Adobe.

Santiago Jamiltepec is about 140 kilometers from Puerto Escondido, so it is a full day trip, but a very satisfying one. There are several interesting stops on the way, including, of course, Tutútepec, for the breath-taking views, its marvelous museum and of course the Fandango de Varitas.

La Doña Restaurant in Santa Rosa de Lima is charming and has guaranteed good food and check out Guido's - leaving San José del Progreso, before the topes at the cattle inspection station. The signs reads Cerveza para Llevar and Cabañas. It has an intriguing collection of historical prints, antique implements, funky sculptures.