THE MIXTEC CALL themselves the Ñuu Savi which means the "people of the clouds". They live primarily in the State of Oaxaca, divided into the Mixteca Alta (above1700 meters) and Mixteca Baja and Coastal Mixteca.

A good place to begin exploring the Mixtec region is San Pedro Tutútepec, now known as Villa Tutútepec de Melchor Ocampo, it lies eight kilometers off the Coastal Highway, perched atop a cluster of foothills rich in lush vegetation. According to interpretation of surviving Mixtec codices, on April 3, 357 AD, the king of Tilantongo sent Prince Matatzín to lead 20,000 families, the high priest of Achiutla and 50 other priests to colonize the rich lands and trading routes of the coastal plains.

The place they chose they called Yucu Saa (Hill - yucu, of the Birds - saá), named for the pyramid-like peak covered with seabirds that they encountered. Matatzín found this to be a propitious sign and, when they had climbed to the summit, they were awed by the view: the wetlands of Chacahua; the great Pacific; the green plains and the mountains beyond Pochutla and Juquila.

This ancient town which was never totally subjugated by the Aztecs has a museum to house the relics of this ancient zone. The great stone carvings that were on the grounds of the town church - - once the site of the Mixtec Temple of the Sky - - plus samples of tools, weapons and ceramics that span the centuries can be seen here.

Santiago Jamiltepec is another ancient Mixtec settlement whose history is very closely linked to that of Tutútepec. It was originally called Casando'o, for the warrior chief who helped spread Tutútepec dominion over 200 km of the coastal region, from Ometepec to Huatulco. According to the legends, Casando'o settled down, married and had a son he named Jamil.

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.

It's a colorful and bustling Mixtec market town, about 60 percent of its population is indigenous, and the Indian ladies from the surrounding areas come here to sell their produce. It boasts a fine Dominican church and a pair of colonial sundials and some ancient carved stone artifacts in its zócalo, which is currently undergoing a major reconstruction. A new municipal market has opened up on a hill on the outskirts of the town.

The people of the town were known as malacateros for the wood and clay spindles made here for spinning cotton. Here we begin to see women in their traditional dress: huipils, embroidered blouses and the pozahuanco, the mauve and purple stripes wraparound skirt. Since the area is a center for cotton-growing, weaving and textile crafts predominate, but you'll also find leather goods and finely-crafted knives and machetes.

(The adventurous might want to visit the town prison, located in the government building on the zócalo, where inmates sell colorful baskets and all manner of goods made from leather, wood, coral and palm fronds to earn a few pesos to make their ordeal a little more tolerable.)

Santiago Jamiltepec is about 140 kilometers from Puerto Escondido on the coast Highway towards Acapulco.

Santa Catarina Mechoacan specializes in the manufacture of wood and woven-string chairs, tables and other furniture, common in many of our local homes and restaurants. It's an attractive, well-tended town. Don't be surprised to see women of a certain age unabashedly topless in and around their homes and the furniture workshops. Among the Mixtec of the coast, once a women is beyond child-bearing years, this is her right. She may cover herself with a shawl, should she choose. In many of these towns local priests have made it a point to end this practice, but in Mechoacan, the abuelitas still let it all hang out.

You can often see these grandmothers in the market at Jamiltepec, a hollowed gourd perched on their heads.

Huazpala, or San Andres Huazpaltepec, lies more or less midway between Jamiltepec and Pinotepa Nacional, a predominately indigenous town. as well as the local Mixtec people, the Amuzgos and other cultures. Huaxpala celebrates its annual fair Aug. 5 and 6.

Huazolo or Santa María Huazolotitlan is just 4 km from Huazpala, located in a lovely verdant valley. Huazolo is picturesque and notable for the production of elaborate woven huipils and carved and painted wooden masks and figurines, many of which are still used in the traditional dances of the region. The town is also known for its delicious sweet egg bread, much prized throughout the region. If you would like to see some of these treasures, just ask some of the locals when you arrive and they will take you one of the workshop-tiendas.

Pinotepa Nacional is a busy and seemingly prosperous city, the commercial hub of this part of the coast. More locally fashioned crafts can be found in the markets and at stalls on the zocalo. This is where to stay if you plan on venturing further into Mixtec country. (There are some decent hotels, but I have yet to discover a really good restaurant in Pino. Anyone?)

Just a few miles out of Pinotepa, you'll find the turnoff to Pinotepa de Don Luis and San Juan Colorado. There is a fork which will take you on to Cacahuatepec and the Amuzgo country, but we'll leave that for another issue.

The road gently rises through fertile foothills, passing through the pleasant villages of Tlacamama and San Pedro Jicayan, noted for its pottery, although nobody could could show me examples when I last passed through the town.

Pinotepa de Don Luis and San Juan Colorado are both important centers of the textile arts. P. D. L. is home to some of the few people who still produce the purple dye favored by the Mixtec women for their pozahuancos, the striped wrap-around skirts seen throughout the region. The dye is prepared from the purpura patula pansa, a species of sea-snail, picked off the rocks of our coastline at low tide during the winter months.

When the dyers squeeze or blow on the these molluscs, they give off a foamy secretion which is rubbed onto a skein of cotton. Although it is initially colorless, contact with the air turns it yellow, green, and ultimately purple. The snails are put back on the rocks after this process, which explains why this resource has not been exhausted after so many centuries.

Shell-dyed purple cotton is combined with indigo-blue cotton and red silk, preferably dyed with cochineal, made from the tiny dactylopius coccus, a mite that feeds on the nopal cactus, for these highly valued pozahuancos.

There are groups of weavers, dyers and embroiderers in these towns who have banded together to produce high quality fabrics and clothing using the traditional methods, including the back-strap loom. Some cultivate the native brown cotton and all of them are committed to preserving the tradition techiques refined by their ancestors.

But if you walk around the little market in Pinotepa de Don Luis, along with huipiles, blouses and skirts, you will find these fabrics fashioned into such items as caps, bags, wallets, even sandals.

To me this is another example of how the indigenous peoples of Oaxaca have been able to conserve their culture, their practices and their common identity. It s through adaptation. They realized centuries ago that, in order to survive as a people, they had to adapt their beliefs and practices to the forces intent on destroying them, be it adopting a Catholic saint and attributing to it the characteristics of a traditional deity, or in this case, adapting their crafts to the opportunities of the changing market place.

They are producing goods for people who might not want to wear a huipil, but they are producing and doing it their way.

If you go: Keep in mind that you are a stranger in these parts. Villagers will be suspicious of your motives, until they know why you are there. Let them know you are looking for traditional crafts and it helps to present yourself at the municipal building, where someone might be found to act as a guide.