A craft pilgrimage, dyeing with bugs, and a thimbleful of mezcal

Teotitlán del Valle, Oaxaca, Mexico

For all its new hotels, galleries and trendy mezcalerias, the brightly colored, culture-rich town of Oaxaca still fosters an undeniable connection to its centuries-old traditions of handcraft and food. Sprawling markets and shops are full of beautifully embroidered huipiles, painted folk art, traditional black pottery and hand-woven textiles. Perhaps nowhere is this connection to the old ways more visible and intact than Teotitlán del Valle, a small indigenous village about 45 minutes away, providing an opportunity to dive deeper into the longstanding Zapotec weaving tradition the region is known for. Nestled into the foothills of the Sierra Mountains, you can sometimes hear and feel the thrum of the loom from the street, as the Zapotec tradition of weaving continues in much the same way it has for hundreds of years: on hand-built wooden floor looms in family homes with wool cleaned in the river and dyed naturally with plants and insects harvested from the surrounding land.