Bands, bands, bands, and more bands!

摘要

Jaspe is the Guatemalan term for ikat. These inkle-woven bands take advantage of the unique design principles of Guatemalan jaspe fabrics as well as their rich and glorious rainbows of colors. My daughter can see the speedometer from her aisle seat. "It's reading zero," she reports. That makes us laugh, but as we hurtle around another sharp curve, I offer a silent addition to the religious petitions adorning the dashboard-may dios protect not just this bus driver but all the passengers, too! It's Tuesday, market day in Salcaja, a major weaving center in the western highlands of Guatemala. That's where we're headed, bumping over dusty roads in a retired U.S. school bus turned public transport, squashed three to a seat with a lot of local folks who share our destination. We've come to Quetzaltenango, Guatemala, to study Spanish, and I've made it a point to work textiles into my conversational practice at the language school. Salcaja is the place my tutor told me to look for a kind of cloth I'd been admiring: jaspe. Because jaspe is popular for the traditional skirts-called corte-worn daily by indigenous Mayan women, the best quality fabric is found where the Guatemalans shop, not in tourist markets.