Dixza rugs & organic farm: nube room

Immerse yourself in the traditional Zapotec way of life. Join our workshops: rug weaving, natural dyes, Temazcal (sauna), cooking or learning our native Zapotec language. Explore the countryside and surrounding landscape on horseback riding or hiking. You'll stay in a sparate room in the family compound. There is a front porch where we have looms for weaving. Join us for the numerous festivals and authentic traditions all year round in our village! OUR HOME: A family of four: Mario is my Dad, my mom is Leonor, and Celestino also has access to manage this account when I am traveling to showcase our rugs abroad. Please read the description befor asking endless questions that have answers here. I will try to update this description with all your feedback to reflect what we have going and so that you know what to expect. Our house is only 3 small blocks from the center of town. There is a Farmers Market every morning 8:30 to 11:00am which is a great place to get a traditional Zapotec breakfast. Get your favorite freshly made juice, buy some tamales made with native corn and local herbs, tamal de mole negro or tamal amarillo en hoja de milpa. There are several food stands where you can byu food to go or sit there and enjoy breakfast in the market. You'll be staying in our newest rooms specially conditioned to host airbnb guest. The room has large windows, ceiling fan and mosquito screens. We have a big house with a large patio where we keep some livestock (goats, sheep, horses, cows and free range chickens) you are welcome to help feeding them ;-) we are just happy to share our culture and meet people from all over the world, you'll get a chance to live the Zapotec culture, enjoy listening to our native language, going shopping to the local farmers market and joining many of the village festivals and traditions. Zapotec architecture is centered around the household activities, the house is huge and spread around a central patio. There is a separate room for everyone. You are welcome to use the kitchen, we will make a hot drink and offer sweet bread for breakfast. The bathroom (for some) is inconveniently located at the back of the house (blue room) so expect to walk around the patio a lot (good exercise). THINGS TO DO: As part of your stay we will show you how we make our rugs; we grind some cochineal to show you how we get different colours from the bugs, my mom is very good at spinning wool and very patient if you would like to try it, we even teach you the very basics of weaving on the looms if you are up for it. In one of the rooms we have a large gallery with a varied collection of rugs, bags, textiles and other small crafts that my family makes. Feel free to take as much time as you like to do your shopping while you stay with us. We accept cash, card payments, (Hidden by Airbnb) and (Hidden by Airbnb) . You are welcome to join us at parties or festivals in the village if there are any during your stay. My aunts run a shop in front of the local market and every morning ladies meet for shots of Mezcal and other spirits before going to the market for grocery shopping; you are welcome to join in and learn about the many varieties of Mezcal and the way in which it can be drank for fun, healing or spiritual purposes. HIKING: There is a trail that goes to the sacred peak in front of my house (picacho) this is where legend has it that our ancestors first arrived to. The great spirit manifested itself in the great sky in the form of a huge beautiful bird accompanied by the seven pleyades. At the top of this mountain, the great spirit gave all the land that the eye could see to the Zapotec people for them to care and live. This why private property was and it is still  not entirely part of the view of life in Zapotec communities. We recommend doing this hike early in the morning or in the afternoon, it takes 1 hour to reach the top on a steady phase.  There is a 15 peso fee to access the sacred mountain. Tickets are available at the museum, we try to keep a stock of them to make it easier to for you, ask us. WORKSHOPS: Workshops are not included in the airbnb price, this are sold separately. We run them everyday when we have guests. NATURAL DYES. Learn how to dye using cochineal (Dactylopius Coccus) a bug that growns on nopal cacti and that changed the way Europeans saw color and did business in the 16th century. We would also dye with another local and seasonal plant to explain how to achieve color variation and fix the dye. All materials are provided and you get a skein of yarn of every color died. The workshop lasts around 4 hours and the next day we take out the died yarn. It costs 1,500 pesos per person. WEAVING. You get access to a warped loom and materials to weave your very own rug with our coaching. You get 6 hours of coaching per day and all the materials and tools you need to weave. Depending on your weaving skills and the pattern you would like to learn you can make a simple pattern rug in a day or a more detailed pattern in 3 days. The cost is $ (Phone number hidden by Airbnb) pesos per day. Message us for longer and more advanced weaving classes so we can discuss the details and make the arrangements. COOKING. Let us know if you would like to cook a prehispanic Zapotec dish with us. Cook mole from scratch, learn how to make hand made tortillas, sopa de guias (tender squash leaves soup), segueza (prehispanic mole), atole or champurrado. We will discuss the recipes according to the season and dietary requirements. The cost is (Phone number hidden by Airbnb) pesos, all inclusive (ingredients and teaching). HORSEBACK RIDING. My brother Celestino could arrange horse riding sessions for one or more people to explore the country side, ride on  the foothills, enjoy the landscape of agave fields or stop at the local damn where migratory birds arrive. You can tailor your ride according to your interest. 1 to 2 hours ride: $800 pesos per person. 2 to 4 hours ride: $1,500 pesos per person 4 to 6 hours ride: $2,500 pesos per person TEMAZCAL. We can also arrange the traditional Zapotec Temazcal with an experienced lady healer; she has been healing people for over 20 years and is well renowned in the area. The temazcal is a small adobe room which is layered with healing herbs and then steamed from the hot rocks on the fire pit. You entern the temazcal naked (optional) and lay down on the floor. The healer will use a bouquet of herbs and plants to bring the steam on your body, then you will start to get hot and to sweat. You tell her to stop any time and take a break inside or outside of the temazcal. You can go in and out as many times as it pleases you during the session. The idea is that when you crawl out of the Temazcal you are being born again, this time from the womb of mother earth. The family prepares a hot drink made with toasted corn kernels for you to drink after the experience. The temazcal session lasts up to two hours and it costs $700 pesos per person, payable up front. Check availability in advance, we need 24 to 12 hrs advance notice for bookings. No refunds for cancellations done 8 hours in advance due to expenses incurred in prep work and gathering wild plants for the temazcal session. FARMING: If you are interested in native corn farming (milpa) make sure you ask us and bring a learning attitude. At home you won't see much of our farming practices, we only have a tractor and a pen with 28 goats in our family compound. We plant 8 hectares (about 20 acres)  of milpa in 5 plots of land distributed outside of the village. Everyone born in the community has the birthright to a piece of land to build their own home and grow their own food. All the land is in fact communal because the land was given to our community by the great spirit and has remained communal since the founding of our village. Every family has several pieces of land outside the village where they grow the milpa system (corn, beans and squash). We plant corn from mid June to mid July,  in a way that westerners call dry farming, we call it spiritual farming because when we plant corn according to the cloud and rain patterns we establish a direct connection with the heavens. In fact, our village festival takes place between the first and second wednesday of July. We gather to celebrate the planting of the corn and the Feather Dances perform an ancient Ghost Dance to pray for the much needed rain for our milpa, therefore when it rains the rain doesn't only feeds the corn but also our spirit. After planting the corn, we do some weeding around the end of August and after that there is not much happening. We can start gathering wild plants and edible parts of the pumpkin plant throughout the year, including grasshoppers and huitlacoche (corn smut). We harvest some time after day of the dead, in fact we celebrate day of the dead because the corn plant dyes when the rains stop at the end of October. The corn turns from greel to yellow and is left to dry in the fields for about a month . A guideed field trip to our milpa fields cost $250 pesos per person. Ask for availability when you check in. We also have a herd of 65 cows that we graze in the communal territories in the mountains and foothills of the Sierra Madre de Norte in summer and fall. We round up our cows down to the valley to graze in the cornfields during winter and spring. This year due to lack of rain we have been grazing our cows in the lowlands all year round. You are welcome to join a day of herding for $800 pesos per person 10am to 6 pm. We spend the whole day herding the cows in rotational way  around the communal pastures and our cornfields. Herding is a great way to slow down your phase of life and follow the herd while enjoying nature and having a pristine oportunity to observe the local flora and fauna in a peaceful setting. Bring your camera. In the morning we take our goats on a 3 hour adventure in the foothills of the sacred mountain, our two dogs (Botas and Pompis) join in with Dingo, our little australian cattle dog. Our goats know their little routine but we have to make sure they don't cause any trouble to the neighbors. This is an oportunity to apreciate how we have integrated small animals into our daily life to produce highquality meat for the family and the community. The experience costs $150 pesos. With all the work going on we have only a small home garden for growing vegetables, if you are interested in learning how to grow European vegetables we could point you to other permaculture farms in the area. There are several restaurants and places to eat. From award winning restaurants where famous chefs have come to learn about Prehispanic foods to a small front shop restaurants run families. (Read more at the bottom). We accept credit cards for all your purchases during your stay. There are no ATMs in the village, the nearest one is 20 minutes drive away in Tlacolula or el Tule. Where to eat: If you go out of my house and walk two blocks you get to Av. Juarez where most of the restaurants are. Turn right and you will find Restaurant Guelaguetza, a medium sized family owned restaurant offering local dishes at affordable prices. Two blocks down on Av Juarez is Restaurant El Descanso, very clean and beautifully decorated, the food is tasty and the price range is medium. Once and a half blocks from el Descanso is Restaurant Tlamanalli, run by Abigail Mendoza and her sisters. Abigail has been traveling the world to promote Zapotec food and has hosted famous Chefs like Anthony Burdain, Tomasina Miers and Alejandro Ruiz. The food is well made respecting the traditional Zapotec tradition with no short cuts; abigail uses the Metate to grind all her ingredients. A three course meal with drinks would cost around $ (Phone number hidden by Airbnb) pesos, no credit cards are accepted. El Jaguar is a nice and small restaurant down the road from Tlamanalli, it is run by my Cousing Isabel. Just like every other woman in town, she cooks very tasty traditional Zapotec food at affordable prices using local ingredients and ancient recipes. Right next door to Jaguar is Conchita, a small Comedor that serves typical Mexican "street food" and local dishes, she opens until late 10:00pm. Restaurant Tierra Antigua is another well decorated and nice restaurant of the medium scale serving Authentic and delicious Zapotec food at the entrance of town on Av Juarez. Find us on social media (Hidden by Airbnb) :  @dixzarugsorganicfarm @sam_dixza Fan page: dixza rugs & organic farm Youtube channel: dixza Tweet us @dixza Etsy shop: dixza rugs Guests have access to all common areas: kitchen, weaving room, patio, and rooftops. We are happy to help and interact with you as much as you would like during your stay. My brother Celestino and I, both, speak English fluently but my parents only speak a few words and phrases. Although, having said that, my mom has managed to communicate with people from all continents! We are happy to include you in all the daily activities and family socializing if you are interested :-) If you would like to join our family meals we charge a flat rate of $100 pesos per person per meal, eat all you want. Teotitlan del Valle is internationally known for its weavings. There are festivals and celebratiosn all year round and in addition to that we have a beautiful countryside and surrounding mountains. There are three Mezcal factories at the entrance of the Village. From Fancy expensive to authentic less expensive. There is poor mobile coverage in the village, but we have wifi. COFEE HOUSES AND RESTAURANTS: On Avenida Juárez there are all sorts of coffee places and restaurants. Cafe Drupa´s: good coffee! El descanso: clean, tidy, not too expensive. Tlamanally: internationally famous and well renowned Abigail Mendoza and her sisters cook the same food that everyone else cooks in Teotitlán but presenting it in a nice atmosphere and setting. Expensive (around (Phone number hidden by Airbnb) pesos for a full course meal per person). Dulizuún: good food and coffee, not too expensive. El Jaguar: authentic Zapotec food cooked by my cousin in her family home. Nice and not expensive at all. Conchita: typical and tasty Mexican food, not expensive at all. Tierra antigua: nice setting, good food and not too expensive. Here are some directions on how to get to our home: DRIVE OR TAXI HIRE A taxi hire from Oaxaca city will cost around 200 pesos. Once in Teotitlan, to get to my house, you have to drive all the way into center of the village on Av. Juárez; you will pass the restaurant El Descanso (on the left)... keep going straight for two blocks. Turn left on Calle 2 de Abril and drive two blocks down the road... and that's my house. We have a big ivory colored gate with bars. Bienvenidos a casa :-) PUBLIC TRANSPORT There are buses and colectivo taxi (all carmine red and a white stripe) to Teotitlan, but they are a bit unreliable. Here is some guidance: Buses ($10 pesos) and colectivo taxi ($20 pesos) to Teotitlan del Valle leave on the hour (7am to 8pm) from the 2nd class bus station/taxi base (near Central de Abastos) and do stop on marked bus stops all along Periférico ringway. Pro-tip: if you are near the ADO, I recommend going to the bus stop behind the baseball stadium; in this way, you avoid all the traffic in the city!. Buses to Teotitlan del Valle stop around the (Phone number hidden by Airbnb) minutes of every hour on this stop. A faster way is to take a shared taxi towards Tlacolula ($20 pesos) and get off at the village intersection with the highway 190 (in front of a few Mezcal palenques). Cross the bridge and take another shared taxi to the village ($5 pesos). We are marked as "dixza rugs and organic farm" on the online map. We recommend taking a screen shot of the map (or print) because there is poor mobile coverage in the village. Just bear in mind that this is an active farm, there are animals and a tractor. Farm animals do make noise (we have goats and some times horses stay in the patio) so bring earplugs if you are sensitive to this. Our tractor and big truck will could be a bit of a nuisance when we are maintaining it and as we get ready to leave in and out as we go to do farm work. Our farm is not the tidiest of places but we make sure that all guest areas are clean and organised. We offer you an opportunity for a cultural inmmersion into our autonomous community and our traditional way of life, as much as we do tourism we are not here to provide you the comfort you might be used to living in a developed country. So if you are looking for a place to just relax and be an observer there are many good boutique and high end options in the city. If you come with a tolerant and positive attitude you will make your trip an authentic learning experience and we will try to do our best to accomodate for your needs. Traditional Zapotec architecture builds rooms surrounding the patio; each room is an individual building next to each other, whilst this gives plenty of open space and privacy, it also means that the toilet and shower room are at the extreme end of the house.