El Museo Viboz

Up till now, our ragtag group of five med students has been doing all of its own exploring.  Yesterday was the first time we went out on one of the activities sponsored by our Spanish school.  I had my reservations, because it was a trip to a museum showcasing classical Guatemalan attire, and weaving isn't really one of my passions, per se.

The girls insisted that we all go, though, and I'm glad that they did.  The museum is actually a house in which the family still produces traditional Guatemalan clothes to this day.  In addition to teaching us about the history and process of the weaving, we were also allowed to try it ourselves.  The girls all had a chance to spin the fabrics together, which was much harder than the owner made it appear.

Since I didn't get to play with the spinning wheel, it fell upon me to work the loom.  This was also much harder than the owner made it appear.  It took me three tries and at least fifteen minutes to get the right settings on the 52 different threads.

Just when I thought my work was done, I found out that I still had to weave the colored threads through the white ones to create the appropriate pattern, which probably took another ten minutes, even with the owner's help.

Ah, the loom: capable of making me feel less competent than I ever thought possible.