Guatemala

The rainbow certainly found its color in Guatemala. Being a former weaver, I point my travel compass to countries where textiles play an important role in the culture. On an everyday basis, the people wear beautifully hand-woven clothing in brilliant, rich colors. Buildings look like rainbows touching the sidewalks, and people dress like they are going to a festival on their way to the fields.

Color can draw attention to even the most ordinary things like the woven braids women wear in their hair. A family wanted to share their weaving loom with me, after I showed them photos of my own loom back home. The mother and two daughters offered to wrap my hair in a six-foot-long woven braid. Not wanting to undo their masterpiece I gave them 35 quetzals, about five US dollars. I wore my journey of color everyday while in Guatemala.