The spirit moves through arts of the Huichol

My husband, Dick, and I had had our fill of beaches, bikinis and buffets on a late-January vacation in Puerto Vallarta and needed a break in the routine. So we took a daylong tour to a Huichol Indian settlement northeast of the city. The trip jolted us out of Margaritaville into pre-Columbian civilization.

In El Potrero de la Palmita, at 4,500 feet in the rugged Sierra Madre only a four-hour drive from the glare and glitter of Puerto Vallarta, a group of Huichol -- thought to be descendants of the Aztecs -- live in near isolation as one of the world’s last indigenous populations.

Most live as they have for hundreds of years, with no running water, heat or electricity. They sleep in adobe or thatched straw huts and use the sun for light. Their main links to the modern world are through exquisite yarn paintings and bead art, which they have produced for at least 200 years.

The Huichol (pronounced Wee-chol) number about 25,000. Though some live in cities of Tepic, Puerto Vallarta and Guadalajara, many still live in the Sierra Madre on about 400 ranchos. These small settlements in the north-central Mexican states of Jalisco and Nayarit are mostly inhabited by one or a few extended families. Because their homes are scattered over remote and rugged mountains, the Huichol have been able to hold on to their distinctive language, culture and traditions.

They speak an Aztec-like language called Uto-Aztecan. At the center of their lives is a religion that is more personal than institutional and based on a profound respect for the Earth and gods who they believe protect their crops.

Few modern conveniences

We stumbled into our adventure by accident when browsing in downtown Puerto Vallarta. Dick and I were drawn to a store and gallery where costumed Huichol artisans labored. Beyond their worktables were shelves brimming with hand-beaded iguanas, deer, wolves, turtles and jaguars. Glaring from the walls were ceremonial masks with contorted smiles. We were dazzled and intrigued.

Then we learned that a daylong tour of a Huichol settlement was offered once a week. So the next Thursday, 25 of us mostly sleepy Americans were on a bus that pulled out around 8 a.m.

After a steady climb past sugarcane and pineapple plantations and through craggy pine forests, we arrived at a huge artificial lake surrounded by blue-green mountains. The tallest peaks were nestled in fog and clouds. Lake Agua Milpa was a Shangri-La setting.

Here, our dynamic German guide, Tanja, and her genial accomplice, Santos, a Huichol wearing brightly embroidered white cotton pants and tunic, loaded us into three small motorboats and off we went bouncing across choppy waves. Fifteen wind-whipped minutes later, we reached the rocky shore of El Potrero de la Palmita, where a dozen small boys with dirt-smudged faces greeted us as we were helped off the boats. Although most Huichol settlements are more private and inaccessible, this group has allowed once-a-week tour visits since 1996.

After Tanja and Santos led us up a steep, pebbled dirt path lined with leafy parota and primavera trees and dense brush, we encountered a mara’ akame, or shaman, who needed to cleanse us of evil spirits before we could enter the settlement. He wore the traditional Huichol dress of white elaborately embroidered pants and tunic. I was mesmerized by the symbols on his red-bordered shawl and his wide-brimmed straw hat, festooned with scarlet ribbons, beads and feathers.

To save time, Tanja and Santos suggested a group cleansing, but the shaman wouldn’t hear of it and proceeded to cleanse us individually or in pairs by waving a feathered stick around our bodies while he uttered blessings.

The living conditions at El Potrero de la Palmita were rustic. There were no restrooms or restaurants, telephones or televisions. The luxurious Puerto Vallarta resort we left that morning was a stark contrast to this simple setting, framed by the panoramic stillness of the Sierra Madre.

The Huichol cook on wood-fired stoves and sleep in adobe huts or small thatched huts elevated to keep scorpions and other invaders out. Santos led us into one hut, where a large pot of coarsely cut corn kernels simmered on a black stove. Corn is the major crop and a sacred symbol for the Huichol, who also grow beans, squash, chiles and melon in the mountains and canyons, where microclimates are as diverse as pine forest and tropical jungle.

Animals play an important role in their lives; we saw pigs, dogs, cats, donkeys, roosters and chickens roaming freely. Tanja explained that they wander homeward by evening or are found and brought back by their owners.

She reminded us that visiting the Huichol was a privilege, and we should not photograph the elders because they believe their souls are stolen if their images are captured. We were allowed to snap the lively children, animals, adobe huts and scenic marvels, including a 12-foot-tall candelabra cactus.

Some Huichol children are educated for six years and learn Spanish as a second language. On our tour, we looked through the barred window of a school, where children ate beans, rice and tortillas off compartmentalized foam plates flanked by raw carrots and green chile peppers. I felt silly peeking in at them, but they smiled indulgently. Later we watched as older boys played a ball game in the shadow of a tall flamboyant orange-flowering tree.

After a 90-minute stroll, we reached our final stop: the thatched-roof market tended by Huichol women in brilliantly colored cotton dresses embroidered with ancient symbols. On sale were Huichol creations -- yarn paintings, bead art and jewelry.

From cluttered tables that hid shy toddlers, I selected two large, hand-carved wooden frames, each with an inch of bead embellishments, for $50, and an 8-inch-tall beaded deer with graceful antlers for $45. (The prices, marked on each object, are comparable to those in Puerto Vallarta stores, and the proceeds go to the Huichol.)

We also glanced at beaded hair clips, combs, earrings and bracelets, coin purses, dolls dressed in hand-sewn ceremonial costumes and feathered sticks similar to the one the shaman had held during our purification ceremony.

Huichol art resonates with ancient symbolism, mythology and references to deities or tribal history. Often depicted are Grandfather Fire (Tatewari), Grandmother Growth (Takutsi Nakawe) and Deer Person (Kauyumari).

The artwork is replete with colorful, compelling images -- sometimes induced by the ingestion of peyote -- that represent the Huichols’ complex beliefs about life and death and convey sacred messages from ancestors through common motifs of corn, mountains, God’s eyes, peyote, water, deer, feathers, arrows, eagles, flowers and other entities.

Two hundred years ago the Huichol began producing yarn paintings by rubbing beeswax or pine resin on wooden canvases and affixing colorful yarns in vibrant, elaborate designs. I got lost in mazes of motifs or themes that were simultaneously basic and byzantine, contemporary and ancient. Was I being transported back a few centuries or forward a few light years?

Putting food on the table

The Huichol began selling bead art about 40 years ago to generate income because farming could no longer sustain them. After carving wooden symbols, animals or fish of spiritual significance, they cover the forms with beeswax or pine resin and apply bright seed beads, one by one from a needle, to form dynamic patterns.

I was struck by the strong emotions imbued in the bead animals. Crouching jaguars looked ready to pounce; open-winged eagles appeared serene and all knowing; iguanas perched on sticks seemed alert and poised.

The glass beads, which come from the Czech Republic, are known for their high quality and are similar to those brought here by Jesuit and Franciscan missionaries in the 18th century.

The Huichol, who have no written history, avoided Spanish colonization and Christianity because their population was spread over thousands of mountainous miles. Their remote location has also helped the tribe resist absorption into modern society, despite worldwide interest generated by research done after Norwegian explorer Carl Lumholtz pushed into the Sierra Madre in the 1890s. (Lumholtz, who was searching for the Anasazi, found the Huichol and studied them for years.)

Many of the proud and private Huichol choose to live a rigorous mountain life, resisting the encroachment of mainstream society and modernization. One example is the spinning wheel, introduced in recent decades so that raw wool would no longer have to be woven by hand. Some of the Indians have embraced it; others have used the spinning wheels for firewood.

I could understand the Huichols’ ambivalence. Although I could not live without modern conveniences, I was awed by their artistic abilities and admired their fierce determination to preserve their ancient cultural identity.

Irene Woodbury is a freelance writer in Denver.

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Getting to know an artful people

GETTING THERE:

From LAX, nonstop service to Puerto Vallarta is offered on Aero California and Alaska, and connecting service (change of plane) is on America West, Mexicana, Aeromexico and Continental. Restricted round-trip fares begin at $198.

TELEPHONES:

To call the numbers below from the U.S., dial 011 (the international dialing code), 52 (country code for Mexico), 322 (area code for Puerto Vallarta) and the local number.

WHERE TO BUY:

In Puerto Vallarta, Huichol art is primarily at two Huichol Collection stores in the center of town: 490 Morelos, Colonia Centro, 223-0661; and 732 Paseo Diaz Ordaz, Colonia Centro, 223-2141. Both are open 9 a.m.-10 p.m. daily.

Peyote People, 222 Calle Juarez, Colonia Centro; 222-6268, www.peyotepeople.com. Among the striking yarn paintings and bead art that cover the walls are rare photos of the Indians taken by owner Kevin Simpson. Open 10 a.m.-9 p.m. Mondays-Saturdays; 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Sundays.

HUICHOL TOURS:

The Huichol Collection stores, hotels and travel agencies sell tickets for bus tours and airplane tours to see Huichol settlements.

Harris Tours, 390 Rafael Osuna, Colonia Olimpica, Puerto Vallarta; 222-5373, www.harristours.com. Departures on Thursdays for “The Living Past, Huichol People” tour, 8 a.m.-10:30 p.m.; $62.

Vallarta Adventures, Edificio Marina Golf, Local 13-C, Calle Mastil, Marina Vallarta, Puerto Vallarta; 297-1212, Ext. 25, or from the U.S. (866) 256-2739, www.vallarta-adventures.com. Airplane tours to San Andres Cohamiata, a tribal community on a plateau in the Sierra Madre, provides a glimpse into a large, remote Huichol cultural and ceremonial center. The tour is offered Fridays from December to April; $225 per person.

TO LEARN MORE:

Mexico Tourism Board, 1880 Century Park E., Suite 511, Los Angeles, CA 90067; (800) 44-MEXICO (446-3942) for brochures or (310) 282-9112, www.visit mexico.com.

-- Irene Woodbury