Coyomeapan is located in he Sierra Negra of Puebla on the east side of the valley of Tehuacan. The first trip in 2003 was just a lark. The maps I had didn’t show any road leading to the town, a clear sign that it was a indigenous village. To my surprise there was a new road under construction and was almost finish. Immediately, I realized that there would be costume there. After a visit to the center of town where many of the merchants told me that there was no one that wore a costume anymore. Not seeing any of immediate interest, I starting driving out town, then up on the hill side I saw a woman obviously in a traditional costume. Ya know my eye is much attuned to that sort of thing. While I waited for her to come down the slope, I drank a soda and spoke with the store owner. When the woman arrive she didn’t speak Spanish, but with the storekeepers help we ask if I could take her picture. She refused. The store keeper then took me around to a number of houses where I was at least able to shoot a blouse that was very worn, but still a bird in the hand no mater how old the bird is.

The return trip was more successful, In the market there were a number of women selling that had the blouse on, one of the was willing to stand for a picture and then went how and sold me one of the blouses she had made. The stitches are very fine as you can see in the picture on the bottom left. The people that still use costume wear a blue skirt with a red sendero ( belt) the blouse and a reboso.