We made up our mind one day to drive out of Vallarta, stay away from the daily routine and find out more about the region we live in.We didn’t want to take a boat ride –we’d done it before. So, we decided to cross the bridge and visit the neighboring Nayarit state to delve deeper into such an interesting culture as the Huichol.

We departed at 7:00 am, but since our desires were much stronger than our drowsiness, we headed happily for Compostela, though we were supposed to make a little stop to have breakfast and fill up on moxie. We arrived in Compostela and took a stroll around the local square, its very colonial streets. The city’s genuine flavor reminded me of Cuba’s Cienfuegos.We visited the Museum of the Region to watch the zone’s archeological ruins.

Compostela was founded in 1530 by Nuño Beltran de Guzman under the name of Village of the New Galicia Spirit. In 1532, it was renamed Santiago de Compostela, and in 1540 Cristobal de Oñate called it just Compostela –the municipality’s current name. In the early 60s, the federal road of Tepic-Puerto Vallarta was paved, thus hooking up the municipality with the Valle de Banderas location. We drove on to the town of Francisco y Madero, our destination, and we had a guest of honor in tow: Santos, a Huichol native who during the trip spelled out many things about their mother tongue, their traditions, the symbology of their garments and jewelry, about the different lifestyle we were about to see–neither better nor worse, but a different one with values and priorities of its own.

We got to Nuevo Valey, a colony inhabited by the Huichol families we were going to visit.The first thing that met the eye was a couple of little kids running and frolicking around.That sight captivated us all. Santos led us to the shrine gate and we were “cleansed” before walking in the temple in order to leave all our bad vibes outside. Once inside the shrine, we were explained part of the creeds while groups of men and women danced for us to the beat of their own singing. We respectfully walked out of the shrine and took a glimpse at a set of small tables where women were taking care of jewels and embroideries they themselves were making. All those lovely designs with natural symbols tacked on them brought up a compulsive shopping binge in me.

We saw them off taking a bunch of children’s happy and lit-up faces with us, with the colorful robes that men and women wear, and their loving tenderness in our hearts. Back in Puerto Vallarta, we knew we’d learned the great lesson of respect to other civilizations.We found out that happiness is not always our way and that the more you know the more tolerant you become.That day was worth the trip because those are the lessons that stay on your mind for forever more.

HUICHOLES

The Huichol region is perched on the backbone of the Sierra Madre Occidental, in the state of Jalisco. The Huichol group hails from the Nahualt, one of Mexico’s human settlements that have best preserved their cultural values and traditions due to the state of isolation they have lived in.The Spanish conquest forced them to fall back on the tablelands and the gorges of the Sierra Occidental’s mountains. Music and dancing among the Huichol people are marked by strong pre-Hispanic roots and are part of the rituals observed to pay tribute to divinity.

Of all ethnic groups that have lived out in Mexico to date, no other settlement boasts traditions as pure as the Huichol people, nor garments as gaudy of theirs. All the designs of their clothing are inspired in nature: two-headed eagles, deer, squirrels, snakes –the symbol of water- and the eight-petal water lily, a great symbolic piece within their own mystical conceptions. Men and women wear jewelry made of chaquira.