Oaxaca Day Trip Idea: Shadow an Alebrije Artisan in San Martín Tilcajete
The not-so-ancient (or technically original) Oaxacan craft tradition of alebrije-making is one to make room for in your itinerary and San Martín Tilcajete is the town to target.
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Located an easy 45-minute drive south of Oaxaca City, San Martín Tilcajete is one of several Oaxacan villages (San Antonio Arrazola and La Union Tejalapan being the other two) that have dedicated their workshops and bloodline to the art of carving and painting copal wood into fantastical creatures straight out of a fever dream (literally). While it was technically Mexico City-born artist Pedro Linares who first dreamt up the alebrije (pronounced ah-lay-bree-hay), it was and continues to be Oaxaca’s gifted artists and artisans who have transformed it into tradition.
The Arrival of Alebrijes in San Martin Tilcajete
The alebrije tradition in San Martín Tilcajete is just barely three generations old, a baby in comparison to other centuries-old Oaxacan traditions like red clay ceramics, rug weaving, and mezcal production. Prior to the 1990's, San Martín Tilcajete’s workshops were dedicated solely to carving wooden crafts called monos or nahuals, often in the form of masks for the annual Carnival celebration known as Los Diablos de San Martín Tilcajete (a must-attend if you’re in Oaxaca during Semana Santa!).
In the late 1970’s, an artisan named Manuel Jiménez of the neighboring woodworking village of San Antonio Arrazola met Pedro Linares at an art show in Los Angeles. Seeing Linares’ alebrijes in papier-mâché sparked the idea in Jiménez to try creating them in his medium of choice: the abundant and malleable local copal wood of Oaxaca. Until about the 1990’s, Jiménez managed to maintain a relative monopoly on alebrije production in his village. But it was his own rumored unreliability that led to other workshops taking on the trade and becoming quite skilled at it, the artisans of San Martín Tilcajete included.
The Art of Alebrije-making Today
Today, more than 150 families across San Martin Tilcajete, San Antonio Arrazola, and La Union Tejalapan work in the alebrije trade. In San Martin Tilcajete, the families work together to ensure a sustainable supply of copal by planting two or three trees for every one they take in a community forest outside of town. They also use other woods, like walnut, cedar, willow, cypress, and native trees like huamúchil and zompantle to decrease dependency on copal alone.
Every town, every family brings their own unique style to the alebrijes they craft. For example, Dante Cruz of the workshop El Sueño Zapoteco in San Martin Tilcajete incorporates his family’s love for music into his creations. Think guitar-playing armadillos and saxophone-toting Catrinas. At other workshops, you may find an emphasis on Zapotec patterns in the paint detailing or an affinity for floral designs or eerily lifelike eyes. This is what makes wandering from workshop to workshop forever interesting. No two pieces are ever alike and the level of detail, precision, and creativity will astound you.
Oftentimes, it’s the men in the family who collect, carve, dry, sand, and treat the wood. Then the piece is sent to the women to paint. Depending on the size of the piece, the full process from start to finish can take anywhere from a couple of weeks to many months, with the drying of the wood being one of the longest parts of the process, made even longer during the wet season (May to September - nearly half the year!)
How to Experience the Alebrije Tradition in San Martin Tilcajete
Drop Into a Workshop for a Free Demonstration
Many of the alebrije workshops in San Martin Tilcajete have their doors wide open for passerby and those curious about the craft. In fact, many of the bigger operations, including the workshops of Efrain and Silvia Fuentes and Jacobo and Maria Angeles, offer drop-in guided demonstrations of the process from carving and curing of the copal to peeking over the shoulders of the painters in the workshop. This is a great impromptu way of experiencing this fascinating craft if you don’t have the time or funds to book a more intimate and hands-on experience with an artisan. I explain how to get yourself to San Martin Tilcajete on public transportation further down in this post.
Book a Full Day Experience with an Alebrije Artisan
I’ve visited San Martin Tilcajete twice now, once on my own, arriving by public transport and popping into a few different workshops for their free demonstrations, and once on a full-day guided tour with the local responsible tour operator WSE Travel. The tour by far offered a level of depth, dimension, and intimacy with San Martin Tilcajete’s alebrije-making tradition that my own independent wanderings just couldn’t.
Not only did we get to visit a family-run workshop that’s otherwise appointment-only, but we had an intimate and private three-on-one experience with the warm and charismatic Maestro Dante Cruz, his wife, and kids. I’d say what truly sets this experience apart from others like it is the relationship WSE Travel has with Dante. It instantly felt like we were longtime friends being welcomed into Dante’s home and workshop, right down to the frequent mezcal pours while we joined his family around the table to paint our own alebrijes.
The tour includes an in-depth, all questions welcome, run-down of the traditional alebrije-making process with Dante before sitting down to paint your own small alebrije with your choice of acrylics or natural dyes. By early afternoon, you’ll say your goodbyes to Dante and his family and make your way to a delicious local restaurant nestled against a copal reserve for lunch. After lunch, you’ll visit yet one more family-run alebrije workshop, this one at the leading edge of the modern evolution of alebrije-making in San Martin Tilcajete.
TOUR DETAILS
Recommended Local Tour Operator: WSE Travel, a local responsible tour operator committed to supporting the local community with fair and livable wages for all guides and artisans they work with, plus a portion of every booking going towards environmental or community-based projects and NGOs in Oaxaca.
Price: $140 USD
Duration: Full Day, pick up at 9am and return by 5pm
How Often? You can check out the latest trip calendar here.
What's Included?:
- All materials
- An English-speaking guide
- Private transportation
- All meals and snacks
- Mezcal (if offered by the host)
How to Get to San Martin Tilcajete
By Public Transportation
The buses and shared vans that pass by San Martin Tilcajete leave from the Automorsa terminal on Bustamante (view on Google Maps). Most are headed to Ocotlan as a final destination, so you’ll have to tell the driver you’d like to be dropped at the entrance of San Martin Tilcajete. From the drop-off point, it’s about a mile (1.5km) walk west to the heart of San Martin Tilcajete (about 20 minutes).
To get back to Oaxaca, you’ll need to return to the same highway you were dropped off at and stand on the opposite side of the road. Any wine red and white colectivo passing by is likely headed for Oaxaca, so just flag one down to verify and hop in, or wait for a bus or van with Centro or Central listed on the front.
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