Bilingual English/Spanish.
Sitting at her loom, Ixchel weaves the plastic strips into a colorful fabric that looks like a beautiful rainbow--just like the weavings of Mayan women before her..
Then she cuts each bag into thin strips.
Suddenly, Ixchel has an idea She collects and washes the plastic bags.
There is nowhere to put all the bags, so they just keep accumulating.
As she walks around her village, Ixchel finds it littered with colorful plastic bags.
Disappointed, Ixchel first tries weaving with blades of grass, and then with bits of wool, but no one would want to buy the results.
And besides, there is not enough extra thread for Ixchel to practice with.
If they bring a good price, they will have money to pay for Ixchel\'s school and books.
But Ixchel\'s mother is too busy preparing her weavings for market.
Ixchel wants to follow in the long tradition of weaving on backstrap looms, just as her mother, grandmother, and most Mayan women have done for more than two thousand years.
Based on an actual recycling movement in Guatemala.
A young Mayan girl isn\'t allowed to use her mother\'s thread to weave, so with a little ingenuity she discovers how to repurpose plastic bags to create colorful weavings.
Bilingual English/Spanish
