Maria hurries out from her thatch hut to greet her American visitor; beaming with a wide, heartfelt smile that displays the elaborate silver fillings decorating her teeth.  She is, first and foremost, a woman and simultaneously a mother.  She is a Maya mother living in the village of San Isidro in the low-lying jungle of Quintana Roo, Mexico.  The village was settled in the early 80s by Guatemala Maya refugees fleeing the bloody civil war in their own country.  There Maria and her family live and work and breathe their days.  Her voice is quiet and calm as she invites the visitor into her home; and the posse of barefoot, giggling children run into the smoky, dark hut ahead of her.  In addition to being a loving mother, Maria is a patient wife, a master cook and cleaner, a seamstress for her family, a human mule that carries heavy loads of firewood, a keeper of honey bees, a harvester of the corn crop, and…she is an artisan.  She is the creator of brightly colored morrales or handbags traditionally used by the Maya.  The craft takes on many forms, according to the talent and likings of each artisan.  Some morrales are woven, some are crocheted, some are stitched, and some are embroidered.  Some women have learned the tradition from their mothers and grandmothers, others have learned from the work of government training programs.  Each woman adapts the trade it to fit her personality, weaving her thoughts and creativity into each design and color choice.  Each day only has 24 hours to give her to finish the cooking, cleaning, mending, bathing, water-fetching, fire-building, that is necessary for the survival of the family.  And in spare moments she works on her craft; maneuvering the needle and the thread methodically yet rhythmically.  Due to time constraints, it can take up to two weeks to finish one morral, from which she could only hope to collect at most 200 pesos ($20US), in the village market which is saturated by such items from her artisan neighbors.  Maria is just one of the Maya artisans of San Isidro; who are heiresses of a beautiful tradition, possessors of an artful talent, entrepreneurs looking for a market, mothers who desire to improve the lives of their children with the better nutrition and education that the selling of their craft could afford.