Peruvian boys loving the job of ripping off tourists by taking photos.
Two woman weaving at Nelly's house.
Preparing yarn for later.
Colorful thread.
Natural coloring supplies.
On the left is a single girl with many braids and on the right is a married woman with two braids.
Beautiful landscape looking out behind the Chicha Brewery.
After a day and a half in Cuzco our group loaded up in the bus and headed to our next location which was Chinchero, a beautiful town with some ancient ruins and amazing weavers. The day before going to Chinchero I had bought a few hats, two sweater, and some gloves so I had a taste of the exquisit designs and the softness of the clothing, but I had no clue that the process behind the whole thing was so complex.
While visiting the town of Chinchero we were able to go to a woman's house named Nelly where she, along with other women, showed us how to prepare cloth and weave traditional Peruvian clothing. After being warmly welcomed with fresh mint tea, we were directed to sit down in order to watch and listen as Nelly took us step by step through the process of weaving. It was fascinating to see how much time and effort goes in to making the thread, yet alone how to weave the thread into an amazing masterpiece! Nelly first described the difference between the wool of lambs, llamas, and baby llamas and the process by which thread is made. After seeing some of the ladies spin their wool into spindles we were able to watch how the yarn gets colored. Since the there is not a convenient place to buy cloth dye Nelly showed us the traditional means by which yarn is colored. The vibrant colors that Nelly produced were not only used for the yarn, but she also put some of the red coloring on her lips and kissed three guys on the cheek. Nelly told us that the natural colors lasted for about 24 so the three guys were expected to have big kiss marks on their cheeks for the next day.
Besides showing us how to prepare thread and weave a beautiful masterpiece, Nelly shared some additional things including how to tell if a woman in their society is married or single. Nelly is married so she has only two braids in her hair and in contrast someone who is young and not married must have tons of braids. For the men in the community they had to wear a hat and depending on where you wore your tassels that indicated whether or not you were single.
After being taught the ways of weaving and identifying the relationship status of those around us we were able to check out the many tables of scarves, hats, gloves, purses, and other beautiful creations before heading a bit further to our next location, Ollantaytambo. While en route to Ollantaytambo we were able to stop off at a local brewery and learn how the Peruvians make a special corn beer. While I am not a drinker it was interesting to hear about the process used to process and ferment corn and turn it into chica, an alcoholic corn beverage.
After learning about the fermentation process of chica we continued on our way to Ollantaytambo and we were informed that we were going to need to walk down the rest of the mountain in order to bypass the avalanche that was blocking the normal road. While not everyone was excited to do some walking it was definitely an exciting walk! While in Ollantaytambo we were able to climb the Incan ruins that surrounded the city. As we climbed the ruins we experienced our first real run in with altitude affects. Many of the people in our group could feel the intensity of not having and air so some decided not to hike the ruins. As I was climbing down off the mountain I actually saw a cactus that had "WSU" etched into it. If you are unfamiliar with WSU that is the acronym for my University in the United State, Washington State University.
As the day wound to a close we dropped our larger luggage off at a local hotel and headed to the train station to board our train to Aguas Calientes, the area where travelers stay before heading up to Machu Picchu. Overall our day at the ruins, learning about weaving, and learning about making an alcoholic corn drink proved to be a very fun and productive day!
If you too are going to be traveling in this area I would highly suggest stopping off in Chincharo in order to get some historical perspective of Peruvian clothing as well as take a stop in Ollantaytambo for the ruins. Above all I would suggest that if traveling to Aguas Calientes be sure to buy your snacks before the train station or wait until you are in Aguas Calientes to find some good priced snacks and water. Rather than learning the hard way and paying $20+ dollars for a small lunch at Machu Picchu I highly suggest buying a variety of snacks in order to tide you over while at Machu Picchu and save your wallet and bank account the sorrow of kissing your money goodbye.
In order to learn more about these areas feel free to click on these links!
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