Cusco and the Gathering of Weavers

Cusco

On Monday, we got up early, and took a flight to Atlanta, and then on to Lima, Peru. It is a 6 hour flight, and we were tired. Our guide met us at the airport, and walked us to the airport Wyndam hotel.

On Tuesday, we ate breakfast at the hotel, and took an Avianca flight to Cusco. It was a bumpy ride over the mountains, and then a very bumpy landing on a 9000 foot runway. They had to partially depressurize the airplane, since Cusco is at 11,000 feet, and the airplane internal pressure is usually kept at 7000 ft. We can feel the altitude. We piled into vans to get to our hotel, Costa del Sol Ramada. We have a room on the top floor overlooking the rooftops, very nice. The hotel was built from a colonial home.

The afternoon was free; we walked a little, picked up a SIM card for my phone, and got cash from the ATM at the bank.

We had a nice welcome dinner at the Inka Grille.

Our twenty fellow travelers are from all over, Washington DC, Vancouver, Houston, Colorado, Phoenix, Idaho, and many more.. All have a passion for textiles and culture. Our guide, Raul, is excellent; his assistant, Alvaro, says he is getting a master class from Raul. Nilda, Raul's aunt, is the foundress of the organization which is working to preserve the Andean textile tradition, Centro de Textiles Traditionales de Cusco.

Raul and Alvaro

Wednesday we spent at the Centro de Textiles, with different groups learning different skills. I learned a semi-complex braid, after Nilda took me aside for one on one instruction. Sandi tried to learn to use a backstrap loom, but struggled, especially due to language barriers. The instructors were indigenous, wearing their fancy native costume. Sandi spent time in the museum and bought some gifts at the store. We had dinner with Alvaro, one of our guides, at Organika restaurant, a steep hike, including stairs, from our hotel. The street was named “Resbaloso”, which means slippery; we would not have wanted to walk it when wet. The food was amazing and surprisingly inexpensive.

Thursday we went to Pisaq, to attend a once a year gathering of the weavers from ten highland indigenous communities. There were about 200 people there, the vast majority in their colorful native costumes. There were numerous contests, including songs and riddles in Quechua, all related to weaving. At one point, our group performed Itsy Bitsy Spider, as our weaving song and performance. 

Many of the young women in their native costumes were carrying cell phones; it seemed somewhat incongruous.  

Sandi handing out coca leaves

Sandi and I were drafted to hand out coca leaves , which they chew as a treat. They would cup their hands, spread out a small weaving, or spread out their skirt to accept the leaves. It was like passing out Halloween candy to adults.

There were of course demonstrations of weaving with a backstrap loom. There were multiple techniques within that genre; we did not understand all the explanations of the different techniques. Towards the end of the day, there was time for people to play; they played soccer, skipped rope, spun tops, and played jacks, childhood games that are familiar to Americans. It was a joyous event; we were honored guests. At the end, we shook about 100 hands. The whole thing was really touching. It was quite amazing; we felt privileged to be there.

We had dinner at Ruicula, a farm to table restaurant, with most of the food coming from the Sacred Valley. This is part of the same business as Organika, where we ate the night before. We bantered with our adorable waitress. On our way back to the hotel, we watched folkloric dance and music performances by university students. All in all, quite a day.

Alvaro, Sandi, and others, pulling the skeins of yarn from the pot.

Friday was the natural dye workshop in Chinchero. It was a big event, with huge pots boiling over an open fire, with Nilda supervising with an iron hand. Between the dyes, chemicals, and the wood smoke, our lungs took a beating. We had lunch at a house across the street from their textile center, hosted by Raul's cousin. There was time for some shopping at the end of the day. We moved to the Taypikala Sacred Valley hotel in Urubamba, to be closer to the train station for Machu Picchu.