While the rains continue in Cusco, I find myself in Punta Arenas, one of the southern most towns in Chile, with two friends from the states. To get here, we took an arduous 36 hour bus ride from Puerto Montt, Chile. The bus crossed through the beautiful lake region around Bariloche and down the barren Argentine pampa. So you can keep track of me while I´m on the road, herre are the places we have visited or plan to visit. I´ll try to post a better map of the exact route we´ve taken, starting in Cusco and ending in Buenos Aires.

Jan 24th- tried to leave Cusco but were delayed by the rains

Jan 25th- Fly out of Cusco, spent some hours in Lima, then flew onto Santiago

Jan 26th-27th- Valparaiso and Vina del Mar

Jan 28th- Puerto Montt and Chiloe Island

Jan 29th-30th- 36 hour bus ride to Punta Arenas

Feb 2-6th- Backpacking in Torres del Paine

Feb 7th-13th- Backpacking in the Fitz Roy/ Parque Nacional los Glaciares

Feb 14th- Buenos Aires, then back to Lima, Peru

After flying back to Lima, we will travel down Peru´s south coast and pass through Arequipa and Puno, seeing the weavers on Taquile Island of Lake Titicaca. Then I will return to Cusco for my final few months of the Fulbright.

the raging Vilcanota river

On January 24th I awoke to the sound of a steady rain falling outside my window in Cusco. A low fog had enveloped the surrounding mountains and there wasn´t a bit of sun peeking through the dark clouds. This was the day we were supposed to fly from Cusco to Lima and then on to Chile. But I suspected that no flights could leave Cusco in this weather.

The hours rolled by as we sat in the Cusco airport all day waiting for the fog to lift and the rain to stop so planes bound for Lima could depart. Little did we know that outside the airport, houses, farmland, and lives were faring far worse in the storm.

Near Machu Picchu, a guide and tourists were killed in a landslide while hiking the Inca Trail. Between Machu Picchu and Ollantaytambo, a mudslide buried a section of the railroad tracks and left hundreds of tourists stranded for days in the town of Aguas Calientes. Accomodations were scarce and many people slept inside the train station. Restaurants inflated food prices and sold bottles of water for $3.50. Some tourists chose to hike back to Ollantaytambo along the railroad route, while others waited for a helicopter rescue.

Besides the desperate situation in Machu Picchu, houses and farmland in the Sacred Valley were severely damaged by the flooding. The rains have caused damage to the Sacsayhuaman archeological ruins near Cusco as well. I´m anxiously awaiting news on the state of the community of Chaullaqocha. I suspect that the heavy rains have caused runoff due to its high, sloping location in the mountians. The road in progress that leads to the community, however, will likely be washed out in many places and will need to be rebuilt during the dry season. The setback to the new road erases hopes that it may be completed by the end of the dry season this year.

The rainy season in the Cusco region lasts from November to March. Usually it rains every 12 to 24 hours and the sun then comes out. In the past few weeks, however, the rains continued nearly continuously for days on end. The region can´t handle such a large quantity of intense rainfall. The rains are the heaviest that the region has received for over 15 years. Damage is estimated to be around $280 million.

Christmas Chocolatada in Chaullaqocha

One of the greatest Christmas traditions in Cusco is the ‘chocolatada,’ an event where groups of individuals organize themselves and distribute hot chocolate and bread (often a sweet bread with fruit called Paneton) to the needy. Chocolatadas take place both in the city and in the campo. On Christmas Eve in Cusco, people lined up along the streets to receive hot chocolate and bread. But most chocolatadas seems to be directed to Peru’s rural highland communities, where during the Christmas season various organizations of NGOs, government organizations, teachers, and other small groups flock to rural communities to give something back.

Some feel that chocolatadas focus to much on the idea of giving free handouts to the needy. In addition, the low nutritional value of hot chocolate (sugar, chocolate, and milk), and a hunk of sugary bread is noteable and some feel that more staple handouts might be more worthwhile. On the other hand, rural Peruvian communities are often overlooked in aid and assistance throughout the year.  Chocolatadas take place only once a year, and may be the only time that community members receive a piece of bread, a warm jacket, and a plastic toy. Overall, the Chocolatada’s spirit of giving freely is embraced by all Peruvians during the Christmas season. It is a friendly, harmless gesture, but does not represent the amelioration of hunger, poverty, and broader social problems that abound Peru’s rural communities.

Here are some pictures from Apus Peru’s annual chocolatada in Chaullaqocha.

Students of Chaullaqocha and Chupani gather in the school with professor Eulio

Passing out hot chocolate

Students enjoy hot chocolate and bread

Machu Picchu

Every year, thousands of people hike the Inca Trail to reach Machu Picchu (Quechua for “Old Mountain”). In downtown Cusco, when one crosses the Plaza de Armas, it is impossible to escape the travel agents hawking deals for excursions to Machu Picchu. After 5 months in Peru, I finally went to Machu Picchu. Instead of taking the train (there is no road), I hiked from Kilometer 82 for 4 days on the Inca Trail to reach Machu Picchu, the great citadel of the Incas. 

The Inca Trail is a daily highway of 500 indigenous porters from surrounding villages, guides from Cusco, hired chefs, and tourists wearing quick-dry pants and snacking on Clif bars, that scramble to get the first sight of Machu Picchu. While workers pick up garbage every day and there are strict regulations on packing out garbage, the combination of a lack of toilets, littered plastic water bottles, and the enormous number of people that hike the trail each day has had a huge human impact on the area.   

Apus Peru, the tour agency that funds Threads of Peru, draws its porters from the village of Chaullaqocha, one of three villages currently working with Threads of Peru. The wives of many of the porters are the weavers of Threads of Peru. Thus, part of understanding the economic reality of the weavers of Chaullaqocha involves understanding their husbands’ work as porters on the Inca Trail. Unfortunately, the director of Apus Peru has had trouble conversing with the porters about the fairness of their job, their job satisfaction, and possible improvements that the agency could make. She attributes their unwillingness to openly discuss their work to their belief that if they complain, they could lose their job. 

After hiking the Inca Trail I had some burning questions. I headed to Chaullaqocha the following week and decided to probe some of these questions with the lead porter of the agency, Antonio. Antonio is 40 years old and lives with his 3 kids and wife, Martina, near the primary school in Chaullaqocha. Besides working in his potato field, he runs the only small store in the community, where one can find basic food and supplies. Antonio has been working as a porter on the Inca Trail since age 15. Thus, he has seen the changes that have occurred on the Inca Trail since the 1980s, and he has experience working with a wide range of agencies. Like the director of the agency, I was skeptical that Antonio would honestly and openly discuss his work on the Inca Trail with me. I wanted the “dirt”- information that guides are reluctant to tell tourists, information that is denied by tour agencies, and that is ignored by regulators on the Inca Trail. So I left it up to my Quechua translator, a friend of Antonio and guide on the Inca Trail, to open him up in conversation. I recorded the conversation on a digital voice recorder and later translated it from Quechua to Spanish to English. 

Porters carry heavy loads over high mountain passes and slippery stone steps

The official limit of weight that porters can carry on the Inca Trail is 25 kilos. I wanted to know if all tour agencies follow this rule and how well it is enforced. To me, it looked like the loads they were carrying weighed much more than 25 kilos. According to Antonio:

Translator: So you started to work on the Inca Trail at a really young age, around the age of 15 years? 

 

Antonio: Yes. At this age, I was so young that I couldn’t carry much weight, so they only made me carry bread and cookies. Back then, the bags we had to carry were very heavy. Sometimes we carried 40 kilos, sometimes up to 50 kilos. It was hard to lift so much weight off the ground. During these days there weren’t cooks, but the guides knew a bit about cooking. One guide would lead a group of between 20-30 passengers. The first agencies were Explorantes and Irca. Then came Vida Tours, SAS, Lima Tour, and Apumayo.

 

Translator: So you have lots of experience working on the Inca Trail.  

 

Conversation continued…

 

 Antonio: Nowadays, the porters don’t carry so much weight, but with certain agencies there is still a lot of weight we must carry (with agencies that lead big groups, the weight is divided between a greater number of porters. Small groups hire less porters, but porters still have to carry necessary items like gas and a table. There are less porters to distribute the weight in smaller groups).

 

 

 

A chef prepares delicious food for tourists on the Inca Trail. Porters like to carry extra food so they can eat the leftovers.

Sometimes with smaller groups we have to carry a lot of weight, like 30 kilos (The official weight limit for porters on the Inca Trail is 25 kilos. They pass through check points to make sure they are obeying this rule, and if not, the agency gets in trouble. The porters say that they put a 25 kilo bag on the scale, but if there is extra weight, they hide the items like bags of rice in their jackets. This is how they get past the check points. They don’t want the agency to get in trouble, because the extra weight they are carrying is mainly food- food they get to eat if there are leftovers from the tourists. If there wasn’t this much food, the porters wouldn’t eat so well. Instead of chicken, they’d be eating bread). We wear big jackets to hide the food… if the check points found out, the agencies would have problems. The porters have never reported an infraction to the company, only guides have.  

 

  I also wanted to know if the porters are happy with the wages they are paid or if they think their wages are unfair.

Kelsey: How much are the agencies paying the porters? Is it a fair wage?

Antonio: 173 soles per trip (roughly $60 for a 3 night trip) is what some agencies are paying. Others pay less. Eco Inca 172 soles, Apus 163 soles. The tips vary- sometimes good, sometimes ok.

I heard rumor that some porters drink away all their wages before they get back to their communities, thus bringing back little money to their families. Now there is a restaurant/bar at the last night on the Inca Trail, where trekkers can enjoy a victory beer. The porters can also go here to drink if they choose. How responsible are the porters with their money?

Translator: How do porters spend their tips?

Antonio: Almost all of our tip money goes toward necessities, like transportation to and from our houses, and food and accommodation in town the night before starting the trip. (Trips leave early in the morning, and many porters live in isolated villages where transportation involves a long walk or car ride to town the night before). Not much of the tip money is left over. To return from Machu Picchu, it costs 5 soles. To take a truck back home, it costs another 3 soles. Almost all tips are used on transportation, so only the flat wage is left over to take back to families.

Translator: In Urubamba I’ve seen porters drinking after the Inca Trail.

Antonio: Some, when they drink, break the tents and lose trip equipment. In my case, I have to pack up everything and hand it back to the agency (Antonio is the head porter and a very responsible guy). If it weren’t like this, we would lose everything and have lots of problems. Sometimes I’m the only one who goes to Cusco to return the gear, so that other porters can save money and return to their village more quickly. Cars charge 10 soles to go to Cusco (a little over $3). We take cars directly to the agencies so we don’t lose things (the porters fear the robbers in Cusco).  

How strict are the regulations on the Inca Trail?

Antonio: Without your documents, you can’t board the train to return from Machu Picchu (Machu Picchu has a tourist train that all foreigners must take. There is also a local train for Cusquenans and guides, porters, and workers on the Inca Trail). Before, it wasn’t like this. Now there are a lot more rules on the Inca Trail. The ministry of the natural environment is in charge of Machu Picchu, garbage control on the Inca Trail, etc. As a porter, your name must be on their list. They’re going to make another list of porters in February. Those whose names aren’t on the list don’t pass. Also, if your name isn’t on the list, they’ll give you a bad time and cut up or destroy your documents. There are always porters who aren’t on the list and try to enter to work. The Ministry of the Natural Environment says that they could be thieves who might steal from tourists on the Inca Trail. They also control what you need to enter as a porter. Some agencies require porters to wear a back support and carry a lantern and water bottle.

Porters carry over 25 kilo backpacks over slippery terrain, up the 13,700 foot Dead Woman’s Pass, and down the slippery stone steps on the other side. After so many strenuous trips on the Inca Trail, wouldn’t they develop knee or back problems? I also heard that one porter broke his foot after missing a stone step and falling, and another porter who fell forward, hit his head on a rock, and died. How common are accidents and injuries among porters on the Inca Trail?  

Kelsey: Do you ever get sore knees?

Antonio: Still no, but maybe in the future I’ll have problems.

Kelsey: Have you ever seen a porter have an accident on the Inca Trail?

Antonio: I’ve never heard of anyone getting hurt….Once I fell on the Inca Trail, but I didn’t get seriously hurt. The porters came along behind me and stepped on me because they were in a hurry.

There is no porters’ union that could  provide insurance or job protection. If a porter breaks his foot, he can’t work for a long period of time. If he develops back problems, there is no compensation. There are few job protections for porters on the Inca Trail.  

Would I hike the Inca Trail again? I’m not sure. On the one hand, the income and tips that porters earn from the Inca Trail allows them to buy medicine for their family, to pay for the schooling of their kids, and to feed their families. Without income from the Inca Trail, they would have no cash income besides sporadic textile sales. On the other hand, if a porter works 2-3 trips per month, he is gone from his family, community, and agricultural duties for 8-12 days. He may spend his wages drinking in the valley before returning to his community, or he may have other wives and children in different towns.

Above all, I was struck by the servility/subordinate relationship between me and the porters. The week before, I was at Fortunato’s house helping him shear his alpacas and meeting his family members. On the trip, he was my porter, carrying all of our gear, setting up our tents, and serving our meals on a silver platter. What an uncomfortable feeling. Although I live in Cusco, speak Spanish, and had fun joking with the porters in Quechua, nothing could change the fact that I was trekking with an expensive agency, I am white-skinned, foreign, and speak with an accent, and that I was the “tourist,” not the “local,” on this trip. Anyway, I hope this information can serve as important knowledge for travel agencies, tourists, and the Peruvian government to improve the long term environmental and ethical practices on the Inca Trail.

alpacas roam the slopes of Ipsaycocha

In villages of the high Andes, alpacas roam freely on the steep green slopes. They are skittish animals, preferring to graze near the highest mountain passes far above the villages. Viewing the alpacas from a distance, it is hard to believe that these animals can survive the harsh climate and steep terrain.

Weavers use the wool from their own alpacas to spin and weave textiles for personal use and to sell to merchants and tourists. Not all families own alpacas, but they can buy or trade for the necessary alpaca wool to use in weaving. Starting this month, community members are beginning the shearing process which lasts until February. Alpacas are sheared in the heart of the rainy season to obtain the greatest amount of wool that is believed to grow fastest during the cold, dry season that lasts from May to October.

Fortunato and his wife, Grimeldina, with their alpacas above the village of Ipsaycocha

Last week I participated in the shearing of the alpacas with the family of Fortunato, a porter and muleteer who works for the trekking agency Apus Peru. Fortunato owns many alpacas, as well as a few horses which he brings on treks through the Lares Valley to carry supplies for tourists as they trek. He lives in the village of Ipsaycocha, near Patacancha, Peru.

The hike to Fortunato’s village was an uphill battle. We trudged uphill through an icey rainstorm before arriving at Fortunato’s ‘estancia,’ or second home. Most Andean families have two houses; they stay at their ‘estancia’ to keep watch over their animals, and they also have a ‘townhouse.’ Fortunato, for instance, has a house in Patacancha and an ‘estancia’ in Ipsaycocha.

phukuy, the accion of blowing on the coca leaves as tribute to the mountain gods

Arriving at Fortunato’s house, we met his wife and children. They invited us to some hot tea and potato-corn soup. Then, we hiked another half hour uphill to a high mountain pass where Fortunato’s alpacas were grazing. I expected the alpaca shearing process to be quick and to-the-point. However, it soon became evident that an exstensive ritual must take place before the shearing. First, Fortunato spread out a textile and began arranging coca leaves in sets of three (k’intus) on top. When I made my k’intu, I didn’t pay much attention to the coca leaves I was picking up. I was told that I must select coca leaves that were aesthetically perfect, with an even rounded shape with no tears. It was important to blow on the coca leaves before placing them on the textile (phukuy), in order to pay tribute to the Apus, or Andean mountain god. Fortunato and his neighbors acknowledged each of the surrounding mountain peaks with an “Apus” this, “Apus “that. They were very serious throughout the whole process. On top of the coca leaves, the men placed red huayruro seeds that

I receive 2 shells filled with wine and kiwicha to toss onto the alpacas

come from the jungle. Next, Fortunato took out 2 shells, filled them with red wine, and sprinkled them with kiwicha, a round grain somewhat similar to quinoa. Each person took turns walking towards the alpacas and raising the shell upward, the right hand followed by the left, to toss the wine onto the alpacas.

sharpening the scissors used in alpaca shearing

Some dark rain clouds began to roll in, so the community members began sharpening a pair of scissors, which looked more like a crude set of knives. Then Fortunato carried a lasso into the herd of alpacas and, after just a few attempts, managed to rope a small white alpaca. This alpaca had never been sheared before in its life, so the wool we obtained is called “baby alpaca,” or the first shearing of the alpaca. Baby alpaca wool is considered to be softer, of higher quality, and thus more expensive when it reaches a store in Cusco.

after sheraing, the 'screamer' alpaca runs off to join the herd

After shearing, a stone was passed across the bodies of the alpacas to ensure that their wool grows back evenly for the next shearing. The wool was stored away, and will be spun into fiber and woven in various textiles, as well as traded for foodstuffs or sold to merchants. The remaining alpacas await to be sheared in the months that come.

This year I experienced Thanksgiving in Lima, Peru with the Fulbright Commission and fellow Fulbrighters who arrived from all parts of Peru. While Thanksgiving is an American holiday, Peruvians and various foreigners seem fascinated by the holiday. They are delighted to prepare a feast with turkey and other harder to find, yet essential, ingredients like pumpkin and cranberry sauce. We pulled it off brilliantly in Lima.

Coming from Cusco, Lima seemed like New York City. Yet the main purpose of my trip to Lima wasn’t to eat turkey or make trips to the numerous Starbucks or shopping malls, luxuries that Cusco doesn’t have. The November Fulbright gathering in Lima gave us a chance to meet the other Fulbrighters who are spread from the north coast to the Bolivian border and from Lima to the highlands to the jungle, and to give presentations about our projects so far. Fulbrighters in Peru are carrying out projects in the areas of archeology, law, environmental studies, political science, and anthropology. Some are working on their dissertations, while others are gaining experience before applying to grad school.

After celebrating Thanksgiving and presenting our projects, I met my parents and took a quick flight back to Cusco.  Then I took a bus to Andahuaylas, a nearby province in the highlands, where I participated in a symposium organized by a Fulbright-Hays scholar who is doing bioarcheology research in Andahuaylas. Here is a link to the powerpoint I used in the presentation: Andahuaylas Powerpoint. Giving a presentation in Spanish to an all-Peruvian audience was quite a feat. Scholars came from Lima, Abancay, Ayacucho, and Cusco to participate, and the following day we went on a tour to see some local archeological sites in the area.  

Right now I am back in Cusco and just finished hiking the Inca Trail to Maccu Picchu with my family. Highlights included crossing the 13,770 foot Warmiwanusqa Pass (means “Dead Woman” in Quechua), walking down thousands of huge Inca stone steps, learning Quechua insults from the porters (they love to call each other k’ara chupa, “rat tail,” and sacra, “devil” ), and finally getting to see the ruins of Machu Picchu. Updates to come.

The study of textiles and their producers cannot be separated from the context of daily life in the indigenous community of Chaullacocha, Peru. Rather, to fully understand textile production, one must integrate with the agricultural cycles, community festivals, and mundane daily activities in the community. This is how I’m approaching the task of conducting research in Chaullacocha. 

On my most recent trip I brought a digital voice recorder, a handy device which captures Quechua conversations that can later be replayed with a translator. As we hiked through alpaca pastures and potato fields, I captured conversations with campesinos traveling from village to village. We approached each person with a friendly “Allillanchu?” Which means, “how are you” or “how is life treating you” in Quechua. These first words are followed by an exchange of coca leaves, a friendly action which is greatly appreciated by the campesino. Conversation then ensues, and the campesino may say where he or she is headed and for what purpose. If we are crossing through his alpaca field, we may inquire about the animals, or ask how the potato planting is going. I feel fairly mute in these conversations as I don’t understand much Quechua, but I usually end the conversation with something I do know how to say: “tupananchis kama,” or “hoq p’unchay kama,” which means “until we meet again,” or “see you another day.” We then part ways and continue up the trail to the village of Chaullacocha.

The house of Augustin and Demesia

Chaullacocha is a barren community scattered with houses, alpacas, sheep, and potato fields. I stayed in the house of Augustin and Demesia, the only couple who speaks Spanish in Chaullacocha, to get a closer glimpse into community life. Their one-room house is simple, yet somewhat deluxe by community standards. Unlike other families, they have items such as a headlamp, food such as sugar and pasta, and a gas stove that was carried by horse to the village from a larger town in the valley. We squatted on small stools and were graciously offered llama skins for warmth. We huddled around the dung fed fire for protection against the icy wind which blew through the open door. As we peeled potato skins, the guinea pigs that live on the floor in the house scurried out to sweep up the scraps. In the morning I awoke to announcements blaring on the Quechua radio. As the only sound against the backdrop of the bitter wind, it is a comforting, yet false, link to the outside world. 

the chakitajlla, or Andean foot plow, used in potato planting

I found most comfort in the conversations we could have in Spanish. As we cooked dinner, we talked about the potato planting which has been occurring throughout the month. This year, the rains have been late to come, and the community is worried about the potato planting process which is closely correlated with the dry and rainy seasons. Right now, the community is in yapuy (the turning of the soil that occurs during potato planting). Through the system of ayni (reciprocal labor exchange), community members take turns helping each other turn the soil in their potato fields. They don’t receive money, but they might receive a large meal, coca leaves, or chicha (corn-beer) for their day of help. In turn, these helpers can call on community members for help in their own potato field. Here is Augustin, ready to head out for a day’s work in his neighbor’s potato field. The foot plow that is used to turn the soil, the chakitajlla, is a large piece of wood fastened with a metal piece that is secured with rope. 

While the main responsibilities of the men are agricultural, women’s responsibilities pertain more to the household. Women are in charge of taking care of children, tending sheep and alpaca herds, cooking, and simultaneously weaving either inside their houses or in the sun as they watch their animals. For these women, the small prospects of the sale of their textiles for cash does not stop them from weaving. At most houses we visited, women were weaving bright llikllas (shawls) for themselves and their family members. In many conversations, however, a frustration prevailed among the women over the lack of market to sell their textiles. In one conversation, weavers describe the reality of their textile economy: 

 Me: Have you started to shear the alpacas yet?  

Community Women: Not yet…we usually shear the alpacas in December and January every year… 

Me: What’s the process of alpaca shearing like? Do you shear the alpacas all in one day?   

Community women: The alpaca shearing depends on when the merchant comes to the community. We don’t have an exact date…he can appear in whatever moment. Right now, we haven’t started shearing because no buyer has come to the community.  

Me: Where do the merchants come from?   

Community Women: They come from Sicuani (a town with lots of factories for the production and exportation of alpaca wool)  

Me: What’s the price that the merchants pay for alpaca wool?  

Community Members: 4 soles (1.3 US dollars) per kilo. A few years ago they would pay between 10-15 soles (3-5 US dollars), but the global financial crisis has lowered the price the merchants are willing to pay.  

Me: So, where do you sell your textiles? Do merchants come directly to the community to buy?  

Community Women: Merchants rarely come to the communities. We have to walk to Huilloc (a town 3 hours away) to meet the merchants. We sell our textiles for very low prices. Sometimes the merchants don’t pay us in money…they exchange synthetic wool for alpaca wool, ponchos, and llikllas…and when they do buy, it’s for a low price.  

Me: Are the merchants weavers? Are they familiar with textiles?  

Community Women: They’re just businessmen, but they know a bit about distinguishing high quality textiles. They buy all types of textiles and pay a price according to quality. They prefer the older textiles. They use them in personal collections or to sell to tourists. We don’t really know where they sell them.   This is just one conversation among many more that I hope to have with the weavers of Chaullacocha as I continue my project. Learning how to integrate into this community has been a circuitous journey. I’m learning how to ask questions that will receive the most complete and accurate responses. For example, instead of asking yes-or-no questions or general questions, I try to ask questions that are specific to each person. Instead of asking “how do people get married,” I may ask “how did you and your wife get married.” I’ve also learned to be aware of internal community politics that I may not understand. For example, the president of the weaving association in the community of Rumira won’t let two talented weavers join the association because one of the weavers told her cousin not to marry this president. Most importantly, I’ve learned that I must participate in certain activities, like helping Demesia peel potatoes, helping Augustin turn the soil in his potato field, or to gulp down an unappetizing plate of food with appreciation, to gain their trust and to become one of them. Trying to understand and obtain information on an indigenous community in a culture completely foreign has been a long walk- but it’s a road, nonetheless.

Since my last visit to the communities in September, the weavers have been hard at work in finishing the textile ‘pedidos’ (requests) that we had given during our September visit. Weavers worked with the alpaca wool we gave them, producing products ranging from small belts to impressive pasadisos (placemats). When we visited last weekend, the results were packed with surprises. 

the 'tag system'

We did not expect Rumira, the least isolated village that neighbors with the community of Patacancha and its advanced weavers, to produce the least desirable textiles. Many edges were left unfinished, and many textiles had a small amount of pallay (the difficult, intricate band of pattern) and a large amount of solid color, suggesting that the textile was woven in a small amount of time. What surprised us most was when one weaver tried to sell us a textile that was not woven by her, but in a different village. A different weaving co-op has solved this problem by using the “tag system,” where each textile is labeled with the name of the weaver while it is still being woven. This cooperative had problems in the past with weavers trying to sell textiles made by non-members or family members.

Demesia, recently married, wove two birds of marriage (4th from left), as well as a condor, llama, rabbit, and the puma footprint design

 Weavers in Chaullacocha and Chupani seemed to invest more effort into their textiles, producing time-intensive animal figures and difficult pallay. Popular designs included the puma mak’i (puma footprint), condors, frogs, deer, rabbit, lakes, rivers, flowers, stars, and jars to hold chicha (the Andean corn-beer). However, the weavers did mention that it was hard to finish their textiles in one month because the community is occupied with the yapuy the entire month. The yapuy is the “turning of the soil” that occurs during the planting of potatoes. It involves a rotating labor exchange among community members, where one day a community member calls for extra hands to work in his chakra, or farming field. Another day, this person may be called to work in a neighbor’s potato field in return. Workers do not receive monetary pay, but rather a meal provided by the family they are helping. Juana Rios Churata, a weaver in Chaullacocha, had to leave the meeting early to prepare a meal for the workers who were returning from her field. She said she planned to cook ch’uno, fried potatoes, to compensate community workers for their day of help. The finished products of the villages gave us a clearer glimpse into the individual abilities of the weavers, given the style, quality, and unique designs of the textile they chose to produce. 

descending into Chupani for the community meeting. In the background is the school and soccer field where the meeting was held

Along with the handful of men that bring cash back to the communities through their work as porters on the Inca Trail, the textile purchases of Threads of Peru are a source of cash income in the communities. The Cusco and ebay market in which the textiles are now being sold connects weavers to the global market, providing them a promising market to sell their textiles where possibilities to sell in a local market remain bleak. On the one hand, cash that circulates in the communities will inevitably be linked to the purchase of radios, bikes, alcohol, and sweets. The effects of these material goods will bring great social change to the communities. However, support of the small textile economy in the villages is an important opportunity to revitalize culturally significant textile traditions that are declining rapidly, in not just these three villages but throughout the Andes.

Chaullacocha community meeting

Threads of Peru completed its first 3-village visit last Thursday and Friday, 9/24 and 9/25. At each village, we held a meeting with the members of the community weaving association. We explained the mission of our project: to assist weavers in textile development, to improve their well-being through health and nutrition workshops, to inspire them in maintaining creativity and innovation in weaving, and to help them find a market to sell their textiles. Our perspective on development is to work with existing community structures, such as the ayni (system of reciprocal exchange). For example, we will only work with the community if they are willing. We try to avoid food handouts and the pursuit of any project without community cooperation. Instead, we hope to bring in nutrition specialists that can show community members how to maintain a healthy diet using whatever food can be found in the region, and the construction of a weaving center in a community would resemble a ‘community work day,’ where community members help us haul materials and contribute their time and labor into the construction process. At the end of each meeting, we distributed alpaca yarn that was purchased in Cusco with the help of Senora Augustina, our textile project expert. Augustina has spent years working in these villages, so she knows who weaves well and who doesn’t. Augustina selected the top 4-5 weavers in each village and worked with them on choosing an appropriate textile to make (scarf, placemat, belt, or bag). We brought some high-quality textiles from other villages which served as examples as to the quality, style, and designs of textiles that we think will be most successful when sold to international consumers. We decided on a buy-back price with each weaver. In one month, we’ll return to the villages and purchase the finished textiles, which will be put on sale for international consumers. 

Due to their severe isolation, Rumira, Chaullacocha, and Chupani have a poor market for their textiles. Rumira has the easiest access to the market due to its location along the highway. However, considering its distance from the larger town, Ollantatambo, often lowers its price for tourists and ‘middlemen’ from down the road. Past Rumira, in the villages of Chaullacocha and Chupani, opportunity to sell textiles is even poorer. The villages are still not accessible by road, so one must walk 2 hours to Chaullacocha, and an additional hour to Chupani. No tour routes pass through Chupani, so weavers can’t sell to tourists. 

The Chaullacocha-Chupani valley

The Chaullacocha- Chupani valley is barren and desolate. The wind-swept pass that must be crossed sits in the clouds among a scattering of silent lagoons. Llamas and alpacas roam the slopes, and chakra (potato fields) line the path. We passed peasants along the trail, as their only way to get from village to village is by foot. At night, the piercing wind sweeps up from the valley floor. We cooked dinner in the home of Martina and Antonio. Martina is a member of the Chaullacocha weavers association, and her husband Antonio is a porter for the trekking agency, Apus Peru, on the Inca Trail. He would like to work more, as portering on the Inca Trail is the only way the family has access to cash (they have a wall lined with potatoes that must last them a year, and is used to barter for necessary items in nearby towns). However, the isolated location of the village makes it hard for Antonio to communicate with Apus Peru about opportunities to porter on the Inca Trail. Martina and Antonio’s house is one room, with a loft where they sleep with their four young children. The kids attend primary school in Chaullacocha. Martina carries a small baby on her back, the fourth child of the family. After the sun went down at 6 pm, the only light inside their dark house came from the smoky fireplace that we used to cook dinner. With the door shut to keep out the cold, the smoke inside the house became almost unbearable. The only ventilation was a missing brick from the wall. We squatted on alpaca skins around the dung-fueled fire. The family’s four guinea pigs (cuy) scurried out to eat the potato skins we had discarded on the floor, and a hungry-looking cat kept dipping its tail in the food. We slept in the primary school, as one of the teachers had given us the key to her room because she left town early that weekend.   

Placida

After a chilly night in Chaullacocha, we walked to Chupani. Along the way, some young girls approached us and explained that the Chupani weaving association president, Plascida, wanted us to come to her house to have some tea and food. Plascida seemed to want to impress us- the meal was no plate of potatoes. She had cooked rice, eggs, fried potatoes, and a sweet mate (tea). By the time we reached Chupani, it was raining. We met with the weavers in a tarp-shelter, which was supposed to be a greenhouse but nothing was growing. The leaky tarp and stuffy shelter showed how necessary it is to build a weaving center in this village. During the rainy season, weavers can’t weave outside. Inside their smoky, dimly-lit houses surely leads to eye problems. We’re exploring different types of awanawasi (weaving huts) that can serve as a meeting place for weavers and can shelter them from the rain when they need to weave. 

After the meeting in Chupani, we hurried uphill to Chaullacocha for their afternoon meeting. On the way, the president of the Chaullacocha weaving association insisted that we enter her home to eat lunch. She gave my project director (Ariana) an entire cuy, showing how much Ariana is respected in these communities. Myself- a newcomer to the villages- only got the legs.   

digging the van out

After the Chaullacocha meeting, we hiked back over the pass to our van. We had been a little ambitious in terms of how far we had driven the van up the sketchy “highway,” which was really just a muddy path lined with cliffs on one side. We spent a few hours digging out the van, with the help of many campesinos that were passing by (two teenage boys seemed to think this was the funniest thing they had ever seen), and with 4 visiting nurses who probably wanted a ride downhill, but gave up after a while and started walking. The light grew dim and something resembling snow flurried in the sky. We got the van stuck 2 more times before reaching the real road. A 4 x 4 might have been a better choice…

Before I started working with Threads of Peru, a group of Canadians were hard at work on the webpage of Threads of Peru. Much research was done on Andean culture, how textiles are made, and the significance of textile iconography. Information on the individual weavers of the village weaving associations was gathered for the weaver profile section. An link to the ebay store was created, and links to other textile organizations and NGOs in the Cusco region have been added.

It has taken a little longer than we anticipated, but the Threads of Peru website was just oficially launched. Its an information packed and image rich website designed to inform and inspire the reader about Andean textile traditions. In this respect, we hope that someone who encounters this site will learn more about the value of the Andean textiles and the people that make them, which should benefit many organisations, rather than just one.

I hope you take a few minutes to explore this site. There are still a few things to be ironed out. Please send me any suggestions, in terms of graphics, information, etc, that you may have.

www.threadsofperu.com