Accha Alta

Yesterday, I visited the remote village of Accha Alta with the weaving center for a natural dyeing workshop. Accha Alta is a community of about 100 families located above the Sacred Valley at about 3,800 meters. Their weavers cooperative consists of 30 or more women, about 5 men and 10 children. The event took place at the weaver´s community center and focused on how to get more diverse and brilliant colors from the natural materials available in the highlands of Peru.
Most of the action happened in Qechua so I´m afraid I can´t give any specifics. Qechua is the native language of this region and sounds a little similar to langugaes like Navajo. The jungle is only a few hours over the mountains from Accha Alta so plants from there are readily available to the villagers for dyeing.
We used leaves from a jungle plant to get a deep purple, a local flower for a briliant gold, another plant for a deep earthy green and, of course, cochineal for red. Red is particularly prized by the Accha Alta weavers while other communities prefer other colors. Some of the yarn was purchased machine spun, although this is frowned upon by the copperative. The vast majority was hand spun on drop spindles to a very fine diameter. The women (and men) in Acchan Alta are all very speedy with drop spindles and are able to spin while nursing a baby (well, not the men), herding sheep, carrying on a conversation, and cooking a meal, all at the same time. After the dyes dry, it will take a few months to ply the llama, sheep and alpaca threads into 2 strand yarn for weaving or knitting.
At the end of the workshop, the weavers were able to hand textiles over to the director of the center for sale in Cusco. As the people signed the receipts for each piece, it was clear that literacy is a relatively new idea in this community. Some women simply put their fingerprint on paper, others very carefully printed their name and the younger ones signed as though they did it everyday. One young 13 year old girl from the children´s group turned in a small, spectacular manta (the women´s shawl--tourists use them for table cloths or wall hangings). She was clearly proud to be selling a piece of her artwork to support her family or her schooling or her community.

Valle Sagrado de los Incas

I have just returned to Cusco after an incredible week in the Sacred Valley of the Incas. I was based in the small town of Taray at the language school´s house. After my private Spanish lessons in the morning, I had the rest of each day to explore.
Travelling by bus, moto-taxi (a 3 wheeled motorcycle with a covered seat on the back), taxi, collectivo and foot, I visited mineral springs near Calca, the salt pans of Maras, the ruins of Pisac, markets galore....
The highlight of the week for me, though, was my excursion to Huchuy Qosqo (Little Cusco). Huchuy Qosqo is a living village set several hundred meters above the Valley in beautiful green rolling hills. To get there, I hopped on a bus at one bridge across the river, got off at the next bridge and hiked up an unlikely trail up the hillside. When I first arrived on the mesa, I had views of glaciers and the Valley below. Women were herding cows, horses and sheep and men were working in the fields. But, I didn´t see the promised ruins. After walking around a bit more, I realized I was standing on an Incan terrace. Soon, more walls, staircases and terraces began to appear out of the fields. It was really incredible. The whole place was awash in wildflowers: lupines, daisies, black-eyed susans and more. And, the views were spectacular. To get back to the Valley floor, I took a different route which landed me in a small village where a kind old man who was herding an uncooperative cow up the road showed me a shortcut through the fields. Loosely translated, he said 'why are you going this way? everyone goes on that path over there. no sense in wasting energy.'
This weekend I've been in Ollantaytambo, near the end of the road to Machu Picchu. More ruins, more terraces and a very interesting museum. After a brief stop in Chincheros to see the frescos on a church that was built over an Incan palace, I came back to Cusco. I'll be staying here until Mel and company arrive next Saturday.