On to Cusco and Beyond

Hi Everybody,

We hope this finds you all well and healthy!

This morning, we enjoyed a 6 am breakfast again in the rooftop restaurant of our Lima Hotel. Here's the view we were seeing as we munched. Not too shabby...

Our flight into Cusco was - fortunately - uneventful. Cusco is situated high up in the Andes Mountains, and as we approached, we began to see dramatic snow-capped peaks and lush, green valleys. Upon landing, it was immediately apparent that we were at a very high altitude. And indeed we were! The airport sits at almost 12,000 feet above sea level. Breathing was labored; you could palpably feel the thinness of the air, and we felt somewhat dizzy and headachy. Our new guide, Gilmar, took us into a seating lounge for a cup of coca tea, something the locals use to combat altitude sickness. It seemed to have an immediate effect, but it was hard to tell if that was a psychological thing or if it actually helped! We've both had slight headaches all day though.

We next had an hour's drive through the Andes Mountains to a small village called Chincherra. The drive to Chincherra was very scenic as we wound up the mountain from the valley that Cusco sits in. Peru is still quite poor and we saw mostly small adobe homes along the drive. In fact, adobe is the prime building material all through this area. Our guide explained to us that it sometimes takes years for a family to finish building even one of these handmade adobe homes as they can only build a little each year at the end of the harvest season, which is the only time they have ANY cash money at all. Everything else is done by barter.

Upon arriving at Chincherra we visited a woman who operates a small weaving business. She has created jobs for many local women by teaching them how to weave lovely and intricate blankets, ponchos, belts, scarves and other assorted articles from Alpaca and sheep's wool, employing the ancient Incan techniques. The ladies gave us a fascinating and detailed demonstration of the techniques for every step of the long process, from the spinning and pulling of the thread, to the cleaning and dying processes as shown below...

to choosing of color palettes of wool, and finally the weaving process itself. There are many different types of looms the women utilize. One interesting method is the backstrap loom, where the women literally tie their respective looms around a central pole or tree and secure the looms around their backs as they sit, weave and socialize. Pictured here is another method where the women do the work on smaller items with the looms in front of them...

When you see how much work is involved in making just a small item, the prices seem almost too little for these goods. The patterns are highly developed and absolutely exquisite!

We need to stop here for the night. More tomorrow as we can.

Good night! Love to everyone,

David and Karen