Weaving, from the beginning. And they so were willing to let me photograph anything I wanted for the activity centers, and talk to me about it all.
Incredibly beautiful work! And all done in a stunning setting of a sunny courtyard.
She's working on a backstrap loom, probably making a faja or type of belt.
All the dyes they use they produce here, from natural ingredients. This is a type of vine, a liana, and it makes this beautiful peach color.
This is a herb known locally as ccolle. It reminds me of manzanilla.
This lady was so sweet! She was in charge of that day's dyeing. She was using chilca to make a dark green wool. This was sheep's wool.
Look at those braids! And they seemed to be having so much fun. Because this is a long, wide frame, they throw the balls of yarn back and forth.
I bought several textiles. Each activity center has two, one made of natural alpaca wool to show the range of alpaca colors (beige, white, blue-grey) and one made of dyed alpaca wool, using all the colors they make there. I also got two "samples," small projects by young girls learning to weave, still on the frames.
Then we were off again. I'm not sure exactly where we stopped, but it was a waka somewhere on the Chinchaysuyu road. A lot of tobacco is grown in this region now.
Incredible how much of the road and its structures still stand! Look at these terraces!!
I love this one -- seeing how the road is cut into the hill to make the climb more reasonable. I sent it to a friend because it was Tour de France time, and this made me think of Alpe d'Huez.
Yes, the Chinchaysuyu road. We walked it for a little while.
Original retaining walls. We also saw the remains of original drainage ditches and a chaska wasi -- one of the houses that the messenger runners used.
Here we are!
On the way back to Cusco we stopped at a bridge that was reconstructed in 1791 but had been one of the purification spots for Cusco.
A long and full day. I needed sleep, as I had a 5:30a pickup the next morning for Machu Picchu.
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