Continuing our journey ...
...we passed the town of Urumbamba in the Sacred Valley that we saw from the air the day we flew into Cusco.
The beautiful peaceful Sacred Valley. Such a nice place to be.
...natural washing detergent. And it really did make those whites whiter!!!
Next, the spinning of the wool into yarn.
Various locally grown products used to create coloured dyes include black corn, various roots and leaves (including the introduced eucalyptus leaves, thank you Australia), and some little critters that inhabit cactuses that when crushed to death produce that amazing crimson colour so popular here.
And the extended boiling process that makes the colours stay.
Finally the weaving itself.
And of course, more ruins. The ruins at Chinchero consist of a series of nested terraces rising up to a plateau upon which sits a church built in the early 1600's.
There on the wide Inca plateau were ladies with hundreds of potatoes (or papa as they are known locally (the same name as for father and pope)) spread out in the sun.
Some modern Incas restoring their ancestors work.
...we passed the town of Urumbamba in the Sacred Valley that we saw from the air the day we flew into Cusco.
The beautiful peaceful Sacred Valley. Such a nice place to be.
In the town of Chinchero we visited a textile workshop and enjoyed a demonstration of the processes involved in creating those vibrant traditional fabrics. First, how do they clean that alpaca wool? After all, the alpacas tend to hang out in some pretty dusty places. The young lady demonstrated how they scrape a particular type of local wood in a bowl of water and, hey-presto...
...natural washing detergent. And it really did make those whites whiter!!!
Next, the spinning of the wool into yarn.
Various locally grown products used to create coloured dyes include black corn, various roots and leaves (including the introduced eucalyptus leaves, thank you Australia), and some little critters that inhabit cactuses that when crushed to death produce that amazing crimson colour so popular here.
And the extended boiling process that makes the colours stay.
Finally the weaving itself.
"And the work of their hands my chosen ones will enjoy to the full."
And of course, more ruins. The ruins at Chinchero consist of a series of nested terraces rising up to a plateau upon which sits a church built in the early 1600's.
There on the wide Inca plateau were ladies with hundreds of potatoes (or papa as they are known locally (the same name as for father and pope)) spread out in the sun.
"Chuño (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈtʃuɲo]) is a freeze-dried potato product traditionally made by Quechua and Aymara communities of Bolivia and Peru,[1] and is known in various countries of South America, including Argentina, Bolivia, Chile and Peru. It is a five-day process, obtained by exposing a frost-resistant variety of potatoes to the very low night temperatures of the Andean Altiplano, freezing them, and subsequently exposing them to the intense sunlight of the day (this being the traditional process). The word comes from Quechua ch'uñu, meaning 'frozen potato' ('wrinkled' in the dialects of the Junín Region)." Wikipedia
And while we are learning interesting facts about potatoes here's one that will either fascinate or bore you. Did you know that there are some 3800 varieties of potatoes in Peru???
Some modern Incas restoring their ancestors work.
Now for the long trek home to pack and board the bus to Arequipa, the third phase of our sojourn.
Lloydnalex
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