Chinchero: Part Two

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Congratulations! You have waited until today to read this post! I bet you are sitting on the edge of your seat because you are so excited to hear what we did….

After our farming activity, we went to the family’s workshop to learn how to weave alpaca, sheep and llama wool.

When we arrived at the workshop, we looked at all of the handmade things they had woven. Everything was beautiful! There were colourful hats, scarves,mitts, socks, table cloths, bags and a lot more!

All of the alpaca wool things
All of the alpaca wool things

They also brought in two alpacas. The difference between an alpaca and a llama, is that llamas have big ears, their necks are longer, and the tail is pointing up. The alpacas are the opposite.

Then it was time for lunch! The family cooked an amazing lunch with 2 different kinds of soups and more! It was delicious!

After lunch, we started working on the threads and natural dyes.

The first thing you have to do is wash the wool. In this case, we used sheep wool which was really dirty. The family uses a special root that they call ” Inca Shampoo” to wash all of their wool. First they grated part of the root and mixed it with hot water until it was soapy.  When they finished washing the wool, it was super clean.

Inca shampoo is natural and useful, but one can only find it by climbing up a mountain and hiking for three hours. Once you have the root and you return home, you will probably want to use your Inca shampoo right away!

After washing the wool and drying it, the ladies showed us how they spin the wool into thread.

Next they dyed the wool with natural dyes. These dyes were made out of leaves, flowers, insects, peppers, berries and many more things mixed with hot water and then left to boil.

After the dyeing process, it was time to start weaving. The ladies showed us how to make the loom for a belt and let us try weaving.  It was fun!

Then they let each of us make a bracelet to take home.

Making bracelets
Making bracelets
Weaving and making bracelets
Weaving and making bracelets

After all of the weaving, my parents bought socks, mittens and hat-scarves to stay warm for our upcoming trek. The clothing is so warm and comfortable!

It was a really fun day and reminded me of other places we have seen, such as the silk weaving in Vietnam and the lotus silk weaving in Cambodia. This one was very different because everything was made by hand and not a large loom.

We had a great day meeting the family and learning all about their ways of life. It was really interesting and a lot of fun!

Group photo with the alpacas!
Group photo with the alpacas!

P.S. Don’t worry, I wont leave you on a cliff hanger again…  For now. 🙂

The grandmother
The grandmother

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Comments

6 responses to “Chinchero: Part Two”

  1. Hi Zoe,
    That was a real cliff hanger! This blog was very interesting. Did they tell you the name of the root that was used for washing the wool? I loved all info on washing, dyeing, and weaving the wool. Great Photos! Love, Baba

    1. Hi!

      They did tell us the name of the root, but we were not able remember it. I am glad you liked the post! 🙂

  2. Herta Park Avatar
    Herta Park

    Crafts and skills that you would probably never learn in a western setting. Fun and so interesting. Thanks again and again! WOnder how they make those amazing hats?!?

    1. Hi!

      They make many beautiful things. I have no clue how they make those hats. It’s amazing!

  3. Terry Gelinas Avatar
    Terry Gelinas

    So colourful. And that is very interesting about the Inca soap!

    1. Hi!

      The Inca shampoo is awesome because it is natural and it works really, really well!

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