Peru-A Trip to the Cooperative of Weavers at Awana Wasi Tocapo

While we were in Peru, we talked to several people about where to get quality goods at a good price. They all said “go to Chinchero.”

On Sunday, the day we were heading to the area, we asked our guide, Alvero, if he thought the market at Chinchero was a good idea.  He suggested that, besides the market, we go to a cooperative of weavers.  And that’s how we ended up at the Association of Woman Weavers of Chinchero, Awana Wasi Tocapo.

Upon arriving, we were given a demonstration of how alpaca hair is transformed into beautiful textiles.  Below are some of the highlights.  (Click on the picture to bring up bigger versions)

A demonstration on how to make the alpaca hair into yarn by twirling it on a spindle.  It takes several hours to make a each ball of yarn shown below.

The red yarn is made by grinding up a type of bug.

Different shades are made by adding salts to the dye, which makes it lighter.

Blue is made by combining 3 different roots and boiling it for 21 days.

Here are different shades of green, colored from leaves.

A full rainbow of colors.

A finished table runner. This took approximately 3 and a half months to make.

Some people drive a hard bargain. These kids made some bracelets.

I’ll put together the other Chinchero pictures in a different post.

If you’d like to read more about our trip, see these other posts in the series:

• Miraflores
• Atavana Wasi Tocapo (This Page)
• (Others being rebuit for this platform)