Into the Sacred Valley

Does every trip have one of those days where you climb the mountain three times before you find where you’re going? Maybe only Nancy Crow’s trips. Today was that day for Peru. We started out on the bus headed for Amaru, where a group of weavers is continuing their village’s traditional style of weaving. There will be no report on Cuzco from yesterday because I was stricken with violent food poisoning on Tuesday night and missed all of yesterday’s explorations. But back to today.

After about an hour of driving on harrowing, narrow dirt roads, we encountered our first obstacle. A large bulldozer in the road. And a car in the ditch. Our guide talked the bulldozer into backing up, some of the men helped lift the car back onto the road, but we learned we were going the wrong way. So the bus had to turn around as well.

Now we head in a different direction. In another 30 minutes we come to a washed out bridge with a river running through the road. No way is the driver going to take his bus through the water. But again, we are going the wrong way, so it was just as well. We picked up a local young man who actually knew how to get where we were headed. And very soon (all this on fear-inducing roads with drop offs on the side you don’t even want to think about) we arrived at Amaru.

We were greeted like royalty. The whole group of weavers came out to greet us with music, to shake our hands in welcome and shower us with flower petals. Through our translator they explained their traditional process for shearing the alpacas, spinning and dyeing the yarns with natural dyes and gave us weaving demonstrations.

Next they invited us to lunch. They brought out a large mound of dried fava beans, multiple varieties of potatoes and large kernel corn. They also had quinoa soup and chicha, their version of beer for us to try. They played more music, asked us all to dance and our departure was as ceremonial as our arrival.

After lunch, we visited the large cooperative, Awana Kancha, the project where all the 16 villages work together to sell their weaving. There were more demonstrations on how they dye the fiber and we got to feed and play with the llamas and alpacas. They are so beautiful and friendly. Every one has a different face, just like people. I could have stayed with them for hours.

We will return to Pisac in the Sacred Valley on Sunday. It was difficult to see the remains of the destruction from January’s floods. I remember hearing that Machu Picchu was closed from mudslides, but didn’t really think so much about the human toll of the flooding. We don’t really get much South American news in the US. Many lives were lost and the damage to homes, roads, bridges and businesses in the Sacred Valley was extensive. There is still repair work going on everywhere.

Tomorrow we leave early for Aguas Calientes and Machu Picchu where I think there is no internet. Meanwhile, if you want to read more about the food, check out Tastemonials.