My Time in Huancayo:
Wow, two weeks alone in Huancayo flew by, with me racing from city to city, class to class. My head is now swirling with verb conjugations and formulas for dying wool.
For two weeks my mornings were spent in Hualhuas studying textiles. The first week I wove a bag on a standard 2 pedal floor loom. Very simple, and was more or less a review of what I learned at home. The second week was more exciting because I learned two new things.
One: Spinning wool directly from the alpaca, using a 10 inch stick of wood with a small weight at the bottom (the weight adds to the momentum of the spin and prevents the wool from sliding off the stick.) In quechua, this ancient device is called a puchca. Cultures all over the world used this process of spinning before the invention of the wheel, so learning was exciting because of the simplicity and the antiquity of the process. And now, I can one day make something with the whole process being made by me, beside the growing of the wool. If only....
Two: The rest of the week I learned how to dye various colors using all natural products; bugs, minerals, and plants. With a friendly peruvian family who spoke only spanish and quechua, we dyed pink and purple with the blood of cochanilla, a tiny bug that lives on cacti. And with a plant called chilca, which we ourselves picked 2.5 kilos of in the stunning counrtyside, we made two shades of green and yellow. Other things needed for dying: fire, big pot, and time. The minerals prevent the dyes from running when washed, and also make darker shades.
After textile class, I would flag down a collectivo to Huancayo and rush back to the hostal for lunch. WIth no time for a break, I would cross the street for three hours of Spanish class in the afternoon. I learned so much and now just have to memorize it all so I can actually use it! The hard part... Hopefully it is only a matter of months before I am able to speak Spanish well.
Another great thing about Huancayo was that I met alot of great people, almost all of which I have already crossed paths with in Cusco, after only being here for 4 days now. Everyone told me that Cusco was beautiful, but I never imagined. All you travellers (Josh, Steph) that have excluded Peru on your must see list have really fooled yourself. When I first arrived I felt like crying it was so gorgeous, (this is after two weeks of ugly huancayo, remember).
The Plan in Cusco:
Of course we are going to see Maccu Piccu, but we have decided against the 4 day Inca Trail hike because of the high price and amount of turistas. Instead, we are going to do a 4 day hike to another inca ruin called Choquequirao, which is less touristy and a quarter of the price.
In the meantime we are just chilling out, visiting ruins, meeting with friends from Huancayo, and eating delicious food!
Photos of Cusco to come soon,
Jess
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