Sunday was my day off and my friend Mary and I decided to get out of town and explore somewhere new. Chinchero Peru is part of the district of Urabumba, a little town you might cruise right through on your way to Ollatatambo if you didn't know to stop. Sitting at 12,400 feet in elevation, Chinchero is known to the Inca as the birthplace of the rainbow, and is one of the oldest towns in Peru. Chinchero is surrounded by snow-capped mountains and contains a little market run by local families that make their living demonstrating the ancient traditional art of dying and spinning yarn into scarves, blankets, tapestries, hats, and many more useful things.
The Air Smelled Like Flowers
When we arrived in Chinchero it was a beautiful day, flowers everywhere we turned made the air considerably better than that of Cusco, and the green of the trees and the growing crops a beautiful contrast to the clouds outling the snowy mountains off in the distance.
Little Family Farms
At the market we were met with several friendly women dressed in traditional Andean garb and eager to show off their precious handicrafts to us. Every item we gave half a glance was pulled out and displayed, wrapped around us as we were ushered over to the mirror to see how beautiful we were. (According to them haha.) It was also a great opportunity to practice my Spanish as they were eager to talk about the process, and didn't speak any English. I ended up buying quite a few beautiful items for my friendly and family back home. You can't get better than handmade and seeing exactly where the product comes from!
After we paid, a tour bus rolled up and unloaded some people, and we were treated to fresh brewed herbal tea and a demonstration on the womens' traditional dying, spinning, and weaving techniques. Andean girls begin to learn this method at about 6 years old and spend several hours each day at the trade. Men do not participate in this tradition.
Dying Demonstration
Home Spun Yarn
Dying Tools
After the demonstration we were feeling adventurous and took of down a random dirt road to see what the outskirts of the city had to offer. It would have been a great night for camping if we would have been prepared! Outside the buildings of the city there was nothing to block the view of the stoic mountains in the distance, the snow seeming out of place next to all the vibrant growing thing around us. Along the way we made a bunch of animals friends, all quite friendly being used to people walking by on their way to town.
Sheep and Pig Friends
Guardian of the Dirt Road @.@
At the end of our walk Mary and I were famished, and stopped in one of the local hole in the wall restaurants and had a quick dinner before heading home. Potatoes, rice and salad, the only vegetarian meal that seems to be available outside of big cities ;) (Scroll down and check out my article on this titled, 'Salad Cried the Crabby Old Man')
We had to wait a while on the side of the road before a bus finally stopped to let us on. It was packed with locals, and there was no more room so I had to sit atop a mountain of bagged potatoes all the way back to Cusco. The women in the front of the bus giggled good naturally as I climbed up. This really completed the day for me, I felt a though I was on a thrown of vegetables XD As Peru is thought to be birthplace of potatoes, and contains more than 4,000 different varieties, whats more authentic than that?
Not all the Mountains Were Snowy
Thanks for reading! Peru is a beautiful country with a diverse ecosystem, and I encourage everyone to visit it someday, even if it's only for a couple weeks. And if you are a veg enthusiast like me, its a great place to ALWAYS have access to fresh fruit. I hope wherever you are in the world that you are having a beautiful day. :)
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