Llamas y Montañas

We've finished our first week! 

Here's how we finished our week:

THURDAY

We visited Awana Kancha, a living museum that preserves the knowledge of Peruvian traditional textiles, and met our amazing guide Amanda. Awana Kancha, which means ''Place of Weaving,'' exists through the collaboration of more than 10 local communities and families eager to share their inheritance with the world. 

Our explorers were first educated on the 4 variety of camelids local to the Andes - alpaca, vicuña, llama and guanaco. At first, the majority were hesitant to feed the alpaca and llama, but then we couldn't pull them away! They were even VERY lucky to see a guanaco, as these creatures prefer to be in much higher altitudes and are not as numerous as they once were. 

Amanda then took us to the part of the museum to explain the process of shearing, gathering, washing and treating the animal's fleece. Some of the local community members demonstrated how to turn wool into yarn and how to use the drop spindle to create their artwork. 

FRIDAY

We finally went on our first hike to Parque Arqueológico de Pisac! Our hike was spearheaded by Victor and Dante, who explained the local history. We also learned about the Apus, mountain spirits, and the meaning of Pisac, partridge - because they use be abundant here. 

Now off to Cusco for the day!