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Goshen College

Visit to a textile workshop and the ruins of Chinchero

October 25, 2016

Monday, Oct. 10

The women apply the dyes to the wool.
The women apply the dyes to the wool.

After breakfast and bidding adios to our Mennonite host families in Lucre and Huacarpay, we traveled to the small town of Chinchero.  At many of the other tourist sites we had been impressed by vendors selling clothing with vibrant colors and designs.  Here we had a workshop where local women showed us the entire process for making these fabrics, starting with the natural sources of the dyes and continuing to the loom.

The Incas described Chinchero as the birthplace of the rainbow.  There was an Incan palace here, but the early Spanish tore it down and built a church on top of the foundation.  Inside the church we saw how the artwork, at a glance, looked typically baroque.  Closer inspections show, however, that many Andean plants and figures are included in the details and designs.

Outside the church are Incan terraces, still used for farming, and the ruins of what is thought to have been a country resort for one of the Incan emperors.  If indeed it was a resort, it had outstanding views of the valley and surrounding mountains.

After Chinchero we briefly visited the stunning concentric agricultural terraces of Moray.   With a variety of different microclimates between the lowest and the top terraces, archeologists suspect the Incas may have used this as a laboratory to study which climates were best suited for different crops.

 

Achieng and Katie have breakfast with their Mennonite host family in Lucre.
With the rest of the family in their home.
Assorted natural materials used for dying alpaca and sheep wool.
The teacher shows how some dyes can be changed by using materials to vary the pH.
The women apply the dyes to the wool.
She said this tool used with the loom comes from the bone of “a tourist who didn’t buy anything after the demonstration.”
We all did what was needed to leave with all our bones.
Rachel and Alex at the ruins of Chincheros.
The ruins at Chincheros had a stunning backdrop against the mist-covered mountains.
Doug in front of the terraces at Moray.