PEOPLE OF PERU, THANK YOU

Here I would like to say a word on the marvellous Peruvian people who have consistently welcomed us with great kindness since we entered Peru ( and it has been the same in Ecuador)

These people work, for most of them, like donkeys ( theyr carry up to 40kg on their back). In towns, shops open at 7 and close late. In the countryside, people often have more than one activity to survive and some of the ones we met did crafts in the weeks 12 hours a day and then worked in their field to eat from 4 in the morning at the week end.

Despite this hard life, we have never felt jealousy. Of course, you can see than they can hardly believe their ears when we tell them we are on a 10 months holidays, but they are mostly interested and curious rather than envious. They are quick to laugh, especially when children are around.

A happy man.

Can somebody tell me why the captain of the little boat who took us back to Puno on 3 hours journey never stopped smiling, despite his old boat that didn't seem that reliable ?

These lovely women served us with a delicious lunch at the market and didn't try to charge more, nor did they seem to wonder what on earth we were doing here, in the middle of a peruvian crowd. Here, we don't feel odd, because people make us feel welcome.

Here is a young lady who was "hitch hiking" along the road in colca. We gave here a lift; she was going to walk 4km to the next village ! Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the bravest of us all ?

The Altiplano and Colca Canyon

At 4500m... we tried to do a lessons with children in one of these beautiful sceneries... it's just impossible, too high, we all end up with a headache !

Beware Vicunas ! ( see end of Aug for pics)

Colca Canyon, with its 1500 years old terrasses, 1000 years before the Incas.

Here lives the incredicbly huge Condor... how small we look compared to its 3m wide wings !

Minka's craftmen 3 - The weavers in Taquile Island, lake Titicaca

Taquile, an Island 10km long and 3km wide, with an independant status. The 6 communities here are autonomous and finance their expenses with tourism. 1000 tourists come to visit everyday in peak season and pay a modest tax (1,25 euro) that covers health expenses and maintenance of the roads and school for the 2000 inhabitants. Here, no tax, but.... to become a resident, you have to marry a native and to do so, be allowed by the "parliament" of the Island.... well protected !

Here no cars, bicycle, donkeys or horse, alost no cows : everything is transported on men's back !

A very traditional way of living. Fortunately, we were in the most remote part of the Island hosted in this mud house ......

......by Isidro ( above) and his family ( Alipio, son in law and Alex, grandson). Here, Isidro is knitting a traditional hat in Sheep's wool. All the men here knit...

...while women weave, a complicated skill that you learn from the age of 6, but don't complete until the age of 10. The patterns are absolutely beautiful. Unfortunetely, these type of craft is not so much in demand in the west, so now Alipio ( who has a disabled son) and his family rely on the touristic revenues to make a living. They are a truly lovely family, make delicious food, house us very nicely and live in the nicest part of the island. Minka and a Spanish charity made this activity possible by helping the community to build a small harbour near their community and a paved way to help tourists access the beach and other lovely places of this part of the island. They look very happy now.

Lake Titicaca - Uros islands

Very enthuiastic for a ride on a tricycle to Puno harbour where we board a boat to

the mythic Titicaca lake, almost a see with 175km long and around 40 wide, but still it is fresh water and waht you mostly fish here are delicious trouts. Here, the traditionnal boats amongst the totoras, the rush (joncs), which are used to make all sorts of things, including...

artificial islands called the Uros Islands, today only preserved for the tourist's sake.

Here is how it works : on squares of "totora's " roots ( the mud at the bottom) bound together, you pile up your Totoras (rush, joncs) and then build some rush houses. Traditionally, there were 10 of these artificial islands, but today, the touristic demand is so great, that they are up to 53 islands !

I love my Alpaca !

Isn't is beautiful, my new Alpaca sweater !

Flamingo, a symbol of Peru, which is said to have inspired the Red white red flag, because when they fly with their red wings and whicte body, you can see this flag... and it is beautiful.

Aaah ! still working on a new jumper for Stephane... can't stop working, he needs it for tomorrow !

And to say that we have to be shaved for Stephane !!!! He'll be warm, but we'll be freezing at his altitude (3800m)!

Minka's craftmen - 2 - Communities Knitting Alpaca wool

Here, we are on the Altiplano, on of the highest and poorest regions of Peru.At this time of the year, it is deseperatly dry and people are waiting for rain to come. Unfortunately this year, the rain is late. It should have started a few weeks ago to allow sowing. People are starting go get worried.

Marcella, with whom we were staying, has a little herd of small sheep, which Thomas is happy to look after.

Here are the women who buy the Alpaca wool, spin and knit it. They are organized in 14 communities, all leaving around a lake, in a pampa-like vegetation constiting of high grass. Most of them don't own the alpacas.

They learn the designs from Minka in Lima where they go, two by two for a month of training and return to teach the rest of the communities. Among the products they knit are jumpers, many of very modern and western cut, lovely gloves and scarfs and all sort of teddies, some of these I have sold with Traidcraft over the years.
They spin raw alpaca wool which is never dyed (natural colours include white, beige, brown, grey, black) and only wash it when the product if finished. These women, and men just never stop working, Whenever you see them, in the fields, at home, looking after their children, you see them spinning or knitting. A nice jumper is a week work from the raw wool to your back !

Before working with fairtrade, they use to have to sell there work at the market of the nearest city, Juliaca. To have a chance to sell, they would have to walk 2 to 4 hours and get there very early, which was by 2 o clock in the morning.

Here children have access to school but life remains very hard. No electricity but a battery that you have to charge every other week ( the sun sets at around 5:30), no tap but a well, no cupboards but clothes hung on a rope, bed for guests (us !) on the floor, no bricks, but mud houses, no tiles but thatched roofs that you replace every 2 years, no diner except a Chuno soup (dried potatoes from last year !), no gaz.....

....but cooking on a fire fuelled by caw's dung ( here, a big reserve !).

Now, if you've showered this morning, used your cooker and used a light, had a fresh "covent garden" soup, you can call yourself lucky !

A pause in beautiful Cuzco

This was once the Inca capital city high up in the Andes (3400m), completely detroyed and beautifully built anew by the Spanish. A very elegant architecture and, still now a rich city, all built in ocre bricks.

After 4500km, we need a bit of a pause, and this is a great place to do it.

The Peruvian love parades. They have all sorts of them and very often. Military, police, colleges and even primary school take part. Here, some younger children all dressed up. Usually, it is more formal though ! And the parade goes on for a long long time !

How nice to make a new friend. This little girl is named Romane and is 8, just like ours ! Needless to say, our children talk a lot about their friends and miss them. At last somebody to play with... and luckily, we stayed in this campsite a week, time to play with the hens and ducks, do some cooking, put up a show....and chat chat chat chat ! Tom also had a little friend: Sam, and they got on very well together, made lots of potions and fought lots of wars. They even bought the same football shirts to support the Peruvian team ! Merci les Bernard !

Here is the family at one of its numerous lunch stop at a corner shop selling fried chicken, chips and noodles. Even Thomas loves it... that's to say how good it is! We also love not to cook, just chating with the chicken fryer... On the practical side, it also allows to feed the family on 2,5 euros. Not bad !

Where on earth are they ? Our itinary on Peru as of 26th of Sept

We entered Peru on the 16th of August by the northern border and made our way down to Cuzco, then lake Titicaca. We are in Arequipa on the 26th of Sept and are now heading to Bolivia

The Machu Picchu at last !

With its morning mist, the Machu Picchu has a mysterious atmosphere, especially lost as it is in the middle of a high up jungle. You can't reach it by road, you have to take the train and then a bus that takes narrow dusty road. It is immense and very moving when you reach it early morning before the crowd ( we woke up at 4:30, it was a real adventure for the children !)

History : mystery remains about Machu Picchu : why was it built and why abadonned and forgotten for so many years ? Indeed it was saved by the fact that Pissaro who conqueered Peru never knew about it.

It was built around 1450 and housed around 1000 people. It is divided into the agrarian sector where everything was cultivated on terrasses well irrigated, and the part reserved to the nobles.

hurray ! we did it !

We simply had to do this one ! The lamas are not at all interested in company, they don't even look at you.... quite arrogant as pictured in Tintin's avdentures.

Completely undisturbed by " the weight of history " or the superb scenery of the place.

good pics

Romane making ocarinas

Claudio, Valentina and family in the camper.... loved it, although when I said how wide our bed is (1.07m), they were not so sure !

Tasting the Coca leaves to help with altitude sickness... funny, after 5 leaves you feel like you've had an anesteatics from the dentist!

Aren't we lovely with our new sweaters from the market ? At the top of some high Inca ruins in Ollantaytambo.

Minka's craftsmen - 1 - the potters

IN the two days we spent with the craftmen, we visited three different type of crafts. Each time, it is a group of 8 to 12 craftmen who work together in a cooperative-type structure.

The first stop is at Cuyo Chico where they make clay jewelery. It's amazing how much you can do simply with the earth you find around you. 3 types of clay are used, but the main one, is the one you can find in the field next door ( the one on the picture) a beige type. There is also a white one from higher mountains and a red type one from Cuzco, just one hour drive from here.

On this picture clay beads are made from the thin rolls of clay. As you roll them into a mould beads all kind of shapes are made, which will then be cooked and painted with non toxic paint, as demanded by Minka to fulfill international safelty standard. We all had a try with not so much success.

This is Cuyo grande, the next village up, where we stayed. All the houses are made of clay mixed with hay, but uncooked : the Adobe bricks ( you can see some here in the foreground, on the right). Most roofs have tiles, but some are thatched as you see on the picture : roofs will then have to be changed every two years.

In our next visit, we saw people making ointements (here on the picture) and essential oils from herbs around. One of them is the Eucalyptus, which is used here for many things, above all building house and furniture. For around a mug of essential oil, you need 100kg of Eucalyptus leaves. The process works a little bit as a still ( alambic).

Finally, Claudio and Valentina, our hosts showed us how to make Ocarinas. From clay, they mould then assemble the hollow Ocarina that they pierce (here on the picture) to make it into a music instrument. There paintings on the dried ocarinas ( which are of multiple shapes : birds, flat, lamas....) are colourful and very diverse. They have a lovely taste and are real artists. You can feel that this craftsmanship has been in this area for a long time.

Thanks to fairtrade, they are now able to sell at a fair price and be actually paid for their work, whereas before the shopkeepers and middlemen from Pisac ( the nearby town which has a huge turistic market) would buy their work for nothing and pay only half of the price to start with, and the rest... they'd have to wait sometimes a while.