[
CCACCACCOLLO,
PERU
]
PERU PERUSING Mai Nguyen lays out a plan for skipping Machu Picchu and instead finding ways to support local artisans and womenrun businesses outside the big Peruvian destinations.
1420 CE
The Incas took over the Sacred Valley
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60
Quechua women work as weavers
DOES THIS LOOK good on me?” I ask a fellow traveller. I’m draped in a luxuriously soft scarf made of local alpaca wool, but I can’t decide if I want to get the pink and black diamond-patterned scarf or the purple one with three teal stripes going down the middle. I count the Peruvian sol in my wallet to see if I have enough to buy both but I don’t. I have to pick just one. I’m at a market in Ccaccaccollo, a small village in the Sacred Valley of Peru, and there are hundreds of alpaca garments here. There are sweaters for babies, scarves for men and socks for all sizes of feet. If shoppers aren’t convinced of the material’s authenticity, all >
24 km
Distance to Cusco from Ccaccaccollo
Words by MAI NGUYEN Oana Dragan
RIGHT: Weaving is a communal activity here, both to make it easier to share materials and equipment but also for the social benefit of working together
