A textile lesson, historical stories & Inca ruins – A day-long venture through the Sacred Valley of the Incas

On this day we had the opportunity to learn much about the rich history of Cusco and Peru. As I was not feeling 100% well I still decided it was a day I could not miss. We began our adventure traveling by bus to each of the towns we were scheduled to visit along the Sacred Valley of the Incas (a narrow valley that stretches along the Urubamba river and connects Cusco with Machu Picchu). Our first stop was the town of Chinchero, where we learned from a native woman the process for making their beautiful textile items. She explained as well as demonstrated the unique process from start to finish; starting with sheering the sheep, cleaning the wool in several hot water bathes using the yucca plant as a cleaner, creating gorgeous thread colors made from native plants and insects and soaking the thread in the hot colored water for intervals of time as well as mixture in stone minerals to allow the colors to stay permanent, and lastly spinning the thread by hand. These women make many beautiful clothes and accessory items such as sweaters, wraps (lliclla, in Quechua), ponchos, scarves, gloves, hats, as well as conventional items such as table runners. After the textile demonstration we had the opportunity to purchase hand-made textile items from the family; I bought a sweater for my father and a hat for my brother. It was extremely neat to see the full process to make all the colorful clothing items. 

Ready to choose

Beautiful handcrafted attire

During our visit in Chinchero, we also toured a beautiful chapel: the Church of Nuestra Señora de la Natividad (Our Lady of the Nativity), originally founded as Nuestra Señora de Monserrat (Our Lady of Monserrat) and built between 1570 and 1607. At this chapel many weddings take place, and I happened to witness two brides walking throughout the gorgeous outside architecture. At the chapel I became nauseated (high altitude illness) and needed to sit and rest. Dr. Aliaga was very kind to stay behind from the group to comfort me. During this time a native elder woman came to me to offer me a natural remedy to help ease my sick feeling. She was so kind to show me the plant called ruda and encouraged me to rub the leaves in my palm and smell the aroma. It surely helped with my nausea and she was so sweet to give me a bag full of the plant for the continuation of my travels throughout the remainder of the day. Sincere kindness and generosity are most definitely the character traits of many of the people I have come into acquaintance with in Peru. This elderly woman is just one of the many stories I have to share telling the sweetness of the people of Peru. To return the generosity to this native woman, I bought a hat from her collection of beautiful handmade hats. 

Throughout the rest of our Sunday journey among the towns and ruins within the Sacred Valley, we ate lunch at a gorgeous Peruvian buffet before traveling to visit the Inca ruins of Ollantaytambo and Pisac. On our bus ride to each destination our fabulous and well historically informed guide, Fernando, explained the many features regarding the area of lands we were going to see as well as the history of the Incas during the 1400’s. I have come to learn the Incas were very smart when it came to farming. They were able to navigate by foot through the Andes using the resources within the land and the mountainous region to build some pretty remarkable agricultural systems for what are today the most breath taking sights. Also, as the story goes, I learned the king was of course the highest in status; it was known that to keep the blood line pure within the king’s family, he would marry his sisters. The king had many wives, along the line of 400, and was the only person who could marry someone from another status, such as the nobles or the Qechwa natives. The king was known to only ask a woman once for marriage, giving her the complete opportunity for her and her family to advance in status or she could decline and the king would allow her to become well educated though no one within her family line would be asked by the king for marriage again. I found the history of the Incas to be extremely fascinating when realizing they were the natives to this land just as the Native Americans were in North America. The Incas were truly remarkable in that the three rules they were governed by were: do not steal, do not lie, and do not be lazy - three golden rules for humanity and death would come to those who were to break them. 

In conclusion, this Sunday venture through Peru’s history and standing to view these remarkable ruins is most certainly unforgettable and the sincere kindness of the native people is completely welcoming and homey. Three words – I love Peru!

--Amanda Cardwell