Colours Au'Natural... a.k.a. Pee Pee

Started work with the weavers this week... and LORDY! i'm bushed!!! (just by watching and documenting! not even WORKING, other than a stir of the dye pot from time to time!)

it's incredible the amount of time and effort these ladies put into each step of the process.

• From sheering, (which i get to witness on monday!)
• to spinning the yarn,
• to collecting plants and insects to create the dye,
• to building the fires,
• to dying the yarn,
• to sometimes adding another secret ingredient to make vibrant colors like hot pink and neon orange (yes, still very much natural!),
• and finally to weaving intricate patterns with wooden looms... months and months of work!

The whole time i stand there watching with my mouth gaping in amazement... i can't help but think, "how can you possibly sustain yourselves?!"

Which is why i am SO grateful to be here, working to get their products into higher-end markets, to actually create fair wages for their incredible work! All too often, the artisans in Cusco (and most developing areas i'd assume) are happy to just make a sell. Like, oh?? You'll buy this purse for 30 soles?? Done! Sweet! I just made 10 bucks! ...and i'll just ignore the fact that this purse took 6 months of prep work, 1o soles worth of ingredients, and 3 weeks of actual weaving...

I'm very glad to have the World of Good fair wage calculator as a reference point. It's helping me try to figure out correct pricing for the products. And Loraypo might even be the 135th artisan group to join the W.O.G. line!!!!!!! I will have a conversation with their Director of Sales this week! zOMGz dream come truuuuue!!!!! but more locally, i also plan to visit the two very quality fairtrade shops in Cusco and strike a distribution deal. AND... i need to chat with some tourist agencies about setting up tours to the Loraypo facility for live expos (Sunday's would be best since Chinchero has a Sunday market right next door to their facility) and display of finished products for purchasing (picture those glass-blowing shops where you can watch them work from start to finish... so much more compelling to make sales!!!)

So yeah. i feel like i have a LOT of work and not much time to execute. but I am trudging along and super excited about every step! hope i get to shear an alpaca myself!!!!!!

i've also spent this week watching traditional dance performances and visiting other ruins with Simone. Pizaq was quite the experience. and by experience, i mean ow my bum and thighs hurt. but WOW the views! two hours of hiking up all those terraces definitely proved to be worth it. and taking a nap on an incan wall... probably one of the coolest experiences of my life.