Wednesday 9 April 2008

Day 2 in Peru and there are lots of photo's for you guys.

Ok, So I am here in actual Peru, after the flight, we got in to Lima at 4pm in the afternoon, I thought, oh I'll take a little nap, and then have some dinner, and promptly woke up at 5am the next morning. Peru is has so much Spanish influence, it actually makes me feel very at home because although I speak pigeon Spanish, I understand allot, and find it really comforting, after listening to Carmella, Carmencita's, and Sole and Bea chatting, it obviously went in somehow!! In fact my passport has a gorgeous purple tweed cover, which I bought from Ness in Scotland, and the lady at the security made a joke about my passport being cold, in Spanish obviously, and I laughed because I understood, that was really really weird.



OK so now for my Hotel. I am sat listening to the river flowing down from the mountain and looking out over the balcony, it is absolutely beautiful  here in Arequipa, there will be allot more photo's of the actual town later on in the week, but for now here is my view:



View_oput_of_hotel_window


How gorgeous is that?
And if I turn around this is the other view:
Hotel
Now, Orysia, this is just for you, just below the umbrella is something rather gorgeous and fluffy:
Alpaca_hotel


I haven't had the courage to get too close yet, he is probably quite tame, but I am not sure he is stroke-able, he seems a bit timid, but very gorgeous.



So yesterday after landing we came to the Hotel and then had some lunch, and it seems like there are a few themes to Peruvian food. Fish, corn, beans, rice, chilli's, roasted/barbecued meats, lots of different types of potatoes and of course Chilean wine and delicious beer.



So yesterday I had squid and potatoes, and I have no idea what the sauce was, but it was gorgeous, absolutely gorgeous:



Squid_and_potatoes




Then we went onto meet all the yarn guy's and just get to see what the initial place was like, they have a visitors center set up, which is absolutely gorgeous, and I got a personal tour, which was fantastic, lol, the Alpaca is sorted by hand, only by women I was told because they are able to differentiate the difference in the texture of a fleece, and men don't have that ability, lol. It takes about 5 minutes to sort a fleece, but the sorters can distinguish between very slight differences in the micron of the Alpaca, they start learning from their mothers when they are small children, so they are very very skilled, at the visitors center they have everything on a small scale to show you, so here was a lovely lady I was chatting to who was sorting the alpaca:
Alpaca_sorter



Oh, I forgot, they also have all types of alpacas there too:
Alpaca


They were gorgeous!



What I also loved is they had women who came from the mountains, stayed at the visitors center for a few months at a time and worked in the center and gave demonstrations, they were so lovely, they often work with their children with them as you will see, in the pics, also the weavings you can see them doing here, are all hand spun and hand dyed, the colours and designs were amazing:



Weaving_lady



Weaver_and_little_gril_3




I asked the lady to show me her spinning, and they don't spin the way I was taught, it was really different, so I need to work that out a bit more, but the spinning was very very even:



Spinning_lady



And this photo is because the little girl was too gorgeous for words:



Little_girl



These pics are for Amanda, they show the raw dyes they use and the colours from each:



Natural_dyes_for_amanda




Natural_dyes_for_amanda_2




So thats all for now folks, today I am going to the factory, and I am too excited for words, I already have a million ideas for new yarns and designs and colours and there is allot more to come, but I have to say I am falling in love too much with Alpaca, its wonderful.



Just one last thing, Auntie Marylin, could you email me, because I wanted to write to you, but I don't have your email with me.



Bye for now folks.



xxxx






7 comments:

  1. Oh, everything looks so nice!!
    I can understand how they sort a fleece in 5 mins, with the blur on her arms in the photo. :D
    E.xx

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  2. Oh that little girl looks so pretty, what a cute smile. All that alpaca, you won't want to come home!

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  3. Oh Jeni, what a fabulous time you are having! I'm so glad you are reporting back as you go along, and sharing pictures as well. Make sure you get the spinning sussed so that you can teach me! xxx

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  4. Wow! Sounds like you're having an amazing time and the Alpacas are so cute! :)

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  5. OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOohhhhhh! A BIG THANK YOU Jeni for the piccy of the sweet Alpaca, he's gooooorgeous, I wish i could touch him, maybe one day. Eh?
    The cotumes the ladies are wearing are so lovely and colourful tell em I they look sensational I love their threads. Yeah the view and and the little girl are very beautiful. Hope you can give the nice mr Alpaca a BIG hug from me, go on don't be scared animals know if someone is scared.

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  6. PS I forgot. The alpaca fleeces are so yummy I just want to take me clothes off and roll about in it, its must be so soft and the yarn fumes are they like wool when when you squish it?

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  7. Oh this is so exciting. I want to go to South America!

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