Project Cuncani in Peru
Posted
by
Jackie
on 28 Jan 2009
Cuncani is about as remote as you can get in the mountains of Peru, beyond the sacred valley of the Incas. A small, traditional community is based there nestled amongst 360 degrees of mountains, by a flowing river and far from the world as we know it. It is accesible only by a dizzyingly high, winding road through seemingly endless Andean landscape, which is an adventure in itself.
ECOAN, the NGO we work with had received a request from the community to create a centre for weaving and artesanias, so we went to materialize that vision.
As we arrived, we were greeted by a sea of colour; the locals in their traditional red ponchos. A member of the group thought they'd dressed up just to welcome us, but that is infact what they wear all year round, and it looks spectacular.
Our base was a school and our 'kitchen' and living space, a classroom. We set up tents outside, sorted out our cooking groups and settled in playing cards and mingling with locals under the stars.
Work involved turning an old rustic building into a beautiful new weaving/artesania centre and everyone got stuck in creating mud and cement and plastering walls (with the odd mud fight and a couple of people aquiring tribal markings in the process.)
Occasionally, I went into the different classrooms with a volunteer to teach a bit of English too, which was great fun. The kids were adorable. (See attached pics.)
We were lucky to be there during the annual Cuncani festival, which was a colourful and music filled occasion involving chicha (beer) drinking races, carrot peeling races (yes you read that right!) and running races (I won mine with the incentive of winning a red poncho.) It was great to feel such a part of the community.
Add to all that a trek to a beautiful lagoon at 4700m, visits to the hot springs in nearby Lares and some extreme tree planting high on a vertical cliff edge, and all in all, we had a magical 2 weeks which everyone said they will never forget. Its a side of Peru you'd never see as a normal tourist.
We left in style, taking on an epic but stunning 10 hour trek to Yucay in the sacred valley for another project.