Capacity-building for rural women artisans in Peru

Since early June, our tourism coordinator Juan Camilo has been receiving calls inviting Awamaki to visit Huilloc Alto, a community situated on the steep mountainside above our current partner community of Huilloc. Fifteen women from Huilloc Alto have organized in the hope of collaborating with Awamaki as a tourism cooperative. After visiting the community for a 2-day, 1-night preliminary tour, we are excited to announce the group as one of our newest cooperatives!

On a bright sunny day in June, Awamaki met with the weavers of Huilloc Alto, who greeted us with warm smiles, hats adorned with flowers, and an enthusiasm that made us feel at home. After group introductions, our community translator Benedicto explained the importance of bringing tourism to the community.  Even though Huilloc Alto boasts gorgeous views of the mountains and rolling slopes present in the Sacred Valley, its remote location has hindered tourism access and the ability of the weavers to sell their products. However, now that the community has a new road, visiting the it is much easier and quicker. The introduction of tourism will serve as an opportunity to connect the women with larger markets and in turn support their local economy.

Awamaki does not work with cooperatives unless they approach us with an organized proposal for partnership. This ensures greater community ownership and responsibility.  Even though the women of Huilloc Alto approached us, we still wanted to gauge their perspectives on tourism before working with them. We asked the women a few questions about what they think tourism is, how it will impact their community, and why they are interested. The discussion revealed the following positive and negative sentiments:

“Tourism is showing my work and the outdoor nature of our community with others.”

“Tourism gives me the opportunity to show my work so I can support my family.”

“My husband works on the Inca Trail, and I want earn more money to support my family.”

“I don’t want tourists to bring their trash.”

“I don’t want tourists using the bathroom in the countryside.”

“I don’t want tourists smoking and drinking in front of my children.”

(We apologize for the lack of quote attribution. We are still learning the names of the Huilloc Alto weavers, and the quotes were shared during a group discussion involving Quechua-Spanish-English translation.)

After our discussion with the weavers, they gave us a tour of their community. They taught us how to identify and use the native medicinal plants found in the countryside. We also hiked to a nearby lake that reflects the beauty of the surrounding mountains. These unique features distinguish the community of Huilloc Alto from the other communities with whom we currently work.

Benedicto, our community translator, believes that “the medicinal plants, the beauty, and the warmer climate of Huilloc Alto,” will make it a memorable destination for tourists. Of course, getting to know community members will also be something that tourists remember. During our hike to the lake, weavers Jesusa, Avelina, and Juana excitedly showed us the various plants native to the area, taught us new Quechua words, and laughed and chatted with us like we all were old friends.

Awamaki is excited to start tours with the Huilloc Alto community. Our final question to the women was what they hoped tourists would take away from an experience visiting them. The group universally expressed their enthusiasm for sharing their culture with others. We believe future tours with Huilloc Alto will be successful because the community's beauty is evident in both its physical surroundings and the welcoming nature of the local weavers. Awamaki will soon be starting tourism workshops to prepare the community for their first of many tours next month. Thanks to support from donors like you, we can make sure our newest tourism cooperative Huilloc Alto is off to a great start!

When we ask our partner cooperatives what they dislike about participating in out programs, we often only get silence in return. The weavers assume that if they give us negative feedback, we won’t work with them anymore. Of course, this isn’t true, and when we overcome this assumption we receive fascinating feedback.

“The thing that I hate about tourism is that my husband treats the tourists better than he treats me. When I want to eat something nice, he doesn’t cook it for me, but when the tourists request something, he cooks it.”

Margarita Sinchi shared her complaints about tourism during the first of a series of workshops we hosted in the community of Patacancha. Designed by Awamaki’s tourism coordinator, Juan Camilo Saavedra, these workshops aim to move the tourism cooperative of Songuillay towards further independence. Though the cooperative currently receives tourists from Awamaki, they want to be able to host independent tourists passing through their community, especially as the nearby Lares trek becomes increasingly popular.

The workshop began with Juan asking the members of Songuillay how they define tourism, what they like about it, and what they dislike about it. To make sure silence wasn’t an issue, the women chose amongst themselves who would speak next by dressing them in a sparkly tie. Juan Camilo said that “the dynamic was very interesting because they were laughing and attentive. They were waiting to see who would be chosen next.”

When Margarita was chosen to speak on her negative feelings towards tourism, she didn’t hold back. Even though many of the women laughed at her sassy answer about her husband, it highlights how tourism is changing the culture of the community. After Margarita’s comment, the group further opened up about changes they have seen. Many of the women mentioned that over the last decade people have started wearing their traditional clothing. People had stopped wearing mantas and ponchos, but tourism motivated them to wear these visual signatories of their culture again. Several in the group thought this was a positive side effect of increased tourism but were saddened that it didn’t happen organically through cultural pride.

After the group thought about how tourism has impacted their lives, Juan Camilo tasked them with thinking about how tourism impacts other communities. He showed the cooperative several videos about rural community tourism in Bolivia, Colombia, and Peru. Initially, the women were surprised at how drastically different the communities looked, whether it was the people’s appearances or their environment. Many thought that the living conditions of the people were quite harsh but were impressed that the community was still attempting to do tourism. Elena Mamani, president of the Songuillay tourism cooperative, commented that “if these people, who we didn’t know existed, in these places, that we didn’t know existed, are able to do tourism, then we should be able to do it too.”

The workshop ended on a motivational note with the cooperative members chattering excitedly about what was to come next. Juan Camilo plans to host five to six more workshops covering various topics, ranging from community qualities to marketing opportunities. The end goal of the workshops – as with all of our capacity-building trainings – is to move the cooperative further towards independence and the ability to run their own tourism business independent of Awamaki. With the completion of this workshop, Songuillay has taken another giant step forward!

Thank you for your donations that make workshops like these possible!