Awamaki Journal: A Blog About Textiles, Travel and the Sacred Valley – tagged "Category_Life in Ollanta"

Jun 13, 2019

A Snapshot of Choquekillka

A Snapshot of ChoquekillkaBy Ashley Wade, Marketing and Communications Intern “The synthesis of the Catholic and Andean religions is something magic, something I have inside me.” Jenny, an Ollantaytambo local, shared with me the importance of the Choquekillka festival for her community and her family. The festival celebrates Señor de Choquekillka, patron of Ollantaytambo. “I learned this religion from my grandparents, and it fills me with happiness to know that Señor Choquekillka is the Saint of here.” Part of the festival, she says, is asking favors of Señor Choquekillka for the coming year. “I’ll ask to grant good health to...

May 09, 2019

Meet Fie!

Meet Fie! We have brought to you many artisan profiles, now it’s our staff’s turn to get a little spotlight. We want you to learn more about the amazing women who work on the ground in Ollantaytambo. Take a few minutes today to learn about our Sales and Production Coordinator,...

Mar 26, 2019

Abby Weaves a New Path

Abby Weaves a New PathBy Abby Hollis, Design Intern In a small, rural, Peruvian village, I witnessed raw material become finished product—quite a novel concept to the modern consumer. As my classmates and I passed around chunks of raw wool, fresh off the alpaca, women of the village stood before...

Mar 20, 2019

Carnaval Around Ollantaytambo

Carnaval Around OllantaytamboBy Allegra Bundy, Marketing and Communications Intern “What do you do for fun?” is a question we get quite often living in the remote community of Ollantaytambo, Peru. As those of you who have been keeping up with us on our social media accounts already know, there is...

Nov 21, 2018

Spend Your Summer With Awamaki

Spend Your Summer With Awamaki By Caitlin Lally, Marketing and Communications intern Download Flyer Interns are committed to Awamaki’s mission, enjoy taking initiative, have skills to contribute and are ready to learn and adapt to whatever situation may arise. Summer interns work in one of the following areas: Design, Sales,...

Nov 18, 2018

A week in the life of an Awamaki volunteer

A week in the life of an Awamaki volunteer By Caitlin Lally, Marketing and Communications intern Thursday, Nov. 1, 2018 I returned from the three-day weaving immersion in Patacancha today. After learning how to weave a headband yesterday from Sábina, this morning we headed to a local family’s chakra (farm)....

Oct 28, 2018

Ollanta Withdrawal

Ollanta Withdrawal By Abby Hollis, Design Intern During my time in Peru, I spent a weekend by myself in the jungle. This was when I realized that Ollanta had become my home. I attribute part of this realization to my unprecedented ease breathing but most of it to how much...

Sep 30, 2018

A New Culture

A New CultureBy Sara Swisher, Monitoring and Evaluations intern Before coming to Awamaki to complete a summer monitoring and evaluation internship in Ollantaytambo, Peru, I had never been outside the United States. I wasn’t sure what to expect but one of my goals was to learn about a new culture....

Aug 22, 2018

Meet Soraida

Meet SoraidaFor a week, Awamaki was host to six students from the World Leadership School in San Diego, California as they came down to volunteer with us. They were tasked with interviewing local women about their role as leaders in the community, and to write corresponding blog posts about their...

Aug 08, 2018

A New Home

A New HomeFor a week, Awamaki was host to six students from the World Leadership School in San Diego, California as they came down to volunteer with us. They were tasked with interviewing local women about their role as leaders in the community, and to write corresponding blog posts about...

Jul 25, 2018

Redefining Leadership

Redefining LeadershipFor a week during the month of March, Awamaki was host to six students from the World Leadership School in San Diego, California as they came down to volunteer with us. They were tasked with interviewing local women about their role as leaders in the community, and to write...

May 09, 2018

A New Look

A Fresh LookFor a week, Awamaki was host to six students from the World Leadership School in San Diego, California as they came down to volunteer with us. They were tasked with interviewing local women about their role as leaders in the community, and to write corresponding blog posts about...

Mar 06, 2018

Home Away From Home

Alexandra (host sister), Josef (cousin), Jenny (cousin), and Janis (host sister) ready to dance in the festival. By Shira Yeskel-Mednick, Marketing and Communications intern Voices reach from room to room, calling out well worn and familiar phrases. It’s clear that the same sentence with the same cadence and the...

Jan 24, 2018

4 Things I Learned in the Sacred Valley

4 Things I Learned in the Sacred ValleyBy Isabel Strebe, Marketing and Communications intern I write this sitting in a coffee shop back home in Minnesota, where the air temp is below zero and the roads are being dusted in snow. While I’ve only been home from Ollantaytambo for a...

Dec 13, 2017

A Volunteer's Parting Words

By Shannon Walsh, Sales intern When I first arrived in Ollantaytambo I thought, “What did I get myself into?” That feeling lasted for about two weeks as I adjusted to life in Ollanta. Instead of heading back to Boston for another semester at Northeastern University, I decided to head...

Dec 06, 2017

The Train to Machu Picchu

By Shannon Walsh, Sales Intern My trip to Machu Picchu started bright and early at five o’clock in the morning. As I walked down to the train station in Ollantaytambo with my sister and a friend who were visiting, the excitement really started to hit me. As we got on...

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