Awamaki Journal: A Blog About Textiles, Travel and the Sacred Valley – Page 8

Jul 01, 2015

#WomenCrushWednesday: Martha

by Christina Parodi, Marketing & Communications Intern Always sitting behind a stack of knit products, our woman crush this Wednesday is Martha Zuniga, the coordinator of our knitting cooperatives. Born and raised in Rumira, Martha still lives here today where she works directly with the women in our Rumira cooperative. I watched her lead a meeting with our Puenta Inka knitting cooperative in admiration as she brought the women together and made sure each one was included in the conversation as she described some minor issues with the latest batch of knit scarves. She made sure not...

Jul 01, 2015

#WomenCrushWednesday: Martha

Jun 24, 2015

#WomanCrushWednesday: Mercedes

by Christina Parodi, Marketing & Communications Intern Going on her fourth year at Awamaki, our woman crush this Wednesday is Mercedes Durand, who works directly with our women’s cooperatives. Through the long-term relationships she has established with the women, Mercedes coordinates the work each woman does and helps order...

Jun 17, 2015

#WomenCrushWednesday: Yony

by Christina Parodi, Marketing & Communications Intern A mother when you are a thousand miles away from home, our woman crush this Wednesday is Yony Usca Mejia, who always made sure I was well fed, warm and comfortable in my month long stay with her and her family. Already a...

Jun 10, 2015

#WomenCrushWednesday: Petronila

by Jaclyn Lee, Marketing & Communications Intern When I think of Petronila, I instantly think of the cutest, kindest, most loving woman I have ever met. I had never been outside of the United States before I arrived in Peru and I was nervous about the different challenges that come...

Jun 03, 2015

Women Crush Wednesday: Kate Mitchell

by Christina Parodi, Marketing & Communications Intern Fresh off the plane from New York City, our woman crush this Wednesday is Kate Mitchell, the new head designer at Awamaki Lab. In the short time she has been with us, you can already hear her lively discussions with our WCP volunteer...

Jun 01, 2015

Keeping it Kind: The Awamaki Rotation System

by Gillian Fitzpatrick, Monitoring & Evaluation Intern Three years ago, Awamaki discovered distinct differences in income amongst women in the Patacancha cooperative. Quick to fix the issue, we introduced our rotation system. From the collected income data in 2013 and 2014 of the Patacancha cooperative members, it was shown that...

May 19, 2015

Knitter trainings in Rumira

by Gillian Fitzpatrick, M&E Intern Awamaki’s most advanced knitting cooperative, the Virgen del Carmen knitting cooperative in Rumira, has been attending business training workshops. The workshops are designed to give the women the skills they need to graduate from our impact model program into their own autonomous organization. They will...

May 19, 2015

Introducing the Impact Model

by Laura Brokaw, Volunteer and Tourist Coordinator A few years ago, Awamaki faced a tough question. Since our founding, we had focused on increasing the women’s income. To do this, we taught the women to make beautiful things, and sold those things to retail stores in the U.S. This made...

May 19, 2015

Intern from Patacancha Leads Tour

By Vivian Smith, Sustainable Tourism Coordinator This year, Awamaki was excited to host Felicitas, a young woman from the weaving village of Patacancha, as our first Peruvian intern. In April, she led her first Awamaki tour to the village. This was the first Quechua Community Visit–Awamaki’s most popular tour–led...

Mar 25, 2015

Where in the World is Awamaki?

Don’t Panic! It’s true, Awamaki’s doors that have been open almost every day to welcome patrons passing on Calle Principal are now closed. But it’s ok, keep calm and move on. We have, down to Plaza Araccama. Earlier this month, our staff signed a new lease with the Iglesia de...

Dec 02, 2014

Mapping Patacancha

By Merel Haverhals, Monitoring & Evaluations Volunteer Last weekend I joined a team of two other volunteers and the Awamaki Tourism Coordinator, Giulia, to complete a GPS mapping project. We journeyed to Patacancha, the community of the oldest and largest of our five cooperatives of female artisans, to conduct surveys...

Nov 07, 2014

Pallay of the Month

By Kate McIntosh, Service Traveler Pallay is both the process of weaving textiles on a backstrap loom and the iconography woven into each textile. Each pallay is richly symbolic of Quechua life and cultural beliefs. The pallay pattern in this vibrant textile features two qocha, the Quechua word for lake....

Nov 07, 2014

Managing Finances in Puente Inca

By Erin Faltermeier, Sustainable Tourism Volunteer Maritza and Judi have always been leaders in their cooperative and their community. Now, they are leading their fellow knitters to business independence, starting with learning to manage the Puente Inca cooperative’s finances. Over the past few months, Maritza and Judi have assumed responsibility...

Nov 07, 2014

Presenting New Fall Products!

By Erin Faltermeier, Sustainable Tourism Volunteer We are proud to present our new line for Fall 2014! From our resident designers to the Quechua weavers and knitters to the seamstresses in our studio, we have all worked hard to create a line that highlights the expressive storytelling power of Andean...

Nov 06, 2014

Teaching Outside the Box

By Vivian Smith, Community Education Coordinator If you picture our Spanish teachers in a classroom teaching grammar, you’d be dead wrong these days. As part of recent training workshops with local teacher Chrissie Ellison, the teachers have developed a dynamic 10-hour cultural immersion course tailored to incoming Awamaki volunteers...

Oct 20, 2014

In Irma's Kitchen

By Erin Faltermeier, Sustainable Tourism Volunteer There’s no more wonderful smell in Ollantaytambo than the delicious aroma escaping Irma’s kitchen around lunch and dinner times. Lucky visitors have the opportunity to spend the evening with Irma, a culinary legend here in Ollanta, in the Peruvian cooking lessons offered through our...

Experience the Sacred Valley

Experience the Sacred Valley

Shopping Cart

Shopping Cart

#WomenCrushWednesday: Martha

#WomenCrushWednesday: Martha

#WomanCrushWednesday: Mercedes

#WomenCrushWednesday: Yony

#WomenCrushWednesday: Petronila

Women Crush Wednesday: Kate Mitchell

Keeping it Kind: The Awamaki Rotation System

Knitter trainings in Rumira

Introducing the Impact Model

Intern from Patacancha Leads Tour

Where in the World is Awamaki?

Mapping Patacancha

Pallay of the Month

Managing Finances in Puente Inca

Presenting New Fall Products!

Teaching Outside the Box

In Irma's Kitchen