As most of you know, Matt and I have asked friends and family to sponsor our trip as a means of fundraising for an exemplary NGO called Water for People (www.waterforpeople.org). As a special thanks for the highest donation, we have a beautiful quilt made of cloth and weavings that we have collected throughout the trip. This quilt represents the large community of people we met and are hoping will benefit from the work we are supporting at Water for People. Below is a picture of the quilt (made my my wonderful Aunt Crystal), along with photos of, and information about, the women who sold us their artwork. 
We started the project in the white, colonial city of Sucre, Bolivia, where we meet Emiliana Yankee and her gregarious husband. Though we spoke in Castellano (Spanish), as that was our only common language, Emiliana's mother language is Aymara (the main language of indigenous Bolivians) and her second language is Quecha (the language of the Incans and indigenous people throughout the Andes). A few decades ago they moved from Oruro to Sucre to start her weaving business and raise their family. Most of her children live near-by but never learned to weave. The skills she learned from her mother and grandmother will end with her. The piece we bought from her cost 180 Bolivianos (approx. 25 USD) and is made by hand out of Alpaca wool. She showed us how long it takes to weave by comparing it to out a belt that took a week for her to make. She also demonstrated how to use the spindle to make the yarn.
We met Prema outside of the 'witch market' in La Paz, Bolivia, next to a stall of coca leaves and dried llama fetuses. Prema learned to weave at the age of 10, taught by her mother in her home town of Oruro. She has 5 kids (ranging from 25-19 years old), but none of them want to learn to tejir (weave), just to study. The piece we bought from her took 6 weeks to weave, cost 120 Bolivianos (approx. 17 USD) and is made of llama wool.
Gregoria was particularly shy. It took a minute for my Aunt Jeannie and I to coax her into letting Matt take her picture surrounded by all of her art. Eventually she obliged and proved to be very sweet. She sells her work on the tourist track around the Sacred Valley (a collection of villages and ruins between the Incan capital city of Cuzco, and the lost city of Macchu Pichu). The colorful scarf we bought from her is made of Alpaca wool.
Mili's piece is my personal favorite and makes up the focal point of the quilt. We met her on the Bocas del Toro islands of Panama near the Costa Rican boarder. Though her mother helped her a little to learn to sew, she is mainly self taught, beginning from age 10. She loves to learn and try new things, but most of all she likes to make the designs and patterns and cut the fabric, giving the pieces to her sisters and other women to help with the sewing. While some of her designs are geometric, like the one in the quilt, she mostly makes animals, like the strawberry poison dart frog that is famous on the islands. Mili is 29 years old and has one son who probably won't learn to sew (some men do, but it is mostly a business for women). This piece took one week to sew, cost $10, and is made of cotton. 
Julia had a thriving business in the town of Panajachel on Lake Atitlan in southern Guatemala. She sold her own weavings as well as that of her mother and grandmother and various women from towns around the lake. She learned to weave from her mother and grandmother at the age of 12. The piece we bought from her took 5 days to weave using a belt system. It is made of lana (wool), though not from sheep (that's all I could figure out...my Spanish isn't PERFECT, give me a break!).
The same day we met Julia, Maria approached us with her daughter. She is originally from Santa Catalina (another town on the lake) but lives in Panajachel with her daughter for her business. She learned to weave at the age of 8 and is currently teaching her daughter to continue the business. The piece we bought from her is made of cotton and took one month to make by hand.
We started the project in the white, colonial city of Sucre, Bolivia, where we meet Emiliana Yankee and her gregarious husband. Though we spoke in Castellano (Spanish), as that was our only common language, Emiliana's mother language is Aymara (the main language of indigenous Bolivians) and her second language is Quecha (the language of the Incans and indigenous people throughout the Andes). A few decades ago they moved from Oruro to Sucre to start her weaving business and raise their family. Most of her children live near-by but never learned to weave. The skills she learned from her mother and grandmother will end with her. The piece we bought from her cost 180 Bolivianos (approx. 25 USD) and is made by hand out of Alpaca wool. She showed us how long it takes to weave by comparing it to out a belt that took a week for her to make. She also demonstrated how to use the spindle to make the yarn. We met Prema outside of the 'witch market' in La Paz, Bolivia, next to a stall of coca leaves and dried llama fetuses. Prema learned to weave at the age of 10, taught by her mother in her home town of Oruro. She has 5 kids (ranging from 25-19 years old), but none of them want to learn to tejir (weave), just to study. The piece we bought from her took 6 weeks to weave, cost 120 Bolivianos (approx. 17 USD) and is made of llama wool. Gregoria was particularly shy. It took a minute for my Aunt Jeannie and I to coax her into letting Matt take her picture surrounded by all of her art. Eventually she obliged and proved to be very sweet. She sells her work on the tourist track around the Sacred Valley (a collection of villages and ruins between the Incan capital city of Cuzco, and the lost city of Macchu Pichu). The colorful scarf we bought from her is made of Alpaca wool.Mili's piece is my personal favorite and makes up the focal point of the quilt. We met her on the Bocas del Toro islands of Panama near the Costa Rican boarder. Though her mother helped her a little to learn to sew, she is mainly self taught, beginning from age 10. She loves to learn and try new things, but most of all she likes to make the designs and patterns and cut the fabric, giving the pieces to her sisters and other women to help with the sewing. While some of her designs are geometric, like the one in the quilt, she mostly makes animals, like the strawberry poison dart frog that is famous on the islands. Mili is 29 years old and has one son who probably won't learn to sew (some men do, but it is mostly a business for women). This piece took one week to sew, cost $10, and is made of cotton.Julia had a thriving business in the town of Panajachel on Lake Atitlan in southern Guatemala. She sold her own weavings as well as that of her mother and grandmother and various women from towns around the lake. She learned to weave from her mother and grandmother at the age of 12. The piece we bought from her took 5 days to weave using a belt system. It is made of lana (wool), though not from sheep (that's all I could figure out...my Spanish isn't PERFECT, give me a break!).The same day we met Julia, Maria approached us with her daughter. She is originally from Santa Catalina (another town on the lake) but lives in Panajachel with her daughter for her business. She learned to weave at the age of 8 and is currently teaching her daughter to continue the business. The piece we bought from her is made of cotton and took one month to make by hand.
I think I will let the pics speak for themselves (the one with me squinting in the sun is next to the appropriately named GARGANTA DEL DIABLO (devil´s throat) portion of the part. Technically it was on the Brazilian side (which we didnt go to because the VISA was too expensive and they didn´t have the right gasoline for our car), but the Argentinians have taken advantage of an awesome walkway over the river and through the woods....to this awesome mirador (viewpoint).
