weaving in the museum

Posted by Ryan (Buenos Aires, Argentina) on 25 March 2008 in People & Portraits.

The Inca museum was a terrific visit today, having lots of history of pre-Incan cultures (the ones who did all the work - the Incas just came in and claimed credit for almost everything) along with the Incas themselves. There was even a display on Choquequirao, which is where I'm headed on the weekend. I guess they're trying to play it up as an alternative to Machu Picchu (which, if you didn't know, simply means old mountain and is quite likely not the name the Incas called it). Go museum! There was also a display on potatoes, this being the year of the potato and Peru being a leading producer of potatoes (over 3000 varieties are grown in Latin America). However, despite that, Peruvians only consume 80 kg of potatoes each per year. Belgians have everyone beat, eating almost a kilogram every day, something like 332 kg per year. Wow!

In the courtyard, I sat afterward and watched some women and men weave. It is such a test of patience. A piece like this woman is making will take around 35 days of weaving to complete.

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