Spanish School

As we had finished the trek a day early the whole group had a chance to unwind in Cusco, before the team gradually got their respective flights on differing days back to the UK.  E had made an almost full recovery. I was sad to see members of the team go. We had all got on really well and suddenly the fact that I wasn't going home for a long time and was soon going to be on my own was fast becoming a reality. Still, this is what I'd signed up for so I'm going to enjoy it!



My lovely little room at Niños

 It was a relief to move back to the Niños hotel, away for the hustle and relentless touts lining the main tourist streets in San Blas. A few of the team were staying on for a day or two so we'd organized a day excursion to see some natural salt flats and also to another Incan archaelogical site.


the Salinas

The Salinas are thousands of salt pans which have been "harvested" since Incan times. A hot spring from the top of the valley lets out a stream of very salty water which is diverted into the pans or salt fields and evaporated in the sun. The salt is graded in quality and used for cooking down to industrial purposes. It was quite a spectacle.

The Moray, amphitheatre like terracing that are carved into a huge earthern bowl of different levels, each layer having its own micro climate according to its depth. Thoery has it the Incans used this place as a laboratory to determine the optimal growing conditions for different crops.

My Spanish school started in earnest on Monday morning. I'd signed up for 4 hours of group class a day. My morning commute (walking) with my packed lunch  took me across town with all the real school children. It felt slightly surreal. When I got to the school I was told I needed to do an exam!!!! "Really?", I said! "Whats the point, all I'll be able to do is write my name on the top of the page!".  It was all a bit stressful. I was put in a room with a number of other students all scribbling away, huge pieces of text after the 20 mulitple choice questions. I managed to answer 3 questions, then I just sat there feeling really stupid. Eventually a teacher came and got me and I was then subjected to a one on one interview. It was pretty one sided as you can imagine. Finally I was told to wait upstairs. There were probably about 50 students milling around on the terrace all waiting to be assigned their study group. Many were European and spoke several languages.  My group was mainly Dutch, Swiss and German. We had 2 lecturers who took us for 2 hours of conversation and 2 hours of grammar a day.


Statue depicting the Incan King in Plaza de Armas, Cusco

 I had joined the South American Explorers club which is an organization set up for people travelling long term or living in South America. They have club houses in various cities in South America. As a member I can use the facilities in the club house like the internet or WiFi but they also have a massive resource of reference material and maps both online and in the club houses. The club in Cusco had a nice sunny garden which is a great place to come after Spanish classes to sit and do my homework. The club also organizes events like film nights, talks or demonstrations by local craftswomen.
So my week evolved into School in the morning followed by a visit to the explorers club to use the internet, chat to people and also to sit in the garden and do my homework!
One afternoon the club manager had organised for some local indigenous ladies to come to the club to give a demonstration on spinning, dying and weaving alpaca wool.  I had already seen similar demonstrations twice as they form a big part of the tourist circuit here, but I went along anyway. So far I had refused to buy any tourist tat mainly because it was everywhere and even though some of it was nice I would have to carry it. Also the other demonstrations I'd seen had seemed so contrived.  This however was different. First there was a talk by a Scottish lass who was doing her MA in design and her thesis on Incan textile design. She gave use a brief and very interesting insight into the meaning of  pattern and design in traditional Incan cloth and architecture and then how these ancient meanings had either changed or were still evident in todays artisanal crafts. She also spoke of how the Incan beliefs were along the lines of duality. There are many parallels to be drawn but the main themes were of highland and low land, mountain and jungle, sky, moon, sun and earth and water. She also referenced how when the Spanish conqured Latin America and brought their Christian beliefs, the Incas managed to absorb the Christian word and symbology into their own religion. Thus giving the impression they were following the bible. Most of Latin America is Christian today but there are still strong links to Incan symbology everywhere. Shamans (witch doctors) and natural medicine is also widely practised. Afterwards the local women did their demonstration on spinning and weaving, they spoke in simple Spanish, but what was really interesting and enlightening was they spoke about the positive effect that being able to earn a small income through the sale of the things they wove, had had on their lives but also in the reduction of domestic violence, something that is sadly common place in Latin America.  The lady, Iris, went on to explain how she had started a cooperative of weavers in her village and they had bought equipment and divided up the money earned between themselves but also gave a percentage back to their community, until last year, when their work shop and all their weaving equipment was wiped out in a land slide due to unusually heavy rains.  It put into perspective how easy it is for us in the west to earn a living and how lucky we are to have such a good social benefit system.  It is a habit for tourists to also try to haggle the prices down for the weaving these women do, but really a few pounds to us means so much more to them. Having said that there is a big trade in machine made weavings which a worth a fraction of the hand made variety and there is also synthetic wools used in place of llama or alpaca. Baby alpaca is very rare and expensive, and I chuckle to my self every time I hear a tourist say they have brought a baby alpaca jumper for 4 pounds.  As Iris said "Baby alpaca, maybe alpaca!" Anyway, on the positive side, she and her community are slowly building back up their weaving cooperative. Another imnportant aspect of this is not only the income but the knowledge passed down the generations of these ancient skills and also the designs. Oh and by the way, I did buy a rather lovely weaving.....