Dear Bloggies:
The reason you haven't heard
from me for two weeks is because we've been in South America,
sightseeing
and picking out fiber. There are so many great photos that we're going to
share our trip with you over several blogs.
It took us two days to
get to Peru from Vermont. We took pictures from the airport--that's how
breathtaking the Andes are. The first few days of our trip, we
spent
looking at fiber at several mills. Here we are in a large warehouse devoted
to the sorting and grading of fleece. These women pick Alpaca and wool by
hand. They grade by breed, color and fineness and are so good at what they
do, that their staple piles are within a few microns of each other. The
ability to grade by touch is a fine art and often passed down from mother to
daughter.
We saw Huacaya, Suri and even the rare Vicuna Alpaca. Vicuna
is so rare that the fiber is not imported
into the US. The micron count is
12 which makes it off the chart for extra fine. Haucaya is the must
ubiquitous and they look like sheep but with long graceful necks.
There were two of them as pets at our hotel, except one did not like our
camera man and spit on him. We called him Bratty Paca.
Suri look
like reggae versions of Alpaca. They have long dreadlocks and their
fleece
is much finer than Huacaya. They swish like flapper girls when they are on
the move. We found a Brown stud alpaca we really liked because he was so
graceful.
The Vicuna looks like a baby deer or a gazelle to us. They are
very delicate compared to the other alpaca and graceful. They don't offer
much fleece, but the yarn from their fiber can sell for up to $2000 per
kilo.
The first city we stayed in was very crowded and both the air
and the river were polluted, a way of life
here, but something we found
unbearable coming from Vermont. Air quality is a recognized problem in
big cities like Lima and thankfully clean up is a large concern. The
streets are bumper to bumper traffic and it was scary to take a taxi,
let alone rent a car which we did not. The hotels we stayed in were old
world and charming with gardens and caged birds, fountains and
alpaca.
We tried to eat local cuisine only and grew fond of a fish called
Corvina and stuffed Avocados called Palta. We sampled local wines and
beers and learned to stay clear of any mixed drink with the word Pisco
in it. Pisco is a fermented fruit much like tequila and the Pisco Sour
is a national drink. It's green with egg whites and it tastes
great--unfortunately it packs a big wallop. Only have one.
After a
few days in the city we decided to go to a friend's alpaca ranch in the
highlands. Even getting there was an adventure in the rainy season. More
on that next week!
Cheryl
