red k'eperina

red k'eperina

on blue clothesline with brown hen

and blue triciclo

A typical adobe house along the road between Urubamba and Ollantaytambo in the Cusco region. The colorful striped k'eperina is worn around the shoulders and used for carrying all kinds of goods. The triciclo, with its little flatbed over the rear wheels, is also used for carrying all kinds of goods, like this blue bucket. The little brown hen, resting in the shade, is used for laying eggs. I like the way the door with its faded blue and red paint picks up the color theme, and even the clothesline matches the blue of the triciclo and bucket.

Urubamba market

Urubamba feria –

two women in monteras

chatting in Quechua

Each area of Peru has a distinct traditional costume. These women at a street market in Urubamba are wearing tall-crowned monteras, one of felted alpaca and the other of woven straw. The style of these hats may have originated with the Spanish colonists and are worn by both men and women. The full skirts may also be of colonial derivation. The women wear several layers of polleras, as many as five for special occasions. The woman on the right wears a chuspa hanging from her waist, a small pouch used for carrying coca leaves or corn. She also has a red k'eperina on her back, a rectangular woven cloth tied with a knot in front, used like a backpack. The women are chatting in Quechua, the most widely spoken Amerindian language. The people who speak this language refer to themselves as Runa, "the people," and their language is Runasimi, "language of the people."

inside turquoise doors

inside turquoise doors 

a little boy peers out as

his brother runs to school

Traveling on yet another bus, tired but unwilling to take my eyes off the passing scenery, I keep glimpsing fleeting moments of beauty. I keep my camera turned on and raised to the window. Somewhere between Urubamba and Ollantaytambo, I spot a little boy in a blue school uniform and backpack leaping away from a pair of turquoise doors. When I look at the frozen moment on the view screen, I notice the other little boy peeping from behind the closed door, perhaps wistfully watching his older brother run off to school.

Andean musicians

 











 
Andean musicians,

masters of many instruments,

play with all their heart

These two musicians entertain us with pre-Columbian huaynos as we dine at a restaurant in Urubamba. They call their group Pachamama, the Earth Mother. Their lively, rhythmic music is both earthy and heavenly, interwoven with the pulsating vibrations from their hearts. Yuri is playing zamponas, pan pipes, and the guitar at the same time. He also plays a traditional wooden flauta, flute. His partner is playing a wankara, a large drum made from a hollowed tree trunk covered with stretched goatskin, formerly used in battles. Andean musicians use a wide range of  instruments with melodious names: bastos, maltas, chilles, quenas, quenachos, chacchas, okarinas, charango, pitos, phunas, digeridoos, yembes, pututus.