After my visit to Museo Pachacamac we continued south along Antigua Panamericana Sur for ~20 minutes to Nuevo Lurin.
Scenery continued to be an uninspiring landscape of grey skies, grey pavement covered in beige dust. It's an area of modest/lower economic resources and is permeated by the ancillary aspects of regional industry. Heavy trucks. Various services related to maintaining the transportation and construction industry. Local markets and small blue collar enterprises.
Our objective was to visit some local artisans in this community which has ties to the Ayacucho region. I didn't know much about Ayacucho before taking this excursion to visit the artisans of Nuevo Lurin. And I won't try to go in depth about it here beyond noting that during the years of the Shining Path's terroism many people from that region were displaced under threat of serious violence. Some relocated to this area in the southern edges of Lima. And they started to settle in the fashion of claiming barren lots, without any public services --- electricity, water, sewage, etc. --- with the hope of one day officially being granted title to the land and becoming recognized and serviced by the municipality. From what I gather this approach to 'settling' is not uncommon and happens across Peru. We saw some similar areas on the outskirts of Arequipa, too. It's a long, complicated, difficult process, but the light at the end of the tunnel is after 10 years you *might* get some official recognition and begin to establish some stability. It's not an easy life and one I suppose you only choose when the alternatives are worse.
So with that brief context, I'll transition into the visits I enjoyed with some of the artisans of Nuevo Lurin.
We pulled off the main drag of Antigua Panamericana Sur and into the community itself. Reminded me in parts of different small towns in Mexico that I have visited with Judy. One part Capula, mixed with maybe one part Metepec.
This was much more up my alley. In an earlier chapter of our Paskwarho adventure we worked with some artisans from Teotitlán del Valle, Oaxaca. They are amazing weavers producing gorgeous tapetes, bolsas, portavasos, and more. We have a number of great pieces in our condo here in la cdmx. Anyway, I am familiar with artisanal weaving and loved hearing the story of this coop as they showed me around their taller.
They had a handful of looms of various sizes, including the big boy over in the corner, which was in use during my visit. So I was able to capture an impromptu live demo. If you can't make out the audio he is telling me that a piece measuring 250cm x 180cm takes about 3 weeks worth of 10-hour days to complete.
There was some fantastic work on display, and they have the various recognitions to show for their effort and dedication. I would have loved to pick something up. But (a) I had no room in my luggage and (b) our place already has a pretty solid amount of tapetes de lana mexicana, so no real need. But if you can support them with an online purchase or donation, please do.
My guide picked up on my obvious interest and enthusiasm for this part of the tour. I think he was disappointed in my general underwhelmedness at Pachacamac. But this Nuevo Lurin stop was my wheelhouse. So he added an ad-hoc stop to another artisan that wasn't part of the original schedule. We drove a couple of streets over to Jampaq Perú.
Now we were really getting into my zone - ceramics. I'm still partial the work of the artesanos Michoacanos. But this was a fun stop. The artisan welcomed us despite arriving unannounced. And once he realized that I could speak some Spanish and knew what I was talking about, he opened up quite a bit. Plus, his dog approved of me, which I know helps break the ice. He had some nice work, ranging from the pieces he produces in volume to pay the bills and the more intricate pieces where he can express more creativity.
After a nice 20-minute visit we were on our way to the third and final stop of the tour, which was Llinco Perú.
Sr. Juan was ready for us and told me his story as I snapped pics around the workshop.
I don't know how I missed it when I was there --- distracted I guess --- but I'm now noticing that this little box he was showing me is of Christmas ornaments. I could have made room for that. Now I'm a little bummed I didn't pick these up.
After a few minutes chatting with Juan I was led out back for a lunch. I'm telling you, this setting could have been the interior courtyard of one of our partners in Capula. Very, very similar vibes and layout. I was comfortable here. And the food was absolutely delicious.
On the way out I asked Juan where his horno was because I didn't see anything that looked like what I was expecting. Even some of the smaller tallers in Capula have a stand up horno that is like 2-3x the size of a nice refrigerator. He walked over to this blue box and opened the lid.
Wow. It was the size of a convenience store ice cream cooler. To produce all the pieces he had in the shop. Unbelievable. Now looking at the pic I see it's connected to the tanks of gas lp against the wall. So I probably should have picked up on that. But still, incredible.
This was a very interesting and rewarding couple of hours in Nuevo Lurin. May not be for everyone, especially given the distance from downtown and the scenery. People seek different experiences with their vacation time. But I'm glad I got the chance to do this. And I'll close with a couple pics of the timeline that Juan has posted on his wall, explaining how he got there and what he's doing now. You can also follow him on Instagram via @llincoperu
My flight out of Lima was departing at 11pm. So before heading home I had one full day to cover more ground.
We got in the night before from Arequipa.
By the time we got to the hotel it was after 10pm. Took a couple pics of the perky lobby at Centro by Casa Andina Miraflores and crashed.
Hotel was fine. Good location. Nice breakfast. Basic rooms that felt like the building might once have been a dormitory.
In the morning I had a tour to Museo Pachacamac starting at 9:30. The site is about 50 minutes south of the city along the coast. The distance is only 24km, so as implied by the math, the traffic is slow going. And the scenes are not particularly beautiful.
Heavy vehicles, grey skies, dust, and the hallmark brown brick buildings in varying stages of construction.
The museum itself, though, is great. Nice design. Informative and interesting exhibits. A lot to take in and learn especially if, like me, you weren't fully up to speed on the pre-Incan times around Lima.
There is also the gift shop and cafe. Given the hour, both were pretty quiet. I'm sure if you passed by there an hour later it would be more lively as the various school groups we saw around the site made their way through.
Heading out to the exterior complex, you're again enveloped in a world of grey and beige. We could have taken more time to walk through the site, but I opted for a drive by. I can see how the site would be of more interest to those who lean into archeology / history / anthropology. But I was just as happy to keep it moving and get to the next stage of the tour, which I'll cover in the next post.
I was more fascinated by the modest developments across the way.
Grim. 1200 years from now will there be a museum dedicated to the lifestyles and culture of those folks? I'd be a little more interested in heading over there and seeing what's going on. Next leg of my tour would be more along those lines.
