Women and Weavers
Supporting Local Textiles
Tourism to Machu Picchu has exploded in the past couple of years from several hundred thousand visitors per year to nearly 1.5 million visitors per year. And competition to access tourism is fierce with markets at every corner, in the streets, and at popular Inca sites. When we take volunteers on treks, we make sure we lead them to textiles woven by families and small villages who have less access to the markets. Not only will volunteers pay fair prices, but they will be supporting women working the farm, raising a family, and making a living weaving textiles. It can take 2-3 months to weave a piece the size of a blanket and often make $50 per piece for their work. Even if you are not on a volunteer trek and are traveling to Peru, you can ask us where to go to support this kind of local effort.