Awamaki

Awamaki

in Ollantaytambo, Peru

Explore Ollantaytambo and its surrounding villages and get to know the people that live there with authentic cultural experiences you can’t find anywhere else. You can take a variety of cultural tours and artisan workshops that will bring you off the beaten track to experience Andean culture; try spinning on the ancient Andean drop spindle, learn to cook local specialties, visit a local "Ollantino” family, or improve your Spanish in a language class.

Awamki works directly with rural Adean women to provide them with a reliable source of income to increase their families’ quality of life and well-being. The opportunites are endless with this powerful collective community.

Right for You?

Style

Off the Beaten Path and Cultural Immersion

Price

$40-85 /person
Approximate price for a full day tour.

Location

Small Towns/Villages and Mountains

Connect with Awamaki

Local/Foreign Owned Social Enterprise
Awamaki
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Speaks: English and Spanish

Why Lokal Recommends Awamaki

Background

Social Enterprise | Local/Foreign Owned

A Unique Story

Awamaki transforms communities by giving women access to income-generating opportunities. Half a million tourists travel through Ollantaytambo on their way to Machu Picchu every year. Despite this influx of tourists, rural, indigenous women are left out of the modern economy. Small villages located just outside the town’s vicinity live in poverty, many having no roads, electricity or telephones. Access to schools and health clinics is limited. Awamki works to create and expand the women’s opportunities to participate in the modern economy in these locations.

Deep Community Connections

Awamaki partners with cooperatives of rural Andean women to provide training and market access. These partner cooperatives weave, knit, spin and sew. Awamki offers them trainings in quality control, product development and technical skills improvement so they can better promote and grow their businesses. Many people living in the Ollantaytambo region speak only their native Quechua and no Spanish. By partnering with a local Spanish school, Awamki offered free training to local women to learn to teach Spanish. After six months of training, they graduated ten teachers, mostly young single moms. They now teach Spanish to volunteers, students and tourists alike and specialize in preparing students of all levels for life in Ollantatyambo.

Exceptional Quality and Authenticity (Culture)

Awamaki's network of weavers, knitters, spinners, and teachers work together to preserve their culture and improve their way of living. Spinners spin their local alpacca yarn and provide it directly to other local weavers who then transform it in to traditional dress including layered skirts with woven trim, red jackets decorated with white buttons, and a bowl-shaped hats with hand-beaded chin straps. Knitters design and create local knitwear which has been sought after all across the globe from the US to the UK and Japan. One of the knitting cooperatives Awamaki works with has even won a grant from the United Nations to help them learn more about making their cooperative into a small business.

Location

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