Thursday, November 12, 2009

El Hotel Libertador

Yesterday we received some great news. A local hotel, The Hotel Libertador, selected the AsociaciĆ³n de Artesanos Valle Sagrado to sell their products in their lobby! The contest began about a month ago, and after two rounds of tough competition, the artisans of Urubamba have won a great opportunity.
The largest problems with the association are the lack of organization and the inability to sell to tourists directly. This should help with both, because the good news provides something to rally around in addition to access to tourists.
What lies ahead is making sure the association is ready. But we have a lot of time, and we are all excited to finally have some good news!
Also, as promised, check out the pic of our new teacher doing what he does best during one of his classes with the association.

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

You´ve been doing WHAT?

Don´t worry loyal blog fans, Urubamba didn´t fall off the face of the Earth taking your beloved internet posts with it. It´s just been busy.
To start, new skill workshops have started with our new ¨profesor¨, Mauricio, from Cuzco. Right now the artisans are learning new techniques on sewing machines, and seem to be really enjoying it. Participation is higher than usual, and they really are making some great stuff. Today I caught the end of their class and they were finishing up making purses and sachels, products which are slightly different from those found in the surrounding markets (did someone say ¨diversification¨?).
This weekend also marked Urubamba´s 170th anniversary. Translation: festivals and parties for 4 days straight. Some artisans took advantage of the opportunity to sell their products in the plaza during the festivities. The others did what the rest of Urubamba did this weekend: dance, dance, dance.
And sorry there´s no pics with this post. If you´ve been following the blog (like I know you have been) you will know that Arnaud has left us. That means his fancy camera left us too. But have no worries, we´ll get some new stuff up here soon.