Category Archives: RSIS: Round Square International Service Project (Peru)

RSIS: The Apulaya Centre for Music & Art

We were very fortunate to visit The Apulaya Art & Music Center in Calca, where we enjoyed workshops with Emerita and Valerio who were inspirational in their passion for Andean art and music.

Emerita is a talented artist and sculptor originally from Switzerland who specialises in pre-Incan and pre-Colombian art.  Our session with her involved first drawing a bean that we selected from a dish.  After completing our own drawing, Emerita introduced us to art pieces that centred on beans and lead us to the conclusion that we were only drawing the bean as it is in its current state and not seeing its potential.  We were then encouraged to expand our drawings to include the “potential” of the bean.  “Not only did the pre-Colombian artists “thematize” the physical appearance of a human, vegetable or divine being, but they also manifested it in its totality, with its full potential in which creation, fertility and development are fundamental” (Emerita). This was a unique insight into the meaning and interpretation of cosmo-vision in the Andean art and work Emerita shared with us.

Valerio is a classically trained flautist from Cusco who also studied jazz flute in Switzerland. Valerio gave us an excellent workshop on two instruments that are played during different seasons.  The tarkha is a wooden aerophone with 6 holes and is  played in the humid (or rainy) season.  It has a very raspy distinctive sound and we played two different sized tarkhas which had rather interesting tunings!

The other flute we learnt was the Siku or traditional pan flute, which is composed of two rows of tubes: Arka (Male) and Ira (Female). “To produce the melody, these two rows must interact by means of two players (Each one plays one row). This action is called the “braid” or “braiding”, and serves as a melodic development pillar. The music produced with these flutes is called Sikureada, and its practice comes from the high plains´ region”. We also learnt two Quechan songs.

Below are some pictures and short videos of our two workshops.[wpvideo zaBeCxzC]The most amazing outcome of this wonderful workshop was achieved on the final night of the service project in Quishuarani  2 weeks later.  Emerita & Valerio drove up to join us, bringing a car load of surprises – traditional dress for us to wear for our performance to the villagers.  We spent an hour reviewing and practicing the pieces  then later in the evening we had much fun putting on the magnificent traditional garments.

We then had a quick rehearsal in the dining room (that was of varying musical success!), before heading outside to perform around the campfire for the entertainment of the villagers who gathered around.

[wpvideo NSepph1H]I am pretty sure we all enjoyed it more than the folk from Quishuarani!

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The Apulaya Centre for Music & Art

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RSIS: The Sacred Valley of the Incas

We departed Cusco city on a coach and headed to The Sacred Valley of the Incas, also known as the Urubamba Valley.  After a short stop in Pisco where we enjoyed browsing the markets, we settled into our hotel for the next 3 days while we acclimatised. Qawana Lodge is in a beautiful setting, directly on the Urubamba River, near Calca.

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The food was also amazing!

On one of the acclimatising activity days when the students went rock climbing,  I took a day off and went walking along the river. I crossed over the footbridge in the nearest little village then walked along the opposite bank for about an hour before crossing back over at San Jose: another tiny village, nearer to Calca. Along the way a lamb appeared out of nowhere and followed me! In the small village, a couple of children were herding a family of pigs (mum, dad and piglets).  I also passed a very ferocious dog who charged me, snarling and snapping and barking.  I was completely convinced he was going to rip my ankles to shreds, but luckily he was more woof than bite.  I admit to huge sighs of relief as he finally backed off, only to soon realise that I had taken a wrong turn and needed to go back past the damn dog again!  As I retraced my steps I prayed the slavering beast was not habouring rabies!

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RSIS: Day 2+: CUSCO & Lamas & ¡Potatoes!

Thursday July 19th we all flew to Cusco where we had a lunch and heard our first of many versions of the song “Pacha Mama”  (Earth Mother).

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After lunch we headed off in the bus and stopped off to learn about llamas…….  (pronounced yamas!)

I knew nothing about them and had no idea how fascinating they are!  Firstly, despite their lack of a hump or two, they are related to camels and are in fact in the same family (Camildae). Just like camels, they are even-toed ungulates which means they have bumps on the soles of their feet.

Before you start telling me I have mispelt the title on the video below by leaving out an “L”, let me explain that the llama and the alpaca are two different species that have been in and out of the same genus.  Firstly they were classified in the Camelus genus, then later the genus called “Lama”  – so one may be forgiven for calling them all llamas! However consensus in South America is that there are 4 species under two genera:

Genus Lama = species llama & guanaco

Genus Vicugna = species alpaca & vicuña

Vicuñas and guanacos are timid and not usually domesticated.

Llamas and alpacas have been domesticated for over 1000 years, llamas being used for meat and as pack animals and alpacas more for their wool, which is lanolin free.  All of them come in a range of colours, as you will note in the photos. Llamas range from 5 – 6ft and can weigh up to 200kg, whereas alpacas are smaller. Llamas are social creatures that live in herds and can reach a ripe old age of 30.
¡One rather interesting fact about llamas is that they mate lying down and for an extended period of time, ranging from 20 – 45 minutes! Females mature much earlier than males (not so unusual) and ovulation is stimulated by mating (very unusual!).  Baby llamas are born weighing between 9 – 14 kg and their gestation period is 11 1/2 months!  Babies are born in the mornings so as to avoid both predators and the cold.

Enjoy the photos………. (and the silly Llama song)

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Peruvians love their potatoes and corn!  I have never seen so many different varieties of corn and potatoes!  There are over 55 different varieties of corn – different sizes and colours!

Potatoes are even more interesting!  There are apparently over 5ooo different varieties of potatoes in the world and 3ooo of these can be found in Peru!  The potato, as part of the human diet, can be traced back to over 8ooo years ago in the high Andes of Peru. The humble spud fed the Incan armies, and the Spanish conquistadors introducted them to Europe.

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