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TRAVEL Bloomberg Pursuits January 29, 2018

They’re also enrolled in a three- wide patio, a half-dozen women in tra- area’s famously large corn kernels.
month guide school and an 80-hour ditional dress—their faces dark and “Some people say the name
first-responder wilderness training creased from the sun—teach visitors to Chinchero means ‘the place where rain-
course, both of which provide invalu- spin alpaca fiber into yarn and trans- bows appear,’” Sumire later says as we
able certifications. form it with natural dyes made from make our way down a pastoral trail and
At check-in, our guide, Felipe cochineal (a common insect), tree toward this town of roughly 10,000 peo-
Sumire, who’s twig-thin and dressed bark, and leaves from the chilca plant, ple. Despite its name, Chinchero isn’t
in head-to-toe khaki, introduces him- a leafy shrub. Others nearby sing songs especially colorful: It’s a pastiche of
self as an explorador. “This is a center in Quechua as they work, waiting for brown tones, with its adobe buildings
of exploration,” he says. “Not a hotel.” the demonstration to end so they can and cobbled walkways. Neighbors tradi-
Sumire and his team work with showcase their wares. My husband and tionally become “godparents” of newly-
guests to gradually build the intensity I buy a soft, red-striped rug for our tiny weds’ homes, christening their houses
and altitude of their hikes, starting at Brooklyn living room. with crosses and paired terra-cotta bulls
the elevation of the lodge, 9,500 feet Afterward, we grab our hiking that sit like wedding cake toppers on
above sea level, and reaching to 15,500. poles from the van and begin gen- their rooftops.
I get dizzy at the thought of it. tly winding up and down hilly farm- Here in rural Peru, the poverty rate
Hikes start between 6 a.m. and lands called mesetas. The path—worn is about 44 percent—this, in a country
8 a.m. All are fully guided, and some in only by alpaca feet—leads to lakes where the monthly minimum wage
begin with an intimate cultural that act like a mirror for the canary- is about $250. Walk into Chinchero’s
exchange. One features a visit to a small colored mountains. At one we stop church, however, and you’re blinded
weavers’ collective that sees a handful for an impromptu picnic: a light qui- by gold. Paintings here contain no
of customers on a good day. On the noa salad and soup made from the European faces—Jesus is dark-skinned

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