Andean Weaving Cooperative Courtyard

A weaving cooperative fills a stone-walled courtyard with color at every turn. Along the back wall, weavers in ponchos and wide-brimmed hats sit at wooden looms, finished blankets and rugs already pinned up to dry above them. In the center, workers stir wool in stone dye vats bubbling with indigo, red, purple, and gold, one boy slipping on a puddle of spilled dye beside a wandering guinea pig. To one side, others rinse raw wool in a stone trough fed by running taps. Smaller rooms branch off the yard: a jewelry maker strings beaded tassels, a shop stacks yarn in bright labeled bins, and a smoking hearth simmers a meal for the workers resting nearby. Two men load a finished rug onto a handcart, and out on the grass, a llama grazes while a condor watches from the top of the wall. Every dye pot and loom holds a single, unmistakable color.