Cartagena is a romantic colonial town right on the ocean and was dreamlike. We shared an amazing mushroom risotto and saw a really good french movie. however, I had a little trouble with the obvious line between those who are served and those who serve, those who are entertained and those who entertain, those who consume and those who are peddling their wares through the streets. It was difficult to seperate yourself from that.
so we are now in La Guajira, which is the arid peninsula near the venezuelan/colombian border where we are visiting artisan groups again through Aid to Artisans. We spent the day today with a Wayuu community of 20 families who lived an hour truck ride and a very hot 30 minute walk from the hiway through the desert. They work making super intricate and beautiful crocheted bags that take weeks to make. Aid to Artisans is also offering capacity building workshops in working with goat hide and their traditional weavings and crocheted straps to make a variety of bags.
We had an amazing lunch of sun-dried goat meat, rice, and chicha made from maize. learned a lot in a short period of time today but some of the things that stuck out were; The Wayuu live both in Colombia and Venezuela and migrate freely across the borders many times traveling to Venezuela during the dry season and returning to La Guajira when the rainy season starts, Wayuunaiki-Spanish bilingual schools are promoted and prevelant throughout the region, young women when they begin their menstrual cycle spend a 5 year period in seclusion where their only contact is with their mother and their aunt and they dedicate these years to learning about how to become a woman and female labor such as sewing, weaving, and crocheting. Each Wayuu community is named after the mother´s last name, since they maintain a matriarchial structure.
Tomorrow we are visiting artisans who work with ceramics and then we head further north to a place called Cabo de la Vela.
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