Walking with the Weavers of the Andes

Hiking for 10 miles through the hills of Cusco with the Warmi collective in the K’acllaraccay community near Moray turned out to be an introspective journey.

The MASI unit from the team behind the restaurants Central and Kjolle in Lima, MAZ in Tokyo, and MIL in Cusco continues to add layers of understanding to the Andean cosmovision and their environment—this time in collaboration with the threaders of the Warmi collective.

From Moray to K’acllaraccay

The immersion begins at MIL, Mater Iniciativa’s research center. Five minutes away, in the neighboring community, a group of women welcomes you and leads you into their homes and lives. This first of five stops introduces you to the rhythms of their days: weaving, tending the land, raising children, and preparing seasonal foods.

We were offered roasted fava beans and a sweet, warm drink made from them because the beans were in season. What’s served always depends on the harvest, what can be stored, and what the earth offers.

From there, the 10-mile walk unfolds in quiet pulses—pausing often to breathe, observe, and listen. At our second stop by a water fountain, the path revealed itself behind a nucleus of adobe homes. We saw sheep and pigs grazing and women walking steadily, a piece of raw wool in one hand and a pushka (spindle) in the other, threading as they moved.

IN THE KNOW: Pushka (or spindle) is a traditional tool used in Andean textile culture to spin fibers—like alpaca or sheep wool—into yarn through a delicate twisting motion.

After sipping tumbo, a tart native fruit, we continued along the hillside. Along the way, the women pointed out plants, berries, and roots—each with a purpose: as medicine, nourishment, or wool dye. They spoke of ayni, a sacred reciprocity that governs life here, an exchange of energy, labor, and care between people and the land.

We paused at the top of a hill overlooking cultivated fields. We thanked the Apus (sacred mountain spirits) and reflected on the community’s relationship with Pachamama (Mother Earth). From one of their llicllas —traditional mantles that Andean women use for warmth or to carry babies, food, or tools — they gently unwrapped a homemade flatbread —simple, delicious, grounding. Everything felt intentional. Carried close to the body, in cloth that tells stories of origin and identity.

Without realizing it, we had reached the summit—3,726 meters above sea level. From there, the Sacred Valley unfolded before us. We could see their community, their fields, their world. All the land the light touched was theirs: inherited, worked, cherished.

We ended the walk with song, laughter, and movement—dancing and threading with the women. Then, we returned to the van and returned to MIL for a meal, feeling like we understood a bit more—not just about their craft, but about the sacred interweaving of land, life, and labor in the Andes.

The Warmis

To be a Warmi is not simply to be a woman. In Quechua, the word carries the weight of generations, the warmth of hands that spin, sow, and serve. A Warmi knows how to weave —yes— but also how to listen to the wind, predict the rain, andread the earth. She cultivates not only potatoes and fava beans but also memory. She carries babies, herbs, tools, and food in her lliclla dyed with plants she’s gathered in colors that speak of her land, the season, and their people.

The Warmi collective was born in 2018 as part of a residency by Mater Iniciativa. Sixteen women from the highlands of K’acllaraccay came together not to form something new but to celebrate something ancient. Together, they spin wool from their sheep using the Pushka, dye it with roots and berries, and weave it into narratives—textiles that are both garments and testimonies.

To walk with them is to walk inside a living loom. Their threads carry water, stone, and sky. Their songs hold the mountain’s breath. Their hands, in constant motion, weave the past into the present—one that is alive, evolving, and fiercely rooted.