Ichimay Wary - Lima's artisan cooperative at Lurin - well worth a trip

After finishing our visit to Lima's  famous Pachacamac’s archaeological heritage site, we continued further to see the artisan cooperative which is at Lurin. We had been warned that it’s a rough and tough neighbourhood and to be extra careful. Lurin is south of Lima Centre and reached by the famous Pan-American Highway which goes from the capital of Equador to that of Chile. The ceramic artisans from Ayacucho create the traditional retablos, pottery, Andean style Christmas decorations, the famous colourful Tree of Life etc. There are also other artisans using different materials.  Despite what Lonely Planet might say, there is no central shop – you have to visit each artist at their own independent workshop.

I had called up Decidu Oricaya (Tel: 4303674) who is the Coordinator to ensure that he was there to meet us and to show us around. The data on the group was brief - all we had was they are a group of artists who sell their wares collectively. Lurin is only 48 kms from Lima Central but it felt so different. The route on one side was lined by a huge sand or slag heap which had excavation in its centre. Demarcations were made from top to bottom at regular intervals to show the ownership of land. As we neared Lurin, we saw shelters, sheds, and small huts in rows along these hills. Imagine what it must be like to commute or walk in winter or in rainy season where there are no tarred roads. We had to go off the main road after a couple of detours as we got lost but Decidu managed to give directions to our driver. 

The Coop is actually in the middle of a slum consisting of single storey hutments lined in rows. Generally clean area except for the occasional rubbish heap. Groups of youngsters hung around the sidewalk corners. Seeing this, we decided to call Decidu out to meet us. He immediately gave me a leaflet in Spanish which detailed out their activities. Whilst Decidu rode on his bike, we followed behind him to the house of a ceramic artist Jaime Sisaq and his wife. The other artisans are in the same area but not next to each other.

I was keen on buying local ceramic or textile work. I had also heard that there were good wood carvers. Both Jaime and another artist whom we visited who was actually next door, dealt solely with religious designs in miniature sizes! Both of these potters work in the front half of the house what we would call the garage area. They don’t own cars so they utilise this space effectively. They use moulds which are about an inch big for the figurines and then lay them out as per the layout. We walked through the workshop seeing each process but I felt sad that I could not find anything other than these very Christian designs. We saw some bracelets and some rings which were nothing fantastic but we felt obliged to buy them having taken their time – so we got a few bracelets and pendants. I think they rely upon bulk sale as each of these items cost a pittance – US$ 1 to 2 max and sometimes you get 3 pendants for a dollar. The wood worker was closed. So next stop was the textile weaver.

This is a proper house where the textile looms are in a large room. There were 3 workers weaving away. The designs are again very traditional and except for the very small table mats (3”x3”) there was rarely any replication. In a room next door, the carpets, table runners, cushion covers etc were displayed or hung up for viewing. I took my time looking through the collection. I was rather surprised at the prices which were steep for this area. It was as if I was in the town centre in a fancy shop. Then I went into my “bargain mode” as many a time I know that prices are artificially high. I spent nearly 30 minutes wearing down the sellers and after a lot of back and forth, I got two carpets – a 6ftx2ft and 8ftx8” piece for a decent price. What I liked about them was they were colourful, definitely not the traditional designs one sees in Persian, Kashmiri or European style carpets. Hence these were unique.

The area is basically deserted and not a soul was to be seen around except for a few stray dogs.

It was not an area where I would go walking looking for the artisans.

We left satisfied that we had managed to see a part of Lima which most tourists don’t even look at:  as its far, it’s not an easily accessible place and certainly not within the “comfort zone” of most visitors. Why go there when one can buy at the shops in downtown; but then, you don’t really experience the ambience of the place or get to meet the people who actually created these wonderful pieces.

This is a photo of the whole group taken from the leaflet.

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