Wayuu Weaving

Wayuu women weave, and the mochila, a shoulder bag crocheted in the round, is the piece most outsiders meet first. A single-thread bag takes weeks of work and the denser double-thread kind takes longer still. The geometric figures worked into them, the kanas, are named designs learned from mothers and aunts and tied to the family that uses them. The other major form is the chinchorro, a large loom-woven hammock with an open, elastic weave, made for sleeping, for birth and for burial. Bags are sold in Riohacha's market and on the seafront, and out in the desert rancherias where they are actually made.

What you actually see

• Mochilas - crocheted bags worked in the round in named geometric patterns.
• Chinchorros - large openwork hammocks woven on a frame loom.
• Riohacha's stalls - rows of bags sold on the seafront and in the market.
• Rancherias - desert homesteads where weaving is done between other work.

When to go

December to April is the dry season and the practical time to travel into the Alta Guajira, where the routes are sand tracks and the trips are by 4x4 over two or three days. Riohacha itself works year-round and its market is the easiest place to see a wide range of work without the long journey out into the desert.

Honest expectations

Prices in the tourist streets bear little relation to what the weaver receives, and haggling hard mostly squeezes the maker rather than the seller. A good deal of what is sold as Wayuu work is machine-made or made elsewhere. The desert is hot, dusty and uncomfortable, accommodation is a hammock, and photographing people without asking causes real offence.

Nearby

Cabo de la Vela and Punta Gallinas lie further into the desert; Riohacha is the departure point.