San Pedro de Cajas

San Pedro de Cajas sits at about 4,000 metres on the puna above Tarma, and its tapestries are unlike other Peruvian weaving. Rather than weaving with spun yarn, the weavers use loosely twisted rolls of dyed fleece laid into the warp, which gives the finished surface a soft, almost painted quality and allows subtle blends of colour - so the pieces are pictorial: village scenes, herding, mountains, festivals, birds, rendered like landscape paintings in wool. The technique developed in the twentieth century and the town's work became well known nationally. Workshops operate from houses and sell directly, and larger pieces take weeks. Getting there means crossing high open puna from Tarma, past herds of sheep and alpaca, and the town itself is cold and windswept with little else for visitors beyond the weaving.

What you actually see

• The technique - rolls of unspun dyed fleece laid into the warp instead of yarn.
• The pictorial style - landscapes and village scenes rendered like paintings.
• The workshops - families weaving and selling from their own houses.
• The setting - a weaving town at about 4,000 metres on open puna.

When to go

May to September; the puna road is bad in the rains. Two to three hours in the town. Weekdays for finding workshops open.

Honest expectations

At 4,000 metres it is genuinely cold and the altitude is felt. The road from Tarma is rough. Beyond the weaving there is nothing organised for visitors. Large tapestries are expensive and shipping them is your problem.

Nearby

Tarma is south; the Huagapo cave is at Palcamayo on the way.