This one's kind of boring. Sorry.

Last Thursday, for my Socio-Economic Reality of Peru class, we visited some "microempresas" (micro enterprises). It was really cool.

First we went to a house where a couple owns a clothing shop. The husband makes the fabric from alpaca at another location and the wife and a few others design, make, and sell the clothing at a shop in the city. They have worked with an international designer, so these ponchos, hats, and scarves are on the cutting edge of fashion. Their children are grown and have all learned to make clothing as well and work in textile production too. 

Then we visited a building where people can pay to use the sewing machines and equipment to make their clothes to sell. There were like, 15 sewing machines in this room. Some of the women showed us some of their products. One of them had Victoria's Secret stuff. I'm not sure if she was making knock-offs or what, but it was kind of funny. 

Next we visited an artist in his home. He has learned to paint reverse colors on glass so that you are looking through the glass at the painting. It's a pretty sweet skill. He makes boxes and trays and mirrors and can export them all over the world. He and his brother also make keychains and souvenirs that you can buy at the airport. It was really cool to see where some of this stuff comes from. It isn't all sweat shops like I have grown to expect. 

We went back to the place with the sewing machines to see a jewelry collective. They make a lot of rings and sell them at malls and mercados. They have all of these metal working machines at this little shop. It was sweet to see a little about how they do it. They also fed us sandwiches and coffee and took lots of pictures of us. They really liked that we were there.

Then we visited a group of indigenous women who crochet really nice, very fashionable, clothing. Their name is quechuan. So that's cool. They sell their stuff in one of the bigger malls in Lima. They each come in for a few hours a day and crochet a bunch and then sell it. They had a sign on the wall that said, "Solos somos invisibles. Juntos somos invencibles." (Alone we are invisible. Together we are invincible.)

Lastly, we went to another home where they make jewelry in the back. This guy showed us in much greater detail how rings are made. They start with a base, made in a mold. They then cover this with silver in a canister. Then they clean it and add details. It was really fun to watch him actually make a ring in front of us. And it was so pretty!

It was a long day, but very cool. All of these people live in the same area, San Juan de Lurigancho. In the 60s-80s everyone moved into the city. Now the majority of people in Peru live in Lima. San Juan de Lurigancho is an area where many artisans moved and live today.