The Communities
Threads of Peru works with three communities - Rumira Sondormayo, Chaullacocha and Chupani in the Patacancha Valley in the Cusco region. These three villages are accessible by a combination of car and foot by taking a road that leaves from the busy tourist village of Ollantaytambo. Nearly every visitor to Machu Picchu (approximately 2000 daily) will pass through Ollantaytambo.
“The vast majority of travellers are blithely unaware that within a few hours live people whose lives have changed very little since the time of the Incas.”
Most of the houses are mud brick with straw thatched roofs, and in the more remote communities proper sanitation (toilets) or running water are non existent. The women, continue to wear their traditional dress, and most people wear sandals called 'hojatas' - made out of old tires.
- Communities
Rumira Sondormayo
Rumira is located across the river from its better known and bigger neighbor, Patacancha and has an
approximate altitude of 4000 meters (approx. 13000 feet). Rumira is accessible by road, has electricity in the houses in town,
access to both primary and secondary schools and the medical post in Patacancha. With road access and the proximity to
Patacancha and Huilloq, the people in Rumira Sondormayo are the most organized of the communities we work with, and have
clear goals as to what their needs and desires are. Rumira has approximately 40 families with their main activities in
agriculture though sometimes the men work on the Classic Inca Trail as porters.
