Signature Experience III · Private
Ayllu: a Private Day of Weaving and Pachamanca with a Quechua Family in the Sacred Valley
A private day with a Quechua weaving family in the Sacred Valley. Dye wool with plants and cochineal, try a backstrap loom beside women who learned it from their grandmothers, help open a pachamanca, a feast cooked in an earth oven, and walk the family’s potato and corn fields.
- Duration
- 8 Hours · Full day, 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM
- Group
- Private · 1 to 8 guests
- Where
- A Quechua community in the Sacred Valley
- Pace
- Easy: short walks between home, workshop and fields
Request your dates. We confirm within 24 hours, then send a secure payment link.
Why only Auqui can offer this
Ayllu is the Quechua word for a community bound by family and land. We visit one family at a time, they set the day’s rhythm, and they receive the fee for the day directly, not a commission. You leave as guests, not customers.
Best for: Families with children, textile lovers, and travelers who want to meet the people behind the landscapes
How the experience unfolds
8:00 AM
Drive into the Sacred Valley
Private pickup in Cusco or at your Sacred Valley hotel. On the way your guide teaches a few words of Quechua, which the family will be happy to hear.
9:30 AM
Welcome and natural dyes
The family greets you with muña tea. Watch alpaca and sheep wool washed with a root that foams like soap, then dyed in boiling pots of plants, and cochineal that turns from red to purple with a squeeze of lime.
11:00 AM
The backstrap loom
Sit beside the weavers at the backstrap loom and learn what each pattern says: rivers, lakes, the eyes of the condor. Each guest weaves a few rows of their own.
1:00 PM
Opening the pachamanca
Lunch is cooked under the earth on hot stones: potatoes, sweet potato, fava beans, corn, lamb or chicken and herbs. Help lift the stones and share the meal with the family. During the May to August harvest, potatoes are also baked in a huatia, a small oven built from clods of soil in the fields.
3:00 PM
The family’s fields and return
Walk the terraces where they grow dozens of native potatoes, then drive back to your hotel.
What’s included
- A private day with a Quechua weaving family, for your group only
- Natural dye and backstrap weaving workshop
- Pachamanca lunch with the family, and muña tea
- Bilingual Auqui guide interpreting from Quechua and Spanish
- Private transport from Cusco or your Sacred Valley hotel
- Fee for the day paid directly to the family
- Bottled water and oxygen in the vehicle
Not included
- Textiles you choose to buy from the family
- Gratuities (optional)
Good to know
- The Sacred Valley is lower than Cusco, which makes this a gentle day for your first days at altitude.
- Vegetarian pachamanca is easy to prepare. Tell us when you book.
- There is no pressure to buy. If you do, every textile is sold by the weaver who made it.
Frequently asked questions
Is this a staged village visit?
No. You spend the day in a real family home with one family, and their work and fields set the plan. We never bring more than one group a day.
Is it good for children?
Very. Children usually love the dye pots, the animals and lifting the stones of the pachamanca. The walking is short and easy.
Who receives the money?
The family is paid directly for the day and the meal. Any textile you buy is paid to the weaver who made it.
Can it be combined with the Pachamama ceremony?
Yes. On request, the paqo can make the offering in the Sacred Valley the same morning, before you join the family.
Ayllu: Weaving & Pachamanca with a Quechua Family in the Sacred Valley
From $260 per person, private for 2 guests. 8 Hours, private, on the date you choose.