Many of us in the ATA community had the privilege of meeting Guadalupe Alvarez de Callañaupa, weaver, community leader, mother of Nilda Callañaupa-Alvarez, the director of CTTC, and a force in what became the Center for Traditional Textiles of Cusco (CTTC). Guadalupe passed away this October at 96 years old.
Born in Chinchero, Peru, in 1928, Guadalupe learned fine weaving and natural dyeing from her grandmother, Cipriana Valenzuela. As a young woman, she was very social, even being invited to dance and sing at a reception for Hiram Bingham near Machu Picchu, where she was among those photographed by well-known Andean photographer Martin Chambi.
After marrying her husband, Vicente, she accompanied him on his travels through the Cusco region, as they took and delivered orders for the silver jewelry he made. Until the agrarian reform in Peru. Guadalupe also worked as a cook for the workers on the hacienda Watata in the Urubamba Valley. After the reform, she worked her family’s fields, along with her husband, and while raising their seven children: Antonia, the mother of Raul Jaimes, who leads ATA’s Andean tours; Angel, the artist whose magical paintings light up the children’s book Beyond the Stones of Machu Picchu: Folk Tales and Stories of Inca Life by Libby VanBuskirk; Nestor, who farmed the family’s land with Vicente; Julia; Adela; Nilda, the director of CTTC; and Flora, CTTC board member.
ATA board member emerita Betty Doerr and her family first visited Chinchero in the 1990s, and she shared her memories of Guadalupe with us: “Lovely and dignified she was. There would not be a CTTC or an ATA without her. She was known for her sharp eye, a trader in textiles who was known to spot a fine textile from 100 yards away. Her beauty and dignity were captured in photographs by National Geographic and the great Peruvian photographer Martin Chambi. She and the older women in CTTC formed the friendship group that would be the first community of CTTC. At her home across the street from the Chinchero weaving center, she hosted the traditional lunches that are now part of our tours. She was a master weaver and Nilda’s teacher. On a personal note, she and Vicente embraced my family and welcomed us into their home. She will be missed.”
A wreath was sent to Guadalupe’s memorial in October on behalf of the ATA community.
