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Ayacucho: The quarter of Santa Ana and examples of handicraft

 

Photo reportage of Michael Palomino (March 2007 / 2012)

Map of the town

Map of Ayacucho with the quarters of Santa Ana and Andamarca

Photos of the quarter Santa Ana

	Jiron M. Astete The handicraft quarter "Santa Ana" is about 15 to 20 minutes by foot south of the center of the town. One can march the Jiron Grau or the Jiron Libertad up to the bridge crossing the dry river and then one knows one is in the quarter Santa Ana. Buses in Jiron Grau are seldom, in Jiron Libertad I have never seen any. The continuation of Jiron Grau at the other end of the bridge is Jiron M. Astete. One is marching until there is no paving any more.
	Jiron Caceres, ascension Then one is marching up Jiron Caceres. Almost every house is a house of artists now. But the families make no propaganda, they have no placards, they have no propaganda panels, they have no marketing, they have no "promotion", they have no showcase, they don't have anything. The point is: The people in Santa Ana do not know how to organize propaganda and had no marketing courses. There is no union or office of Santa Ana either. There is nothing. When one wants to see some of the handicrafts, one has to knock at the doors and to ask which handicraft is done by this family. The road is steep. Here no bus gets up, so there is no bus, but only moto taxis and normal taxis. The latter cannot pass  everywhere because of the bad road pavement. The normal taxis would "get stuck".
	Jiron Caceres, entrance door to the house of the artisan Sulca At Jiron Caceres there is an entrance door of the artisan family Sulca. The tapestries of the Sulca family are world famous. But most of the decisive door plate is covered by plants so it is only hardly to be read.
	Jiron Caceres, cars going up the steep road One sees the angle between the house front and the road. By this you can estimate the inclination of the road.
	Jiron Caceres, at the end behind the wall one sees the pinnacles of the steeples coming out for a short time At the end of the ascendancy behind the supporting wall two pinnacles of the steeples of the church of Santa Ana are coming out. Then they disappear from the sight again and one has to turn the sight.

	Plaza Santa Ana, row of houses To the left there is a row of houses one or two floors. The impression is misleading a little bit. The houses mostly have other floors beneath on the slope. The floor which can be seen from the road is only the one on the top. The pavement is made of cobblestone in cement so the cars cannot be fast. For bikers it's not so comfortable...
	Plaza Santa Ana, another entrance door to artisan Sulca The Sulca family did much for the reputation of the quarter of Santa Ana. But until today there is no central office for example where one could get the information who is producing what and where.
	Plaza Santa Ana, daughter of artisan Sulca in an entrance The inhabitants of Santa Ana have something comfortable: Often they stonewall little benches outside on the house front where everybody can take a rest and have a little talk. This shows a basic confidence which is not existing any more in other parts of the town.
	Plaza Santa Ana, the house of the Gallardo family, artisan The house has got many floors. Until the 1980s the house was a little hotel. By the outbreak of the terror times in the 1980s tourism broke down and the family changed the house into a gallery. Today one could reopen and refurnish the house for a hotel but 5,000 Soles are missing (about 1,800 "US" Dollars, about 1,300 Euros), because furniture cost a lot in the Sierra because there is no big forest in the region and because people are poor. They hardly have furniture and by this there is not much second hand furniture.
	Plaza Santa Ana, the house of the Gallardo family, advertising sign Also the advertising sign of the Gallardo family is covered by plants so one has to look for it. There is missing the marketing in the thinking to make some good promotion.
	Mrs. Gallardo showing one of her tapestries (span. tejido) Such a tapestry needs about 3 months of disciplined work on the loom. Family Gallardo, Plazuela de Santa Ana no. 105, Ayacucho, Perú, Tel. 0051-(0)66-31 12 15.
	Only now one can see the whole church, "Santa Ana" church
	The neighboring house besides the Gallardo family This house with it's high posts on the roof is waiting for the construction of another floor when enough money is saved.
	Neighbor Honorato showing one of his tapestries (span. tejido) Also for this tapestry was needed about 3 months work on the loom. Honorato Oncebay Coras, Plazuela de Santa Ana no. 42, Ayacucho, Perú
	"Santa Ana" church with it's square, sight from the roof of the house of the Gallardo family Behind the church on the slope there are a lot of more houses with artisan's families. Partially they are only reachable by foot. One can hardly believe that in such poor houses is produced handicraft. The inhabitants need a coordination office but they don't know how to do it because nobody has an idea of promotion and marketing.
	Sight from "Santa Ana" from the house of the Gallardo family to Ayacucho 01
	Sight from "Santa Ana" from the house of the Gallardo family to Ayacucho 02

More photos

Gallardo family Alejandro Gallardo, visiting card, Plazuela de Santa Ana no. 105  Ayacucho, Perú, tel. 0051-(0)66-31 12 15 alexandrog9@hotmail.com Alejandro Gallardo on the loom

Alejandro (father) and Alexander (son) Gallardo with a tapestry Alejandro Gallardo has got a little hotel for tourists but with much discotheque and there is no tranquility in the house.

<The carpet on the photo I made with my spouse and is of alpaca wool, 1.20 long, 90 cm large, costs 280 dollars,
other carpet 1.65 m long, 1.20 m large, is 500 dollars. There are also carpets of sheep wool, cost more or less 150 dollars
and have a standard of 1.65 m long and 1.20 m large, for 220 dollars.>

But at the end came out that this Gallardo family does not work with it's designs in meditation but they are working with much discotheque and therefore they are living like the primitive Peruvians with discotheque during day and night and there is nothing special with them. They are wild as the big majority of pig Peruvians are and only disco people is wanted as guests.

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