THE HIGHLANDS
Above four thousand meters, the Andes open up into vast high plateaus. The air is thin and clear, the sun intense, and the nights bring frost. It is a quiet landscape where people and animals have lived together for millennia. This is where vicuña and alpaca fibers begin.
GOLDEN GRASS
Across the high plateaus stretches ichu, a tough, clumping grass that glows golden in the dry season. It withstands the wind, the cold, and the sun, and nourishes the animals of the highlands. When the evening light falls low across the plateau, the whole landscape seems to be made of gold.
WATER FROM THE ICE
Amid the grass lie the bofedales, green wetlands fed by meltwater from glaciers and by springs. They are the alpacas’ pastures, soft and lush green amid the barren Puna. Highland families have tended them for generations, because without water there are no herds.
THE GUARDIANS OF THE HERDS
Most of Peru’s alpacas live with families who have cared for them for generations. They know every animal, its color and fleece, and travel across the land with their herds. Their knowledge is the beginning of every fiber: what is carefully tended in the highlands can later become a piece that lasts.
WHERE THE APU GUARDS ARE AWAKE
Rising above the high plateaus are the snow-capped peaks that the people of the Andes call Apu, the spirits of the mountains. To this day, they make offerings to them and to Pachamama, Mother Earth, and ask for protection for their herds and crops. Casa APUKAI takes its name from these mountains.