Peru Through the People Who Make It

A Passport to Folk Art Trip | Peru: Great Masters

By Eric Mindling

Peru is often introduced in stone — ancient walls, temples, terraces. On Great Masters, we begin somewhere more intimate: with a painted line, clay, a loom in motion, a retablo opening like a tiny theater, a meal shared around a table. We enter Peru through the hands of people still making it.

Over fourteen days, the country unfolds from Lima to Ayacucho, Cusco and the Sacred Valley. We meet makers and communities in the places that shape their work — villages and landscapes. Among them are IFAM artisans who come to Santa Fe; here, we meet them on their own ground, where work is tied to memory and place.

In Lima, Olinda Silvano brings us into the world of Shipibo-Konibo kené in Cantagallo, while Amapolay and Warmichic show tradition moving through contemporary design.

Ayacucho changes the rhythm. Retablos open into stories, clay carries the memory of a village, and Sarhua boards turn community into painted narrative. We visit the ancient Wari capital, make alongside artisans, and travel into the countryside, where making is woven into daily life.

In Cusco, stone becomes a kind of archive. Then the journey opens into the Sacred Valley, where weaving is no longer simply something to admire. With Nilda Callañaupa and Quechua communities, we begin to understand it through touch, repetition, color, and time.

We do not simply look. We make, cook, weave, listen, share meals, and spend time with people. The point is not to collect artisan visits. The makers are the doorway; Peru is the journey.

PERU: GREAT MASTERS

April 2–15, 2027 | 14 Days / 13 Nights

$6,750 per person, Double Occupancy + $750 Tax-deductible contribution to IFAM

Single Supplement: $1,395 | Machu Picchu extension available