Visiting Lima, Part II: Shipibo-Konibo Community

The settlements tour wasn’t the only experience I had with Alternative Peru. The next morning Alfredo picked me up again and this time we headed off to visit the Shipibo-Konibo community of Cantagallo, in the Rimac district.

The Shipibo-Konibo indigenous people traditionally live in the Ucayali river basin in Peru’s Amazon region. Like so many indigenous groups, the Shipibo-Konibo have seen large sectors of their population migrate to urban areas in search of better economic opportunities and to escape the intrusion of industries such as oil and logging. There are only about 20,000 Shipibo-Konibo left, and about 3,000 of them live in Lima.

They first arrived from Ucayali to Lima in the 1990s established this informal community in 2000 on top of a literal trash heap, becoming the first native urban community in Peru. The population grew each year until 2016, when they lost everything in a devastating fire that consumed 480 houses, together with their sewing machines and other tools needed for their artisan trade. Five hundred families became homeless. Some survivors moved to other areas for a while and now work in the textile industry. However, many were determined to rebuild and resume their lives. In 2019, many of the Shipibo-Konibo moved back to Cantagallo, where they are living today again together as a community.

When indigenous groups migrate to urban areas, it becomes increasingly difficult for them to maintain their traditional culture. According to the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, “Indigenous peoples in urban areas may ... have difficulties in sustaining their language, identity and culture and educating future generations.” Younger people in particular often feel pressure to shed their traditional culture in order to fit into their new urban surroundings.

However, the Shipibo-Konibo are a case study in perseverance. Its members still identify themselves as an indigenous community and maintain their language, art, knowledge and traditional rules related to coexistence. The small elementary school teaches both Spanish and the Shipibo language. The community is close-knit and they police their own closely, resulting in a very peaceful enclave within a larger area that can be fraught with violence.

Almost all the women in Cantagallo create traditional Shipibo art. A few years ago they opened a cultural center in a donated shipping container, and this is now the hub for arts in the community.

It was there that we met Jessica and Delia, two inspiring Shipibo women who came to Lima looking for a better future for their families. Delia came to Lima in the year 1998 with her baby daughter, now a young filmmaker and Kené master like her mother. Jessica came later in the year 2000 when 14 families of the Shipibo-Konibo indigenous people were promised a piece of land in the Cantagallo Island in the Rímac River in exchange for supporting the politician Alejandro Toledo, now a former president accused of corruption.

They both shared with me their life stories and then we jumped right into hands-on crafting as they taught me the basic painting, natural dyeing, and embroidery techniques of the ancestral Kené designs, which were declared a National Cultural Heritage in 2008. Kené art is a beautiful traditional design of lines and geometric patterns. Delia and Jessica had sketched out a basic design on a piece of cloth before my arrival, so I started by filling in the design with a special ink made from mahogany bark. I’m not artistic at all and always afraid of making mistakes, so I was moving very slowly. Eventually it became a team effort with all four of us working on it at once!

While we worked Jessica played a recording of traditional Shibipo-Kinobo songs which was a relaxing, almost hypnotic addition to the experience. For a short sample you can check out this sample, or for a longer version try this.

During this whole time I had felt self-conscious about the idea of pulling out my phone to take pictures. I wanted pics, of course, but I also wanted to stay focused in the present. And I definitely wanted to avoid making Jessica and Delia think that I was there just for a photo op. I shouldn’t have worried, though, as Jessica was actually the first to start taking pictures and posting them to her Instagram! Alfredo said that they hadn’t had anyone take the Shipibo-Kinobo tour in many months due to Covid, so they were just as eager to document the interaction as I was.

While the ink dried on that project, we moved on to a simple embroidery design of an Ayahuasca flower. Now mind you, I can barely sew a button on, so I really struggled with the intricate steps of the embroidery.

Several times I got the pattern of stitches wrong and Jessica had to patiently undo my damage. Unfortunately I didn’t have time to finish the embroidery, but Jessica gave me extra thread to take with me to finish at home (no, that has not happened yet!).

After the mahogany ink dried on the cloth, Delia took it outside for step two which involves covering the entire piece in a special mud that is only found in the Amazon basin, which requires a 20-hour bus ride both ways in order for them to acquire. I had a hard time imagining how this helped us get to the finished product, but I decided to trust in the process. Besides, it was time to break for lunch while the mud did its thing!

We walked through the unpaved streets of the community to get to the small restaurant, admiring the gorgeous murals along the way. Ermelinda, the restaurant owner, had prepared a lunch feast known as “Juane,´ a traditional meal originating from the Peruvian jungles, consisting of chicken, olives, hard-boiled eggs, and rice seasoned with spices that might include turmeric, oregano, and cumin. The combination of these ingredients is wrapped in bijao leaves and cooked. I’ll admit I’m not usually a very adventurous eater, especially when it comes to meats, but this truly delicious and I enjoyed the atmosphere sitting outside with locals on their lunch break. Alfredo also introduced me to a local favorite soda, Inca Kola, which he said many foreigners think tastes like bubble gum. He seemed a bit confused by this comparison, but after trying it I can confirm that is exactly what it tastes like!

We finished lunch and went back to the cultural center to finish the Kené tapestry. Delia began rinsing the mud off the cloth in a bucket of water and I was shocked by the transformation. The parts we had covered with the ink had turned into a beautiful charcoal black while the rest of the cloth remained white! I truly felt like a child in terms of my wide-eyed amazement.

The final product!

While the cloth tried again, they showed me some of their other work that was much larger and more complex. The designs have become quite popular with tourists, especially the Ayahuasca designs as more and more Westerners adopt the native Peruvian plant as an alternative medical treatment. Some of their large, intricate pieces can fetch a couple hundred USD each.

Jessica shared that the growing interest in Kené art has had an effect on the younger Shipibo-Kinobo people. Whereas they used to shun the traditional arts in favor of modern conveniences, they now see the economic value in keeping their cultural traditions alive.

As we looked at their other pieces for sale, I had a terrible time making up my mind as to what I wanted to buy. I finally settled on one large tapestry and a smaller one. I would have actually bought more, but I already had to borrow some cash from Alfredo since I didn’t have much on me! In retrospect, though, I have major regrets that I didn’t come home with a bigger stash of Kené art.

We had already gone way past the planned ending time of 2:30, so I reluctantly hugged my new friends goodbye. I left with a full heart knowing I’d had such a unique and rewarding experience, and feeling convinced that Alternative Peru had absolutely hit the mark when it comes to offering a cultural exchange that would enhance any traveler’s visit to Lima while also providing an opportunity for the local community to benefit as well.