South American Journal

Years ago, Melanie Ebertz began selling Andean handcrafts from a booth at the Minneapolis Farmer's Market. The rest of the year, she'd run things for the South American Explorer's Club in Lima and Quito. Today, her business has evolved into Art Andes, one of the top importers of traditional Peruvian textiles. By top, I don't mean high volume, but extremely high quality. We're talking alpaca and sheep's wool, spun by hand. Yarns that are hand-dyed using plants, bugs, mosses, etc. And traditional (even precolombian) patterns you'll never see at El Gran Mercado Inca. Many of the rugs are woven by Wilbur Quispe, a master weaver from the Ayacucho region. The result of all that trouble is a stunningly beautiful rug, so durable you can regularly throw it in the washing machine with no ill effects.