New Guest Blogger - Gigi of Inca Kids!
Monday, May 5th, 2008I would love to welcome Gigi to our Regionz Kidz blog! She is going to be putting up some great posts about Peru & its culture and traditions. Please welcome her to our wonderful community
Gilda (Gigi) Pedraza, a Social Entrepreneur and Former Director of Resource Development at the Latin American Association; graduated with honors from the bachelors degree program in Hospitality from the Center in Tourism Development in Lima, Peru. In 2000, on a scholarship from the Spanish government, Gilda received a Masters in Tourism with a focus in planning from Las Palmas de Gran Canaria Univeristy.
Before leading the Resource Development Department at the Latin American Association, where she responsible for the fundraising activities as well as special events and public relations strategy; she worked as an events planner and coordinator of the “Guest Recognition” program at the Ritz-Carlton in Buckhead; training staff on quality management processes and increasing efficiencies in the hotel.
Gilda has also led several initiatives aiming to facilitate the traffic and delivery of service at the Peruvian Corporation of Civil Aviation, which included integrating suppliers, government representatives, corporations and the media in the projects at the Jorge Chavez International Airport in Lima.
Currently, she runs the Inca Kids project, a fair trade initiative supporting skilled but unprivileged Peruvian artisans through the sales of their handcrafted items in developing countries.
Gilda is married to Omar Rodriguez, she is mother of a busy toddler and is expecting her second baby in July.
The Qoyllur Rit’i Festival…At 15,500 feet!
One of the things that I miss the most while living here in the US; is the number of festivals Peruvians enjoy during the year, and I am not talking about artist markets, I am talking about festivals that go back hundreds of years as traditions.
The Qoyllur Rit’i (pronounced “kouyuriti” in English means “Snow Star”) is a festival celebrated at the end of May that unites both the Andean and Catholic traditions of the country. It is basically a long pilgrimage that starts at the bottom of Mount Sinaqara (believed in the Andean tradition to be a god –Apu Ausangate) all the way up 15,500 feet! Thousands of people walk, dance and sing their way up the mountain while enjoying traditional food from vendors or other pilgrims. The story of the tradition says that an image of God appeared on top of the mountain and if you do a pilgrimage for 5 years in a row, God will grant you a special wish or miracle. Believers then plan their whole year around this festivity and bring their best and colorful clothes, food from their towns (because of the altitude is very difficult to cook up there) and dance and pray for God to give them strength to reach the summit.
After they reach the summit, some pilgrims bring pieces of glacier to their communities (they carry them on their back!) because they are believed to have medicinal properties.
If you think this sounds interesting, remember that you would be climbing a mountain so there is no hotel, you would have to carry a tent to sleep inside, and temperatures often reach 0 Fahrenheit degrees!!
Gigi Pedraza
Inca Kids, Fair Trade Artisan Toys and Accessories by Peruvian artisans.
www.incakids.org





























