Mountain Spirit's Blog

Three Guys from the Andes putting up a Tipi in New Hampshire?
By Randall Richards

G. Seminario placing a pole

It’s not every day you see three Peruvians at a New Hampshire State Park setting up a tipi. But this is what happened at Mountain Spirit Institute’s SunFest, a holistic health and sustainability event held at Mount Sunapee last year.

Band leaders Guillermo Seminario, Wachi Taype and Mario Montalvo had just arrived from Peru the week before, for their first visit to the U.S.

The three were in the U.S under invitation from Mountain Spirit Institute to teach and perform Andean folklore music throughout Vermont and New Hampshire.

Three Peruvians lacing up a Tipi

I decided to press them into action to help me erect our tipi for the SunFest. The tipi would be used for classroom space and presentations by vendors and speakers invited to come to the SunFest.

I took the opportunity to get some shots of Guillermo, Wachi and Mario as they happily worked on putting up the tipi poles, fabric and the lacing pins. I kept asking them if they didn’t mind helping out, and they kept saying they were glad to learn about tipis.  “It’s not something we ever thought we’d be doing,” said band director Guillermo Seminario, of Trujillo and Cusco, Peru.

Project complete

The group ended up playing Peruvian music at the SunFest as well as at other venues throughout New Hampshire and Vermont. While their tour was successful, (and they helped take the Tipi down after the SunFest), this turned out being their most unusual project during their stay, aside from playing in a few offbeat bars.