The Wayuu (pronounced “Wah-You”) people are an indigenous Latin American group inhabiting La Guajira Peninsula bordering Colombia and Venezuela. The Wayuu live in small settlements called “rancherias” of five or six houses. Within these rancherias, the Wayuu people remains mostly unscathed by modern culture. Organized in matrilineal clans, the Wayuu children carry their mother's last name, making the Wayuu women not only the center of the family but cultural leaders as well. One of the most significant aspects of culture that the Wayuu women practice is the art of weaving Mochilas Wayuu bags. Each Wayuu mother teaches her daughter to weave and crochet as she comes of age. To the Wayuu, weaving is a symbol of wisdom, intelligence, and creativity. According to legend, the tradition comes from "Wale´kerü", a spider that taught the women how to weave their creative drawings into the Wayuu bags. Each design incorporated into every Wayuu bag is unique to the weaver, telling a story through the bag’s colors, patterns and shapes. The weaver takes careful precision in her storytelling. Wayuu women work full days while weaving their mochilas and can take up to a full month to complete one single bag. Today, the bags have become a means of financial support for the Wayuu people. There are many factory-made copies out there, but none have the beauty and durability of an authentic Wayuu Mochila. Wayuu Handwoven Mochila.