The Bodega Story

What do family transitions, the desire to do something creative, a lifelong interest in textiles, and alpacas have in common? It is these elements that brought SuriPaco Bodega to life.

As Claudia, co-owner of SuriPaco, was turning 18 and preparing to attend college, her parents and younger sister were moving to Toquepala, Peru from their home in Ajo, Arizona. This untimely move to a small mining town in southern Peru was prompted by an opportunity for Claudia’s dad, a mining engineer, to help Peruvians design and maintain access to a 2.5 km open pit mine. While Claudia remained in the United States to attend college, she had many travel experiences in South America during her parents’ tenure in Peru. These unique adventures in the native environment of the central Andes provided Claudia with an undeniable connection to the Peruvian culture and way of life that continues to resonate with her today.

Ken, co-owner of SuriPaco, and Claudia never envisioned running an alpaca business as part of their family plan when they first married. Ken’s adventurous spirit combined with Claudia’s connections to the Andes culture led them down the path of starting their alpaca farm, SuriPaco (formerly Royal River Alpaca Company), in 2000 and attaining the goal of starting the Bodega by 2010. As unusual as the path seemed when they embarked on this adventure, it is fair to say they haven’t looked back since.

The goal with this family run business is to create a unique store dedicated to sharing our understanding of alpaca and other natural fibers. Ken and Claudia hope to introduce customers to unique blends of natural fibers used to make lovely products. Ultimately, they strive to contribute to the growth of a domestic fiber industry in a rapidly changing world market.

Over time the hope is that the store will evolve in a way that gives people living in a busy world pause to stop and enjoy a skein of alpaca blended yarn for knitting a special gift, a pair of alpaca/lamb’s wool socks to hike the Appalachian Trail, an unusual scarf or funky hat.