From a colonial documentary corpus we analyse some scriptural practices of the south central Andes during the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. Through this documentary corpus, it can be established that methods similar to those used in medieval writing workshops were used; nevertheless, in the Andean situation there was a specialization in rescuing pre-Hispanic traditions that, together with other institutions, could explain the use of writing on the part of some natives who later would become consolidated in the Latin American literary tradition, such as Guaman Poma or Pachacuti.