26 Is Practically 40 In Metric Years!

I know what you're all wondering, and the answer is yes, I did visit the erotic ceramics section in the Larco Museum (which has arguably the finest collection of Incan and pre-Incan culture ceramics, textiles, and artifacts). And no, for my money there isn't a finer collection of risque archeological treasures than that at the Larco.

Thursday was my 26th birthday, and I didn't have much planned. I wanted to go to Pueblo Pachacamac (not to be confused with the Pachacamac ruins) to help some other GEA folks from the eco-tourism group with mosaics and paintings in the new park. Though I was too lazy to plan anything besides that, my friends at the Casona made sure I had a good birthday. I made my way downstairs at 8:15 to find Jessica cooking me a birthday omelet, birthday bacon, and birthday toast. This was doubly impressive because she had gone out the night before, and waking up this early would have been quite the challenge. Besides preparing my birthday breakfast, she, Bruno, Kike, and Juan had baked birthday cookies in the shapes of the letters of my name the previous night. So I had an excellent breakfast and dessert of A, N, R, and E. I shared D and W because I am very generous (read: because they were slightly burnt, the oven here is extremely fickle in its temperatures). After that surprising, and certainly undeserved, start to the day I met up with Diego and we grabbed a taxi to take us down to Pueblo Pachacamac. It's very close to the ruins, though the Pueblo is known more for its proximity to "Las Lomas." I can't figure out exactly what that means, but based on my keen observations I think they are foothills which turn green during the winter because of the coastal fog layer. They are steep, harsh, and very striking, and the area is a popular destination for local tourists. Set against this daunting natural backdrop is Pueblo Pachacamac, a very poor village which seems to subsist mostly on cow/chicken/goat husbandry because they certainly aren't growing anything out here in the desert. There are lots of dogs too, and I have a sneaking suspicion these dogs might be messing around within the family because they all look very similar. I've got no proof of course, but every now and then I ran across a dog that seemed to be a bit slow on the uptake. But as they say, if the crotch smells good...(sorry, family blog!).

Diego and I joined several other GEA employees (and some of their friends as well) working with some folks from the community. The project in Pachacamac has two primary objectives: build a park with mosaics that reflect the culture (and can be viewed from the foothills) and paint the houses with brighter colors and thematically-appropriate artwork. The first half of the day Diego and I worked on the mosaic in the park, and here is a picture of our progress:

The morning was spent breaking and cementing tiles, and after breaking for lunch we worked on painting an abandoned house which had a massive mural for a mayoral candidate painted on it's side. I say "abandoned," but the truth is that a large family of pigeons has taken residence inside the dwelling. I hope they like cyclists, because that's what they got painted on their wall facing the street.

Diego and I returned to Barranco around 6, and soon after the usual Casona gang had a pizza dinner in the bar. While we were cleaning up, Jessica and Juan came out with a chocolate cake (decorated with my favorite Peruvian sandwich cookie, FRAC. That name never fails to stir my appetite, almost as much as Kraps soda crackers.) covered in "Feliz Cumpleaños" candles. And accompanying my chocolate cake was a very accurate llama stuffed animal Jessica got in Cusco. I'm pretty certain his llama fur is actually made from rabbit, but I'll forgive that because he has aticulatable knees (and the kung-fu grip!) and the trademark llama steely gaze. With his penetrating stares and stoic nature I named him Virgil Cole after Viggo Mortenson's hired lawman character in "Appaloosa." It was a pretty obvious choice, but then again I just like the name Virgil. It was a great birthday, and while I would have liked to spend it with all you back home (speaking a language other than French or Spanish with a French accent), this was a close second.

Because I have a five day weekend for the Peruvian independence day I decided to hit some of the museums and cultural sites in Lima. And boy did that hurt my hand! The best, by far, has been the Larco Museum. It is housed within an 18th century mansion and contains the finest collection of Incan and pre-Incan ceramics, textiles, and metallurgical objects. And erotic ceramics of course. The main exhibit has sections devoted to each of the pre-Incan cultures and their crafts. It's worth noting that while the Incans are generally regarded as the most famous cultural group of Peru (largely thanks to Macchu Picchu), they only dominated Peruvican culture for a brief period before Spanish conquest. Not to rag on the Incans, but they get most of the credit for all the hard work of the Moche, Cusco, Nazca, Lima, etc. peoples. It's as if Tony shows up late to the potluck, but he brought a really terrific tiramisu. Suddenly, all the guests forget about Rick's tasty fruit salad, Veronica's 9 spice fried chicken (secret family recipe), and Pauline's Tuna a la King when they see that showstopper tiramisu. And of course that's all anyone can talk about for years to come. Next time I'm just not going to invite Tony. Oh right, the museum. I was absolutely amazed by the detail, complexity, and delicacy the ancient Peruvians were able to achieve in their ceramics, some up to 4000 years old. While the textiles and metalworks were impressive, the ceramics are really the star of the show. And once you leave the exhibit you can tour the "storeroom." This is simply a series of rooms, lined with shelves behind glass, housing the additional 10,000 ceramic pieces that don't have a spot in the permanent exhibition. They are categorized for your viewing pleasure too. So you can browse through the owl section, then view the vampire demon specimens, and finish strong with the anthropomorphic feline-serpent-eagle themed objects. Really, something for everyone. After you see the permanent exhibition and the vast storeroom, you can peruse the "adult section." I think children are allowed, and judging from the extensive details many of the ceramics use to depict various sexual acts I am sure they'd get a kick out of out this exhibit. And the Peruvians don't stop with human-human activities; you'll find human-frog, human-jaguar, human-demon, feline-eagle, human-skeleton, skeleton-hamburger, and so forth. All joking aside, the Larco Museum has a world-class collection of Peruvian antiquities, and it's an important testimony to the extremely extensive and independently developed culture in this part of the world. What's that, Sally? Oh you think ceramics can't be cool? Well try this on for size:

Yeah, that's right. It's the decapitation some unlucky (or lucky, depending on your views of transcendence achieved through human sacrifice) dude. And the ceremony is being conducted by an anthropomorphic fish priest. And it's also a pot. Now try and tell me, with a straight face, that ceramics aren't cool.

I also visited the Peruvian museum of anthropology and archeology, but because there was a lot of overlap in the type of artifacts I am not going to talk about that. Well, I will say I saw two bonafide shrunken heads. Gross. Next entry I'll talk about some of the other museums I visited (or maybe I won't. Sometimes museums themselves can get a little dry, so I can only imagine what it's like to read someone else's account of a museum visit. We'll play it by hear.

Life lesson learned in the discotech: Turbopotamus, contrary to popular belief, is not a fleet-of-foot African mammal. Turns out that it's the name of a moderately popular Liman band which likes to ply their trade at Help.