22-25/1/2012 - Those Inca sure knew how to make some sexy pots

My bus journey to Lima (38 hours in the end) was uneventful to say the least, although the last stretch just before Lima was very scenic. The way the bus snaked its way along the Panamerican Highway which hugs the coast brought back memories of cycling the west coast of the US with Aled and Arthur a few years back. The sheer length of time on the bus made the experience a little gruelling and every once in a while I wondered why I didn't just get on a damn flight from Colombia. Then I'd remember the $300 I was saving and the amount of delicious Peruvian food and toasty warm alpaca sweaters I could buy for that money.

Arriving in Lima by bus gave a pretty good sense of how huge it is. The road was already cutting through shanty towns and gritty suburbs half an hour before we arrived into the centre and I was confronted with that strange feeling of being in Kiev again. It will be interesting to see if this comparison actually holds true when I return to Kiev this summer.

Walking into the hostel (recommended in my out of date guide) felt more like walking into someone's front room, if that someone had invited loads of travellers to crash there. The hostesses and staff were really friendly and recommended a great place to eat nearby which I duly obliged in visiting. Miraflores, the neighbourhood I'm staying in is very modern and reminds me a lot of Vancouver – well organised and clean but a little charmless and lacking in character. There were no beds free in the hostel but at night the front room becomes covered in mattresses and accommodates an extra handful of travellers. Tonight I joined the slumber party.

Miraflores

The Larco museum, which I went to the next day (thanks for the recommendation Christina!), was crammed with Inca pottery, textiles and jewellery. Although the main exhibition was interesting and informative, undoubtedly the most entertaining part was the collection of “erotic” pottery which featured men, women and, rather unnervingly, dead people in various compromising positions. The Inca believed in a strong connection with the after-life and even envisaged the dead partaking in sexual activity with the living. Fair enough, but you can't help but chuckle when confronted with a jug entitled “Man and dead woman embracing whilst hitting and stoning another dead man”. 

Aforementioned pot. This was one of the less explicit pieces on display.

 

Some of the non-erotic stuff was amazing as well. I particularly enjoyed the stylistic depiction of animals in the pottery – the Inca were really big on demented looking cats and owls with omniscient looks in their eyes. I'm almost certain modern cartoonists have drawn influence from the Inca designs I saw which is impressive since a lot of the Inca pottery dates back to 1AD. I also love the fact that when going into battle, Inca would wear clothing that sacrificed utility and agility for decoration and quantity of precious materials. Badass.

In the evening I went for a drink with Daniella, a Peruvian woman also staying at the hostel and after a few jugs of beer she did her best to teach me to salsa in a noisy club. At the hostel, I got the luxury of an air bed but was relegated to a room which was being used to store cement and tiles. For $3 and unlimited tea and coffee I really can't complain. To be honest I find myself drawn to cheap places which more often than not have wonderfully friendly and helpful owners and are brimming with like-minded travellers. Maybe as I get older I'll be drawn to the comfort, cleanliness and professionalism (or should that be coldness and charmlessness) of more upmarket hotels but for now, slumming it is definitely the way to go.

The next day it was time to jump on the bus which would finally take me to Cuzco – only 28 more hours! I decided to treat myself and travel 1^st class. As I boarded the bus and settled into a very comfortable seat, I reflected that all this bus malarkey really hadn't been as bad as I thought it would be. I rapidly changed this view as the in-bus entertainment went into an Arnold Schwarzenegger “comedies” marathon, the culmination of which was the horrific “Junior” (co-starring Danny DeVito) in which Arnnie becomes pregnant.

Couldn't resist putting this one on. Its the stuff of nightmares.

On an unrelated note, my blog has now hit 25000 words. I'm not sure if I ever wrote that many words during my degree...