Wednesday, September 05, 2007

Bottles and Pots

Today was all about bottles and pots. We toured the Museo de Inca and the Museo de arte pre-Columbian. Both were mostly pots and bottles. But, still impressive. The civilization here before the Spanish arrived was remarkable. We did see also some Inca crowns and jewlery, like nose pins and ¨"earplugs" which I think were the ear rings. If you seen any movie about the Incas or other South American natives you´ve seen these items and it was easy to imagine them adorning some priest or chieftain during a ceremony.

The one thing I wish they did better here was have some narrative history of the Incas. This was their capitol city, after all. They are represented in many ways, but it´s difficult to piece together a linear history. The modern city Cusco is built on the ruins of the Incan city Cusco and it would be cool to know more about the original as you walk around. As it is, there are many Incan walls still extant (in fact, these form the foundations of many colonial structures) and they are still solid and fit together neatly without mortar.

Cusco is clean and modern but today we were again at the Mercardo Centro buying more stuff when my digestive system made it be known that a restroom was needed pronto. At the back of the Mercado was the staction hygenico para hombres y damas. You paid .40 soles for a few squares of thin toilet paper and entrance to a pviate stall that consisted of a two places to put your feet and a porcelin hole in the floor you could squat over. Larry Craig would have fallen down if he tried to tap his feet. When finished, an attendant threw a bucket of water in your stall. A hose dumped water in a barrel for you to wash your hands. It was an experience. It rounded out my day of experiences of Peruvian bottles and pots.

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